Re: Popularity Voting... I think it stinks worse than a rotten skunk.

This post is my personal opinion towards popularity voting, a topic started by Edha the Brave. (yay!) And this is going to be a terribly looong post. Because I'm long winded.

(IMPORTANT NOTE: If I'm criticizing popular people, the criticisms are all directed at POPULAR but INCAPABLE people. POPULAR but CAPABLE people deserve RESPECT.)

After reading her extremely inspiring and enlightening post, I've decided to support her point. Her words have definitely grabbed hold of my attention. Popularity voting has become a very serious 'plague' that has infected many people around our age. Is it possible to cure it? Or at the very least, prevent it from happening?

I totally agree with the fact that Edha has been the victim of popularity voting, not once, but many times. Same goes with me. I would not consider myself or Edha popular people in the school. (obviously.) For me, I think it's because of my character. I'm not a VERY nicey nicey nice nice person that can socialise with others very easily. (Mr Hay can.) And maybe all of you don't know this, but I don't like to talk to people in a big group, unless I know all of the people in the group very well. I prefer one to one talk, almost all the time. =P

Yes, I AM abit anti-social most of the time. =P It beats me why I'm like this too! But I'm fine with it. I'm fine with having a small group of trustworthy good friends. I don't need a big group of fair-weather friends. In my opinion, a small group of close friends is definitely better than a big group of fair-weather friends. What do you think?

Okay, sorry for digressing so much. =D Hehe thanks for bearing with me. I shall get on to the main point now.

First of all, ask yourself this question first. Is it worth it to vote someone for a job, (whether important or not) based on their POPULARITY?

To be fair, I'd say that...Well, sometimes, it depends.

Imagine you're the boss of the XYZ company. You have to send someone to clinch a deal worth 100 million in New York next month. And your choices are down to 2 candidates.

Candidate A: A very hardworking Director of the company. He treats everyone he meets well, and is actually a very capable man. He is also a great director. He was voted as "Best Director of the year" last year by the whole company. He has important connections to the famous and the rich all around the world. The only downside about him is that he is not as good with words as Candidate B. On the positive side again, he is pretty good looking and popular.

Candidate B: Also a very hardworking woman. She is your personal assistant. She is efficient in everything she does, but she is not exactly good at socialising, and does not have many connections to the rich and famous. But on the positive side, she is very good with words. She just has the gift of the gab. Almost everyone is willing to believe what she says. She just seems to have this... magical way of making people agree with her opinions, even though she looks like an average person.

You must be thinking, "I'm lost for words. They're almost equally good. Should I just send them both to clinch the deal???"

I'm not going to say which candidate I would pick, because I'm not sure myself. Whahahahahaa!!! Definitely a pretty tough choice, huh?

So, as you can see, sometimes, popularity may not be an advantage.

But of course, that's for the real world. Life's alot simpler in school. The real world is like a huge sphere of seawater filled with dolphins and killer whales. It's not that simple. School's pretty much like a kindergarten. We may be more matured than those kids, but deep in our brains, most of us would not have any ulterior motives.

In school nowadays, it's all about popularity. Class chairman voting session? We've got to look at how popular you are in class, then. What? You have better leadership abilities than that popular girl? Oh, sorry. I don't think the class would want to listen to you anyway.

Isn't that how it works in school most of the time? Give yourself a minute to think about it.

Practically speaking, I think that popularity voting is here to stay. I doubt we can change the system. But here's some words of wisdom for all those people who REALLY deserve to be voted, but did not.

Think about those who vote based on popularity. Just think about how good their reasoning and analytical skills are. If there's a class chairman voting session going on, and a popular but incapable girl gets voted, the whole class is going to suffer.

Is it worth it? Obviously no. But of course, those voters wouldn't have the courage to admit that they're in the wrong. So, you can always tell yourself that you should feel proud of yourself, because you did not vote for the popular girl, and you were not one of those who contributed to the misery of the class.

Remember, school's just part of life. Popularity is something superficial. What counts is your real ABILITY and your CHARACTER.
The real world does not work the same way. Sure, popular but incapable people may get more chances in life at first, but for unpopular but capable people... All you need is ONE CHANCE to prove your worth. After that, chances will come pouring in like rain.

Hope my post did not bore you. =P And of course I hope it didn't insult anyone who should not be insulted by this post.

Well, I have to say this again although I sound like an old, nagging grandmother.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Xinyi