“I’m From Silicon Valley and I’m Here to Help”

In the years to come, we will probably come to recognize the phrase “I’m from Silicon Valley and I’m here to help” as the most frightening phrase uttered.

Their latest creation?

They have this nifty little app that will let you out your friends who have a spotty voting record, who are registered Republicans*, or who are the scum of the earth because they whine about politics all the time but don’t ever make it to the polls.

Oh, they won’t tell you that on their website. There’s a lot of things they won’t tell you about on their website. But that’s what’s going to happen.

It’s Vote Shaming, from Your Friends!

When the geniuses at Buzzfeed look at your app and think, yeah, this is a little creepy, you might have a problem.

Yes, it’s true voting records are public records. And thanks to the vacuousness of the techies, it’s information that can now easily be weaponized.

I know that’s not their intent. But once you offer a service to the masses, you no longer control how the masses use your service. Some will use the app to gently remind their friends to go vote. Others will use the app to shame those who don’t hold their own political views or for other nefarious mischief. Voila the birth of yet another tool that will be used in the “us-vs-them” mentality that is poisoning our politics. If you can’t convince your opponents with logical statements and reasoned argument, SHAME THEM WITH PUBLICLY-AVAILABLE VOTER DATA!

But remember, “VoteWithMe is 20 times more effective than traditional get out the vote methods,” they claim on their website. No matter they don’t substantiate that claim in any way, but they CLAIM IT SO IT MUST BE TRUE.

Pardon my cynicism. I see their pure intent. I see the stars in their eyes. Yet I also see how the Internet takes a good thing and pounds it into the ground.

So use the app if you want. Persuade your friends in swing districts to vote – since those are the votes that count the most, apparently; forget that all politics is local and follow the Democratic mantra of getting the vote out, winning the popular vote for president, yet failing twice in the past 16 years to win the Electoral College and then INEXPLICABLY failing to do anything about the Electoral College because amending the Constitution is, like, SO HARD.

Or support Electoral College-elected demagogues who suddenly want to do lots of cutting and pasting in the U.S. Constitution. It’s up to you.



*Not that some registered Republicans – or Democrats, for that matter, don’t deserve to be publicly shamed from time to time. It clears the tubes.