US presidential candidates are being asked whether voters are being treated like guinea-pigs

अमरीका में सोमवार को एक अनोखी राजनीतिक बहस होने जा रही है. मतदाता अगले साल होने वाले राष्ट्रपति चुनाव के प्रत्याशियों से एक सार्वजनिक वीडियो वेबसाइट यूट्यूब के ज़रिए सवाल-जवाब करेंगे. कीथ ऐडम्स की रिपोर्ट.

रिपोर्ट सुनिए

Some of the 3000 questions submitted to YouTube for Monday's debate come from unlikely sources: a melting snowman asks about global warming, a tube of toothpaste asks about traffic congestion and a guinea pig asks if politicians are treating the voters like, yes, guinea pigs. But aside from the gimmicks, the vast majority of questions are short video clips, captured on computer-mounted cameras, from ordinary Americans:

(Montage of YouTube political questions)

Do you believe that the 2nd amendment gives all Americans the right to keep and carry firearms for defence…

We have 15,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan, yet they're still the leading producer of opium…

Out of the 80,000 chemicals we use in this country, only 12 have been specifically…

Everyday, thousands of jobs are lost to low-wage workers in countries like China and India. If elected, what would you do to stop this?

In 1960, when a nervous, sweating Richard Nixon faced a well-groomed, confident John F Kennedy in a televised debate, it was said the medium had arrived as the most powerful political tool. The same cannot perhaps be said yet for the internet - but it is now playing a significant role in campaigning. Candidates are posting their own blogs and video clips, and Hilary Clinton has even appeared in the virtual world, "Second Life". And how else would this cat from the West Coast get to collar the candidates directly?

"My name is Catsa and I have a question about the safety of cat food coming from China...Mioaowwww....."

Keith Adams, BBC News

submitted
शामिल कराया

unlikely sources
अनपेक्षित स्रोत

snowman
बर्फ़ का पुतला

a guinea pig
एक ऐसा बिना पूँछ का जानवर जिस पर परीक्षण किए जाते हैं

gimmicks
करतब

sweating
पसीना आया हुआ

campaigning
अभियान चलाना

posting
प्रकाशित करना

blogs
ऑनलाइन डायरी

to collar
ध्यान आकर्षित करना