Get with the times

Unsurprisingly, the media has been on the prowl trying to dig the dirt on McCain and his running mate Gov. Palin of Alaska.

They must have spent many tireless hours following Mrs Palin’s revelation that her 17 year-old daughter Bristol is pregnant – and that she will keep the baby and marry the baby’s father. Well the countless man hours employed have come up with the outrageous and shocking revelation that Levi Johnston had written on his MySpace profile that “I don’t want kids”, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Gov. Palin and Johnston’s parents must be so ashamed!

Seriously, all this sorry saga demonstrates is how backward some elements of the Grand Old Party are – and how little the media understands those who use the many features of social networking sites such as MySpace.

Bristol Palin is not in an unusual situation in today’s world – and we as conservatives must be prepared to accept that the world has moved on. We are no longer all 5ft tall, in working class 2-parent families going to church every Sunday. It is, of course, a sad fact. But if we want to engage with the electorate and win support, we nust do so on their level as much as possible!

As for social networking – there are many people (myself included) who build an “online” persona using one or more social networking sites. Personally, I keep the more serious and genuine side of myself to MySpace and Facebook, whereas I’ve built a largely ironic – and slightly humorous – persona on Bebo, where I claim to be the best thing since sliced bread (all in good taste, I might add)!

The thing is, someone who writes on an internet site such as MySpace “I don’t want kids” has the same right to change his mind on hearing he is to be a father as someone who spends the majority of their life so far campaigning for a political party, only to realise that they’ve been campaigning for a lie, see the light and join another political party instead. It’s called change! And change is what most politicians and the media alike are fighting to bring about, yet find a reason to complain when it happens.

The world has changed The world is changing. People change. Politicians and the media cannot afford to be stuck in the past whilst the world progresses.