Democracy, whether for national affairs or for a popularity competition, is only as representative as the watchdogs MAKE it.

What worries me, especially since the election of 2000, is how cavalierly we accept the results, either when tight (as in 2000) or when obviously obtained by fraud (as in Afghanistan), or when no-one has any idea of the mechanism for counting the vote. Is there anything to stop someone 'voting' at the VMA's multiple times for an artist they like. Do they have ANY say whatsoever in who get nominated? Is there ANY third party supervision of the count?

We should take as much notice of who 'wins' these VMA 'elections' as we do of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's 'win' in Iran. Basically, as soon as you know the fix is 'in', ignore these idiots completely..! In a way, Kanye's outburst at the VMA's means as much as the orchestrated anti-Ahmadinejad protests, 'organized' by his opposition (who, from all media accounts, is hardly ANY improvement over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ). It's just one prat getting all up in the grille of another about an election they BOTH knew was fixed