Stop Spamming Me!

It's about time I got this off my chest. STOP SENDING ALL THE E-MAIL LIES! Whew. I feel better now. I can explain.

You've seen these e-mails. They range from the ugly political lies with photoshopped pictures to the messages with the lovely poem sprinkled with angels that end with "If you're not ashamed to let people know you love God, forward this to a squillion people." I can be moved by a heartbreaking story of a sick child, but you better believe that I'm not going to believe one that gets plastered on e-mail clients across the globe.

I have received these types of messages for years now. Typically, I delete them without even paying them much attention. Sometimes, I'm feeling adventurous and I read through them. That's usually a bad idea and I end up angry at the person who sent it to me and the person who sent it to that person and so on. I wonder, do they really buy this crap? Have they even read the message to know that it sounds incredibly sketchy? Maybe they think they WILL have their wish granted the next day!

In order to combat this, I have, on occasion, replied to the message with my own explanation as to why the message is untrue. I have even looked stories up on Snopes.com and sent the link to the article declaring the message "false". I was surprised after I did that the first time when a certain person (who shall remain nameless but sends me this crap ALL THE TIME!) responded to me with a great big "Thank You" for setting the record straight. I felt like I had educated this person and that they would, from that point on, not just mindlessly forward messages of this nature. Boy, was I wrong. They just kept coming. I sent another message about an untrue story. This time, my message was forwarded to everybody who had received the e-mail along with a notification of "Correction". Sounds awesome! But they still kept coming.

Now, tell me, if something sounds too good to be true, most of us realize it is just that, right? If you're not sure, just check it out. You're already sitting at your computer, do a quick search. It doesn't have to be detailed and you don't have to cite multiple sources. If you're feeling lazy, check out Snopes and see what they have to say about it. Better yet, DON'T SEND IT AT ALL!

When you forward these messages, it is a reflection on you. You are helping to perpetuate a lie. In my eyes, that's as good as telling the lie yourself. You look like a gullible idiot, who will believe anything as long as it makes you feel good or supports your political views. I beg of you. Look at what you're reading. Does it make sense? Is it over the top? Keep your reputation intact and don't send this poison to everybody in your contact list. Especially me.

I'd rather just know how your week has been.