I'm going to talk about politics but only in a round about way. I usually avoid it since I pretty much hate politics and I've never been a very good debater either. Recognizing ones limitations and not venturing beyond them is a good thing usually. In this case, I'll make an exception.
I'm constantly getting bombarded by acquaintances with emails related to the election stating how one candidate or the other is the devil and can't be trusted. Probably they all can't be trusted but when there is so much accurate and available information about the candidates that can easily condemn them on one position or another, why do people think it is necessary to spread the WRONG information or out and out lies about people to make their point.
The latest one I received is one regarding Obama and how he can't be trusted and is going to ruin the US if elected BECAUSE (and this is important) he is a radical muslim hiding in christian clothing and he won't say the pledge of allegiance and, in so many words, he's a terrorist in disguise. What the heck? Almost any reasonable search for information regarding Obama will tell you a great deal of what is stated in the email is false. The worst part is that typically, I receive these emails from my fellow Christian brother or sister and this one was no exception. Thus the title of this entry in my blog.
Of course, I "reply all" with only one link with information refuting the statements and I'm instantly an Obama lover and an atheist and I'm out to ruin the country. It really doesn't matter that the original email was mostly false and contributing to some sort of mass hysteria and paranoia about muslims. Never is there, "Oh sorry, I didn't realize that was wrong."
I'm not sure who I'm voting for yet and since the election isn't today, I don't care to make up my mind just yet. I happen to think Obama is a bit middle of the road and wants to be liked by everyone (who doesn't) just a bit too much. I wasn't taking a stand for or against Obama, just defending the truth. Had it been a "Don't drink Coke because it's Draino disguised as a soft drink" I would have replied just the same if the information was not true. I really can't stand the forwarding of these emails without fact checking first. That is all. Nothing more to it.
My rant here and my replies to these emails will surely not stop the delivery of these untruths in the future but what would blogs be if we didn't have them to vent our frustrations. I'm only human and I'm certainly not perfect but if we thought for a moment and really did pay attention to those simple commandments God gave us of which the title is one of them, we'd all be a lot better off. At the very least, the atheists of the world would at least not be able to constantly refer to us Christians as the hypocrites we so often are.
So come on people, stop the lies. And if you can't, please don't send them to me!
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7 comments:
It's probably bad form to reply to your own comment but I had to add this because I just got the email after posting to the blog.
I'm now being chastised for having someone on my "senders list" and they don't like forwarded messages so would I please stop. I did a REPLY ALL and nothing more. Now I'm the bad guy. The best part is this is from an old pastor of mine's wife.
I never look at who is on the list of these things that are broadcast to me and wouldn't have had a clue she was on the list had she not replied to me. Shame on me I guess. I suppose it is a great deal of trouble though to hit the delete key once in a while. We all know they never get any other junk mail.
Great post, first of all.
Secondly, yeah, people seem to get really baffled my e-mail to this day. *You* weren't the person responsible for her getting your e-mail. The person who sent the crap to everyone in the first place is at fault.
I have a similar struggle with the Obama issue. I don't much care for him or his policies, but find it hard to tolerate the criticism that is phony. Especially when it comes from my own folks.
But, ultimately, I think you are doing the right thing. I've done similar things (though I've received no e-mails yet).
"Sure, I don't like him that much but...."
And then lay out the truth. I believe most of us Christians are good people and will choose truth when presented to us.
I got these anti-Obama emails through someone I know at a major labor union.
I debunked them, easily enough, and replied to all. That's the right thing to do, always, and I don't care who doesn't want my mail. I feel like I owe it to people like Obama, who are being lied about, to be at least as pushy with the truth.
Now, I don't think this is at all a coincidence that these emails are invading every known corner of the Internets at this time. This is has every hallmark of being a coordinated smear campaign.
And there's only one person I can think of who would benefit: Hillary.
The right isn't going to waste their ammo on a Dem just yet, especially not without knowing who their own nominee is.
But Hillary really can't afford any more significant losses to him in these early primaries. And her campaign rhetoric in these last few days has had a creepy racial undertone to it as well.
I'm so sick of the blatant dishonesty and pandering and posturing and the callous disregard of the simple idea of "the right thing" that I could puke.
Good for you for putting the truth back out there. Those of us who can see the difference have a responsibility to say so.
I keep wondering about the convention. I assume the Dems will be able to kiss and make up eventually but I think it is going to get very, very nasty eventually.
Too nasty to have a rallying convention? Probably not. But who knows.
It's going to be claims of sexism vs. claims of racism from here on out I suspect.
I hope so. If the general election is going to have themes of racism or sexism, I'd like to get as much of that out in the open during the primary.
It would be a shame for the left to pat themselves on the back for nominating a black man or a woman only to find out that the country really does have some strong racist or sexist underbelly waiting to be put to the test.
I'm glad you both feel the same way as I do. I'm not feeling quite as obsessive as I once was which I can have a tendency to be at times.
Unfortunately, I think there is enough racism out there that it could be just about anyone starting these threads of dishonesty about Obama. For some, just being black is enough reason to hate someone regardless of what or how they believe.
What amazes me is if these same things were said about a coworker sitting next to them at work, they'd certainly not pass an email about them along to 10's or 100's of other people. If for some reason they really felt it necessary to expose someone I'm sure they'd do a heck of a lot of fact checking and verification to make sure it was absolutely the truth before telling others.
For some reason, being removed several degrees from someone seems to make it easier or less harmful to falsely accuse someone without so much as a quick check. In the case of Obama, it would be interesting to know what they would do had they lived next door to him.
Interesting observation. Distance and anonymity does deem to give people some unspoken permission to be inhuman to each other.
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