I get a variety of e-mails forwarded to me as my list of contacts grows and grows. Such is the world of the Internet and e-mail. Most the e-mails are just for fun like the one of "The Wedding Dance" which has gained such notoriety. If you haven't seen it, check it out as it is hilarious.
Other e-mails are informative and serious. But lately, I've become wary of these type of e-mails and have gotten in the habit of checking these "informative" and "serious" e-mails on Snopes.com to check the um... honesty and validity of these e-mails. For instance did you know that despite e-mails you may have gotten stating the contrary:
1. Illinois Senator Barack Obama is NOT a radical, ideological Muslim NOR did he swear on the the Koran rather than the Bible when he was sworn into office. Obama's father was Muslim with whom Obama had very little contact with as he was growing up. Additionally, Senator Obama has said that he is a Christian. During official congressional swearing-in ceremonies, newly elected members do not place their hand on any book.
2. George W. Bush does NOT have the lowest I.Q. of all the presidents of the last 50 years. This study never took place and the Lovenstein Institute which is credited with the study does not even exist.
3. Madalyn O'Hair is NOT campaigning to remove all Christmas programs and Christmas Carols from the public schools NOR has she been granted a hearing with the FCC to eliminate the bible from being read on all television and radio broadcasting networks. Mrs. O'Hair has been dead since 1995, but apparently is still a real threat.
The most recent e-mail I received is about some observances Ben Stein made a few years ago on CBS Sunday Morning about Christmas. The e-mail started off well enough with Ben Stein remarking how people seem to "worship" superstars, that as a Jewish person, he is not offended by Christmas trees, manger scenes or when people wish him a Merry Christmas. He then states that "I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians." Fair enough and well stated as I don't think anyone likes getting pushed around for their beliefs.
But about a third of the way through the e-mail the tone of it completely changes and things start to become a little distorted and I can see that right away words are being put into Ben Stein's mouth. Especially at the end as the entire e-mail is credited to Ben Stein and he concludes with an Amen. So I went on over to Snopes.com to discover if my feelings that something was amiss were accurate. Sure enough at the point in which the tone of the e-mail changes, the author also changes. Ben Stein did author the first part, but not the last.
The e-mail disturbed me so much because it keeps trying to convince the reader that we live in a hugely secular country and this is the reason for our woes. I think the e-mail propagates a continued us versus them mentally which helps no one. I find it hard to understand why some Christians in the United States feel so threatened. 80% of our country's population profess to being Christian while only about 14% percent claim to be atheists . Those who feel so threatened by those 14% should really try living in Sweden for awhile where 69% of the population claim to be non-believers.
One of the things that struck me most about this e-mail is the portion about Dr. Spock. "Then Dr. Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide)."
This really got my dander up as the part about Dr. Spock's son is an outright lie. How perverse of people to say such terrible things! And additionally, Dr. Spock encouraged parents to be more flexible and affectionate with their children. He never said not to discipline children AND I get tired of people pointing their fingers at this guy and blaming him for the "problems" with the last few generations of children. When will we all start taking responsibility for our own choices that we make in regards to well, everything?
Another part of the e-mail states "I think it all started with Madalyn O'Hair (spelled completely wrong) who complained she didn't want prayer in schools and we said okay. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school and we said okay."
Wow! I wonder if the author of this would be okay with children reading the Koran or other holy books in school. Just wondering... considering people want Philip Pullman's books pulled off library shelves everywhere. And by the way, several of my students over the years brought their bibles to school or books of children's Bible stories to read during our daily silent reading time and I never once refused this. Why would I?
Anyway if you'd like to read the entire e-mail, you can link to it here.
So all I'm saying is when you get these "informative" and "serious" e-mails, check them out first for validity before you send them along. Especially, if they could be hurtful to other people (i.e. Dr. Spock's family). We all know the power of the Internet in our lives. Let's try to use it for the best of things, shall we?
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3 comments:
My step-dad's father always sends these things out. It is a pain in the butt and it makes me upset every time I read something that I know is a bold faced lie.
One time I sent back a reply when I received one that was lies about Cindy Sheehan. I also attached a picture of Robert with Cindy in Crawford. I thought that would stop the forwards, but alas, they conitnue.
Great post, Ang! I often get these from the mom-in-law. I always Snopes them and send back the link. ;)
Hmmm..I thought that Stein letter was a bit weird. For being considered a genius I did not think it would be his style to write something like that anyway. I tend to automatically delete all forwards. If someone does not write me something in the e mail I have no time for it. Forwards drive me totally crazy.
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