Using a different lens for its Choose or Lose programming this year, MTV will cover the election through the eyes of Americans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In that spirit, last night Choose or Lose and Kanye West teamed up for the special Homecoming. Kanye surprised three Americans (out of the 1.6 million) who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Kanye and Sway Calloway from MTV News listen to the vets discuss concerns like post-traumatic stress disorder and offered them opportunities like internships or debt repayment. The piece is an interesting bookend to HBO's documentary The Recruiter, which also aired last night but introduced us to would-be-vets just signing up and undergoing basic training.
According to an MTV survey, 80 percent of respondents 18 to 29 are closely following the election, which is double the number in 2004. The network has identified the wars in the Middle East as a crucial issue to these young voters, and thus its viewers. Do you agree?
Tory Burch
Moschino
Goldsign
Not to be nitpicky, but where did the 1.6 million figure come from?
Theres only 1.3 million or so active duty, so I guess that the remaining 300,000 could be reserve or National guard, but that seems like a stretch. In 2003 there were only 64,390 people in the reserves of each branch and the National Guard.
And I KNOW for sure that not every person in the military has been to Afghanistan or Iraq. So are they counting it more than once? If you go twice, does that count as 2 people?
That statistic just seems to be inflated.
1Maybe they counted contractors?
It still seems kind of misleading...
2Interesting...I'm not a big MTV watcher at this point. (I can only watch so many "dating" shows where people "find their true love" after one date and most likely break up immediately following the taping of the show. (Well, maybe they spend one night together.)) Anyway, I will probably try to catch some of their election coverage anyway. I believe they helped Clinton get elected and that MTV can have a big impact on young voters.
3That is wonderful that they are helping them with internships and debt repayment.
I got lots of love for the troops.
4That's so cool what they did for Lorenzo. There's a lot of people that come home from serving in the military that need help. Good start to the day.
5Does this mean P-Diddy won't be threatening to kill anyone who doesn't vote this year?
6It's great to see actual combat veterans be given the chance to tell their stories. Actually makes me respect MTV a little bit more (and I haven't liked MTV at all for ages, for the same reasons lil stated).
7First, I would like to say Kanye , Thank You for being benevolent to the soldier members. I am a Service Member in the Army. We have to go over seas to fight a war that has nothing to do with us. We are never ever going to change them. Remember we are not more powerful then God. SM‘s are getting killed, families are being broken up, and we are coming back with medical problems. I am I witness to a deployment, it isn’t healthy and we continue to go time after time. SM’s are coming back, not being able to sleep, drinking heavily, and if whatever else your addiction becomes. We do not ameliorate from one deployment and we get sent on another one. So, for those who agree on going to Iraq and Afghanistan, for 100 years, stop being selfish. God Bless the SM’s that has been deployed, pray and asks for strength and for God to keep you safe.
8Post New Comment
Please share your opinion with our community, but make sure it is on topic and follows our Community Rules. We moderate comments and prohibit personal attacks, threats, spam, lewd images, or the promotion of your personal website.