People don't send me those political pass-it-on e-mails anymore. The reason is because if (inevitably: when) they send me a bogus e-mail claiming Obama's Supreme Court nominee is a cyborg powered by Downs Syndrome baby parts, I vigorously research the false claims, create a response with facts (and links to those facts), and then proceed to e-mail not just the person who sent me the e-mail, but to every e-mail address all the way down the re:re:re:re:re: list that I can find.
It seems people don't mind spreading ignorance... just as long as nobody tells them they are spreading ignorance: As I mentioned above, the response that people have to finding out they have been spreading ignorance is not to start taking a minute before hitting "Send" on the chain e-mail about Obama's Trade In Your Car for Bible Ashes Plan to find out whether such a thing might just be bullshit, but instead they just avoid spreading the ignorance to the one person who will tell them (and everyone else) that they are spreading ignorance. So therefore, much to my surprise, I no longer get e-mails claiming Obama's healthcare plan will force grandpa to have an abortion.
Of course, my friends and family (and your friends and family) probably still spread ignorance via the Out Box... just not to me. So, it's up to you now to (oops) get yourself accidentally removed from your (and my) friends' and family's e-mail lists. If you happen to get an Obama's free sex changes for illegal immigrants e-mail, go to the "Media Matters E-Mail Checker", and see if they have yet written a response to your particular Obama's speech to school children will turn them into sodomites e-mail. (They probably have.) Then, hit "Reply" on the ignorance-spreading e-mail that you've received, copy and paste the Media Matters response in there. Then — before hitting Send — find all of the other e-mail addresses down the list that this particular e-mail has been sent to, and copy them into the CC box so that they can be educated too.
(Believe it or not, based on my experience, when you do this, you'll actually receive anywhere from about 6 to 10 responses per 100 people (mostly complete strangers) you e-mail with your reply to the false information, thanking you for taking the time to try and stop the spread of ignorance. The other 90-94 people who got the e-mail but you never hear back from consist of (A) 80-90 people who are equally thankful, but just don't bother to say so, (B) 4-8 people who are angry that somebody has proven that the Obama's new GM cars have to be parked facing Mecca in order for the battery to hold a charge claim is false, and (C) 1 red-faced friend or uncle or coworker who is desperately trying to remember how to get into the Microsoft Outlook settings for "E-mail groups" so that he or she can delete your e-mail address from the "Make People Stupid" e-mail group they had created.)
Have fun. Fight ignorance.
Good for you, Jil! I am so tired of all this offensive lying, shocking stuff that is being written/said. There is such appalling stuff that I'm glad to have a way to get back at them.
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Jil, thank you for putting some good words out their. I belong to a few of the Yahoo Groups about the Philippines also and the members on their seem to believe all those political emails and bring that BS to the group sites also. I just delete the emails that make my inbox.
ReplyDeletethanks for all your great writing. Im a dam good reader but a terrible speller...
I love this! Thanks for the link. I needed something more timely than Snopes. :)
ReplyDeleteVery nice article. I also tired of recieving jokes and lies about my President in my inbox. Why people who claim to be conservative will willingly email such filth around to a Democrat like myself I do not understand. Maybe they need a hobby? Maybe they trying to forget the failures of their party? I dont know but for sure it really makes you wonder why they like to call themselves conservatives when their behaviors are far from any definition of conservative that I know of.
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