Andrew Nesi’s assertion that the motivation of political candidates to create MySpace or Facebook accounts is merely to ingratiate themselves with youth while appearing technologically “hip” at the expense of real persuasion, is false (“An inconvenient truth,” Sept. 27).

Along with an evolving democracy comes an evolving system of campaigning. The printing press created the world of campaign literature and the internet revolutionized its publications; the next step in this process is the usage of online social networking to find voting bases. Whether or not we college students, who still believe (and perhaps with good reason) that Facebook should exclusively serve our social lives, the undeniable fact is that it does not. Facebook has become a giant in information exchange. I would view it as irresponsible and illogical if political candidates did not tap into such a widely used method of communication.

From personal experience, the Facebook applications that allow users to support candidates have not “dumbed down” political dialog, but increased it. OK, increased it with our convenience in mind, but that isn’t such a bad thing, is it? I doubt I’m the only one who has posted on someone’s wall about their precarious support of a candidate.

While our natural instinct is to conserve old methods, I’ll suppress my desire for nostalgia and opt for Microsoft Word 2007, even if a type-writer seems more noble.

Cynthia Weber

freshman

Pasquerilla West Hall

Sept 27