Check Your Sources

I'm sure that I'm not the only one that has a relative or friend that loves to pass on e-mails that they find funny, amusing, or inspiring... Even when they know that the message is at odds with your worldview. My problem isn't with a conflicting opinion, but with misappropriated or incomplete quotes to lend credence to their argument.

At first I would check to see if something that sounded too good to be true was at my favorite net hoax website. If I found the information to be correctly attributed, the facts straight, and timely, I'd either pass it on if I agreed or otherwise delete. This worked pretty well when I could count the actual people that had my email address on two hands many years ago.

As time went on and more people sent me time wasters, desperate pleas, political propaganda, virus warnings, health advisories, and the like. My contacts list grew as the internet did and so did the amount of junk sent from friends and family. I had to change tactics...

So, then I tried e-mailing the sender politely asking them to check the veracity of the dire warnings, get rich quick schemes, cookie recipes, and political junk(ie)-mail. This had varying results. Some people were offended that I checked their messages for veracity and said I was missing the point of the message. Some shrugged and apologized for the oops. Some, I never heard from about their gaff. But, the same types of things kept coming from the same people, mostly one of my best friends, my father, and my step-dad.

These are three men I really admire even though their personal and political views can be on the opposite end of the spectrum. All three are incredibly intelligent people that can carry on a fact-based conversation on issues across the spectrum of issues. The three of them, though, cannot seem to take the time to check their facts when it comes to email. So, I had to resort to more drastic measures.

I started replying to all.

I figured if private reminders to check out what they're putting their name on didn't work, then maybe a more public reminder would not only embarrass them into being more diligent, but let the unsuspecting other people that received the same junk mail know that it was indeed junk with the accompanying references so that they could check it out for themselves.

This has only worked a little bit.

I only get jokes from my friend now unless it's about an actual issue that can be supported with complete facts, not soundbites or select edits of excerpts.

From my father, well, that's a bit more complicated. He no longer emails me at all. About a year ago when the election season was in full swing, he would send out these very angry political e-mails that not only incorrectly attributed statements to political opponents, but blamed them personally for everything wrong with the world with nothing other than his (since he was passing it on) word to support those claims. The hate, racism, and anger were so palpable in these e-mails it made me physically sick to see that my father had sent me an e-mail. I still start to shake when I think of the vitriol in those letters. What made them even worse, many of them had a religious slant that was totally antithetical to the message of Jesus Christ. After a private letter asking him to stop before the election, he did until the election was over.

When I got a letter at Christmas that was full of the same old religio-political hate spew, I used the reply to all. I got a response from my uncle, M, my father's youngest living brother, wanting to be sure that I knew I sent my rant on how unChristian his Christmas message was. My father seemed oblivious to the inappropriate nature of sending a hateful message that had nothing to do with the holiday just because "Jesus is the reason for the season" was the last line and that since I asked him to forgo the political stuff until after the election, he had held up his end of the request. I wished him a happy holiday and he didn't write back.

My step-dad, well, he means well. He just doesn't check the stuff he sends on. None of it is blanantly offensive, unlike the stuff from the man who raised me. Most of it is a little on the jingoistic side of patriotism, but again, nothing terribly out there. He's a conservative leaning moderate, like I consider myself, though we lean different ways on different issues, which is ok. Basically, he's an old Republican that is disgusted at what the Bush Administration did to our country. I even bookmarked the Snopes website on his computer once so he could verify things himself before passsing on the things his friends and other family members send. And he has no shame, so my replies to all are nothing more than a PSA. Now that they have a new computer, perhaps I should go over and bookmark the site again... Though I don't think it will help.


I love political discourse. When I worked, I would listen to the local NPR news station at varrying times of the day 4-5 days a week for a truly fair and ballanced approach to the issues and news of the day without the name calling and the screaming of the AM dial talk/news radio programs. I will sit here at the computer and debate the merits of something I believe in all day long with sources to back up how I came to my conclusion. I loved seeing the long lines last election day even though I had a three year old and a not quite 12 month old with me in off and on rain for a three hour, half mile long trek from the end of the line to the poling booth. It made me a bit sad to see only the poll workers when I went in to vote in the democratic primary recently given the way my poling place voted in the last general election. I live in the Yeates precinct in case you're wondering.

So, I guess to sum up, if you're going to have your say, say it often, say it loug, but get the facts straight.