Top 10 Non-Political Examples of Voters Getting It Wrong
We like to think of voting as the best way to come to a decision that is desirable to the majority of people. A tool to make sure we make the right decision. But that's not always the case. Whether because of confusing options, poor turnout, sampling issues, or an uninformed voting population, the popular decision can be the wrong one.Here are some examples of when voting went awry.
Being voted starting center in his rookie year over Shaquille O'Neal, who was the reigning MVP, was bad, but not as bad as Yao's final appearance.
Because of the NBA's online All-Star voting process and Yao's national icon status in China, Yao was voted onto the All-Star team for the eighth time in 2011, despite playing only five games that season and averaging 10 points per game.
In 2011, the state of Nebraska used an online poll to determine which of four designs people most wanted for the state's new license plates. CollegeHumor.com users caught wind of it and flooded the poll with votes for what they believed was the worst of the four choices.
After the poll concluded and the worst design won, the state removed the votes it attributed to CollegeHumor users, which changed the results.
Sure, American Idol voters usually get it wrong. It's almost a curse to win the show, given the success of contestants who don't come out victorious in that final week of voting. And yet, this one seemed like such a no-brainer.
Allen, who has gone on to do who knows what - and I don't even care enough to look it up - beat out Adam Lambert. Simon Cowell said about Lambert, "Over the entire season, you've been one of the best, most original contestants we've ever had on the show. The hope and whole idea of a show like this is to find a worldwide star, and I truly believe we've found that in you." Even Allen said upon winning, "Adam deserved this."
Given the Madden Curse, this was probably a good thing for the other players in the poll, but it's a bit of a joke that we know about a player because they were voted onto the cover of the most popular NFL video game instead of them being voted onto the cover because they were popular.
Thank you, highly motivated Cleveland fans.
There aren't many movies as impactful as Shakespeare in Love. The history, the gut-wrenching performances, the immersion so intense it caused people to have flashbacks, arguably the greatest film director of all time, the greatest actor of his generation at the pinnacle of his success... Oh, wait.
I'm thinking of Saving Private Ryan, the movie Shakespeare in Love beat out for Best Picture in 1999.
Has anybody heard this album? How about Radiohead's Kid A or Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP, two of the albums that were nominated that year and lost?
Apparently, even Blatter didn't agree with this one, as he resigned 4 days after the vote took place.
To demonstrate that legislators often pass bills and resolutions without reading or understanding them, Rep. Tom Moore sponsored this resolution commending Albert DeSalvo for "his noted activities and unconventional techniques involving population control and applied psychology."
Fapple? Gushing Granny? Diabeetus?
The "nothing wrong" name is not cool. I think the "Gushing Granny" one is funny, and it might be a good idea instead of the "nothing wrong" one.
"Fapple" would have sold so well. A mistake indeed.
Gushing Granny... That's so funny!
I didn't know there was a similar problem between Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder and that it was actually a Paul Simon quote. It's really cool, and I understand why Lars liked it.
Lars Ulrich even stole that line, since 15 years before that, Paul Simon thanked Stevie Wonder for not putting out an album that year.
Even Ian Anderson, the lead singer/flute player of Jethro Tull, thought the voters had this wrong.
His supporters hail him as a freedom fighter, and his opponents label him as a terrorist, neither of which are shining examples of peace.
It did not deserve to beat out "Kubo and the Two Strings" or even "Moana." But like "Crash" before it, the Academy gave the award to the 90-minute social justice lecture.
To be fair, his obligatory first single that's indirectly about the experience of winning "American Idol" itself (every winner had that unspoken requirement) did get the Weird Al treatment. We all know an artist has made it when Weird Al at least asks to parody their song.
Incidentally, Taylor's song was "Do I Make You Proud," and Al's parody was "Do I Creep You Out."
"Who?" Exactly. Meanwhile, that season of "American Idol" wasn't the last we saw or heard from Kellie Pickler, Katharine McPhee, or Chris Daughtry.
It was up against no less than "Citizen Kane," and it's not like we say something great is "the 'How Green Was My Valley' of (games, books, even modern movies)."
Wasabi and ginger belong on rice and fish (that's what sushi technically is), not on potatoes and grease.