With the gubernatorial election approaching, a group of OU students bore a message for their peers Thursday afternoon on the South Oval.
Members of the Students for a Stateless Society organization held up banners that read “DON’T VOTE” in bold black and red lettering.
Grayson English, an anthropology junior and member of Students for a Stateless Society, said that students’ reaction to their signs has varied.
“A lot of people just look and scoff, a lot of people murmur about how it's dumb,” English said. “This woman approached us and said the idea we're promoting is dangerous, and my response was, ‘hopefully in a good way.’ I want it to be dangerous, in a certain sense, to the established powers. I think that it's dangerous because it's hopefully effective.”
The students believe that voting does more harm than good, said Jason Byas, who graduated in May with degrees in philosophy and sociology.
Voting is more of an activity for self-satisfaction than actual political interest, Byas said.
“Voting itself doesn't really do a whole lot toward actually affecting change. What it does do is make the person who's voted feel like they've done something,” Byas said. “It redirects energy that could be spent towards more meaningful changes and also, it tends to constrict the way people look at political action.”
English encourages students to rely on themselves to solve problems, rather than leaving it up to politicians, he said.
“If you see something that you think needs to be done—you see a problem or you see a need—instead of expecting or hoping for politicians and appointed bureaucrats to deal with the problem, just come up with a way to do it yourself,” English said. “Be entrepreneurial, be creative, organize with your neighbors, start a business. In some way, try to deal with it without a hierarchy.”
Though Students for a Stateless Society encourages people to abstain from voting, the group is not promoting political apathy, though many people view it that way, Byas said.
“Because they are set in a very voting-centric model of political action, they think that what we're telling them to do is to be apathetic, and that's not what we're doing,” Byas said. “A lot of people are saying, well, if you don't vote, then Mary Fallin's going to win again. I mean, if you vote, that's probably still going to happen anyway.”
For more information about how to get involved with the Students for a Stateless Society, visit their Facebook page.
