The Online Reflector

By Fangfang Li

Editorial Assistant

Syrus Yarbrough from MTV’s “The Real World” hosted an interactive “Rock the Vote” presentation for University of Indianapolis students in Good Recital Hall on Oct. 23. The Campus Program Board sponsored the presentation.

“Syrus travels around. He does this in a lot of colleges because he really believes in students getting out and voting,” said Kara Woodlee of the Campus Program Board. “He is somebody who’s passionate about politics, and he is passionate about the importance of voting.”

In Yarbrough’s presentation, he encouraged college students to vote according to issues that are important to them for the 2008 presidential election. The reality star tried to link important issues to students’ lives.

“The bottom line is if you are living in this country, you should be affected by the politic. It’s a way of life,” Yarbrough said. “Look through your life, everything that you complain about, everything that you like about it. Connect them to the election, and make a personal vote.”

Yarbrough shared his opinions onmajor issues in the United States, including health care, war, financial systems, marriage, global issues, military and education.

Yarbrough talked about health care by telling the audience about his mother’s expensive cancer treatment cost. He said that people have to pay in order to get treatment, so it is important for a country to have good health system.

“We should have all people taken care of in this country,” Yarbrough said.

In response to students’ questions about the war, Yarbrough said that there are wars going on in the world now and he thinks something should to be done to make the world peaceful. However, that something needed to be done after the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001.

“The war is the single most expensive thing in the world,” Yarbrough said.

Yarbrough also addressed the importance of the financial system related to college students.

When talking about the financial system Yarbrough said that students will need to pay taxes, gas and other bills once they enter into society, and how the future president thinks about the financial system is closely related to students.

“While I was at school, everything was taken care of, but once I graduated, I couldn’t get a job and had all kinds of problems in real life,” Yarbrough said. “But you are a group of the society, and you can vote to make a difference.”

To answer students’ questions about the global issue, Yarbrough talked about his personal opinion on the two major candidates’ reactions to global competition. He also said that students can make their choices, and he doesn’t want to push students to vote for whom he likes.

“I don’t like both of their plans on global issues, but I think McCain is more for a long-term plan, and Obama’s plan will benefit people more.” Yarbrough said.

Yarbrough offered his opinion on the military as well. He said that military is important to a country, and the issue affects our security.

“We need to have a strong military to let terrorists know that they can’t just come and do what they want.” Yarbrough said.

When talking about the education in the United States, Yarbrough talked about the problem that today’s youths have because they spend too much time on the Internet.

“Many kids don’t know how to do face-to-face communication,” Yarbrough said. “So in the future, when you educate your kids, don’t let them only do computer stuff. Try to engage them in conversation.”

When talking about the media in the United States, Yarbrough said that the media should give their audiences the actual information and let the audience make their own decisions, or at least not push their audiences to one direction. He also suggested students watch the British Broadcasting Company news because he thinks that the BBC has an unbiased political perspective.

“We all are influenced by television,” Yarbrough said. “Those things are entertainment. We need to look beyond that.”

In response to students’ concerns about not being sure whom they want to vote for, Yarbrough suggested students try to look at topics that students are interested in, then see how each candidate addresses those topics and vote for the person best for them.

“Think about what you want to do after you graduate from school and go into real life,” Yarbrough said. “This election should make you think about that.”