I finally got sick of bogus political emails
I received an email forward today about Obama, and I had finally had it. The email made the usual claims (Obama’s Muslim, he doesn’t say the pledge, and he associates with people who hate America), all of which are false. I sent the following reply to the whole email list via the reply all feature:
To whom it may concern,
99% of the negative email campaigns against Sen. Obama are patently false. Please don’t forward emails before fact-checking them. I’m absolutely amazed at how quickly misinformation can spread through email forwards because most of us don’t verify claims that arrive in our inboxes. It is very similar to the idea of “push polling” that had a disastrous effect on the primary campaign of John McCain in 2000 (anonymous pollsters called voters in South Carolina implying that Sen. McCain had an illegitimate black child–he doesn’t).
Our votes in this unbelievably important election should be cast based on our knowledge and analysis of FACTS about the candidates, especially about their positions on issues that are important to us (a very individual decision). They should not be cast out of fear because we read an email that said “Obama is a radical Muslim” or “John McCain has an illegitimate black baby.” Neither claim is true, and a simple Google search could verify that to any curious reader. For any who are interested, Snopes has a whole page dedicated to claims made about Sen. Obama in emails. Please go read it.
Finally, my hope for this great country is that we will have an educated populace that makes decisions based on facts and reason. We can’t have an effect on the state of our nation if we don’t take time to learn about candidates and issues (not just 10-second sound bites and bogus email forwards). Being a voter is a huge responsibility. The fate of our nation lies in our hands and the hands of the government officials that we elect. Don’t we owe it to ourselves to be informed about these decisions?
Cheers,
Jeff Winget
It will be interesting to see what responses, if any, that I get. My guess is that 99% of the people that got the message are Republicans who will be voting for McCain. If I get any interesting replies, I’ll post them here.
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:39 pm
LOL!! I did the exact same thing!!! Here’s the letter I sent:
I don’t care who y’all support in the general elections. Most of you
who know me know I love to discuss politics with everyone, no matter
whether they believe what I do or not, and that I respect everyone’s
beliefs. I think that, particularly among my close family members
there are lots of very well-informed people who have made choices in
their beliefs based upon a lot of research and their own, well-thought
out moral convictions and ideas for what they want America and our
political system to be. I have a great deal of admiration for you
all, and realize that my own political viewpoints are still the
product of a relatively young, inexperienced person.
I’m writing this email because I was given a forwarded email about
Senator Barack Obama that really troubled me. It painted him as a
“radical” Muslim, an unpatriotic person who does not care about
America and plans to destroy our country “from the inside out.” I’m
not going to include any part of this email in this communication
because it really saddened me to read it. I knew, from the research
that I have done, that some of the statements in this particular email
were completely untrue. And so I went to Snopes.com and Wikipedia and
found the response to this particular bit of propoganda. I wanted to
send out some of the content of these two articles to all of you who I
care about who may have received this forward. Please send it on to
your friends and loved ones, as well.
This forward was a particularly nasty tactic that some unscrupulous
persons use to create fear about a particular candidate. In this
primary process, we have seen these tactics used on Ron Paul and Mitt
Romney, as well as Barack Obama.
Here is the link to the snopes article:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp
and the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama
Can I just say that Even if Senator
Obama were a Muslim… (which he is not)…
I find the idea that any certain religious group (Muslim, Mormon,
Catholic, Atheist), ought not be excluded from political office just
because of ideology. Those of us who are LDS have been hurt by what
has happened in the media with Mitt Romney and his Mormonism. Are we
going to turn around and do the same thing to Muslims? People who do
suicide bombings and enact Jihadist philosophy in the way that
terrorists have done, are not recognized by the vast majority of
Muslims in the word as sharing their true philosophies and the spirit
of the religion as depicted by their Prophet, Mohammed or their
scriptures, the Qu’ran. Anybody who has done any kind of research
about the Muslim religion, or who has known any Muslims personally (I
have) knows this.
Just as anybody who has done any research at all about the LDS
religion, or who has known any LDS people personally, would quickly
realize that we no longer marry additional wives, we do not have
horns, and there are no restrictions about meat-eating on Fridays,
saturdays, or sundays (all rumors about LDS people that are widely
circulated by the Media and other unscrupulous persons.)
last of all, let me just say everyone have a good week and a wonderful
Sunday! We miss you and look forward to seeing some of you come
August.
A lot less formal than yours was. But… great minds think alike, right?
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Nosurf,
I’m glad I’m not the only one sending out defenses of the truth in politics. I’m so saddened by the political climate right now. Interestingly, the only reply I got back from my email said (aside from the discussion it generated with my friend, who agreed with me totally),
I wrote back that I knew he didn’t forward it to me, but that I thought it was important. Everyone else was silent. I don’t think straight-ticket republican voters like to be challenged, but I could be wrong.
Did anyone reply to you?
August 13th, 2008 at 8:02 am
I got polite emails from my father in law (a Paulite) and my grandmother (very anti-Obama) thanking me for my email. I got one letter from my sister in law that was a little miffed (she was the one that sent the forward), but I smoothed things over with her, too.
Lol. yes. Straight-tickt republicans do NOT like having their veiws challenged. I just joined this group blog (consciousignorance.blogpspot.com) and one of the posters is arguing with me at every turn. You should go read and comment (they’re all nice people, but he IS, as far as I can tell, very right-wing and doesn’t like the fact that I’m posting slightly leftist philosohy in his space.)
But that’s OK. We all learn more, and develop stronger, more flexible ideology as we challenge each other, I think.
August 13th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
I hope that this is true; however, I don’t think enough people are willing to let themselves be challenged to allow this to happen. More and more, I see people seeking out people and groups that agree with them and leaving all dissenting opinions unread or unheard. I’m afraid that if this trend continues, politics will get more nasty and less about the needs of the country. Sigh…
August 13th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
The link to the group blog doesn’t work.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
oh. It’s OK. You can get to it thru my profile if you want. I’m like, the lone sort-of-liberal in the bunch, though… a couple of them are Ron Paul fans. Are you still a Ron Paul fan?
Yes… what you mentioned… trying to find people who agree with you, and wanting only to fight with those who don’t. That’s one thing I can’t stand in political discussions. That’s where I start nodding and beat a hasty retreat as soon as possible.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I’ll check it out in the next few days. I kind of like being the odd person out on a blog. It’s more fun that way.
Yes, I still like Ron Paul; however, I cringe at some of his stances on social issues. He’s a libertarian until you talk about abortion and gay marriage; then, he sounds more like a neo-con. I do think that he was the best choice for president that we had this time around, but I’m excited to vote for Obama, and I haven’t been excited to vote for a presidential candidate ever. My first vote for president was in ‘96, and in that election and every single one since, I’ve felt like I was voting for the lesser of two evils. This time, I feel like I’m voting for the better of two decent candidates. That makes me feel pretty good.