Opinion: Ron Paul agrees to answer Reddit users’ questions
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Rep. Ron Paul, the Internet darling during last year’s Republican primaries, is returning to one of his most prominent stages: online social news site Reddit.
The Texas congressman will answer the top-voted questions submitted by Reddit users. The concept is similar to Digg Dialogg, a program run by Reddit’s competitor, which has interviewed the likes of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Rep. John Boehner.
Whereas Digg’s crowd-sourced questions have been somewhat juvenile (like the several begging for marijuana legalization), Reddit’s so far appear to be fairly high-brow and hard-hitting. You can see a running list of questions for Paul, as well as vote on existing ones or submit your own if you have a site account.
Some are quite sophisticated and relevant to Paul, who is a medical doctor. ‘What’s your stance regarding the patenting of an individual’s DNA by a corporation?’ one user asked.
Of course, Reddit, too, has its fair share of immature submissions. User anonthemouse writes about his visit to ...
... the congressman’s Washington office, where he discovered that ‘the Staff Assistant at your front desk is quite attractive. Is she single?’
Both websites’ mostly tech-savvy users have been preoccupied with net neutrality, which deals with the blocking of specific content on the Web. A question about net neutrality currently ranks as the top-voted. The topic has come up in numerous Digg Dialogg interviews.
Paul may not have made it past the Republican primaries, but he inspired an army of Internet-adept young folks to spread his message of change across the Web. Unfortunately for Paul, another candidate, also running on the platform of ‘change,’ was doing the same thing.
Regardless, Paul ran arguably a more potent online campaign than President Obama, and Reddit, a website where users submit news stories and vote on their importance, was one of his biggest supporters. With nearly a week left for submissions on the Ron Paul thread and already more than 1,200 comments, it appears there’s no shortage of questions for the congressman.
What we really want to know, however, is: What was going through his head during the candid, homoerotic scene in ‘Bruno’? Glad we’re not alone.
-- Mark Milian
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