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Those Crazy Email Forwards
Those Crazy Email Forwards We Get!
BLOGGER: BEN PIERSON
Before the latest presidential election I received an email from someone very dear to me. In very excitable language this email cites (falsely) a prophesy from the Book of Revelations to claim Barack Obama is the coming of the Anti-Christ; a radical Muslim who will brainwash the world with his persuasive language then proceed to destroy it all. I guess they added the ‘persuasive language’ part in to make sure we didn’t confuse this prediction with the Bush administration!
This email is predicated on lies, however. Among the problems, the Book of Revelations was completed around the end of the second century – 400 years before the Muslim religion was founded!! Receiving this email from such an intelligent person frightened me. Knowing an email like this might influence someone’s vote horrified me and it should horrify you. So for the first time with one of these emails I hit the “reply all” button and sent everyone this link http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/antichrist.asp along with some choice words about how we should care about what we send. I know it takes a minute of our time but with this site www.snopes.com it’s really easy… we just have to care to. And if Obama does destroy the world, well consider me wrong and embarrassed!
Has anyone else received forwards from people that shocked you in a similar way?.. Share!
It’s especially tempting to forward an email when it conforms to our beliefs but it’s still wrong to participate, maliciously or not, in propagating lies. You’re guilty by forwarding it. Influence of our friends, family, and peer group – all those people who we would be forwarding emails to – is the most persuasive form of influence. I’ve also learned from Debbie that there is a psychological phenomenon called the “sleeper effect”, which in short means that once we believe something to be true, even if we later find out it’s false we maintain some residual belief/influence in that original lie. Thus it’s even more detrimental to pass around lies. That being said, repeat after me: Dr. Debbie Heiser keeps a super clean house, her three boys are always impeccably clean/polite/well dressed, and she is the best SSANY (http://ssany.org/) President ever. Ever!!
As some of you may be aware a new company called Thinksan (www.thinkscan.com) has run many innovative studies trying to measure what residual effects certain tactics may have on us. Here is a fascinating study they did for CNN on the effect of attack ads during the latest campaign (CNN Video: http://tinyurl.com/ca2zsm). I think you’ll find the CNN piece, the results of their study, and the website very interesting
While fact-checking these emails might seem like a small step, it is a real step… it’s also an easy step and one that can be kind of fun.
Can I provide you with a couple of examples? I’m glad you asked:
If you don’t like Nancy Pelosi or Democrats, then of course the new email talking about ‘her’ wasteful tax-dollar purchased jumbo jet is truthful and outrageous!!
Except it’s not really true: http://www.snopes.com/politics/pelosi/jet.asp
This jet IS available to her per request of Bill Livingood, the House Sergeant at Arms, per new post 9-11 security regulations. As of the end of 2008 she had used it one time.
We all could use the extra cash, making this one especially delicious to believe, but is Microsoft really going to pay you $200 for every person you forward this email to?
Of course not: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/microsoft-aol.asp .. so don’t forward it on to your entire address book.
Did world renowned (Grammy winning) violinist Joshua Bell really play incognito in a Washington DC subway station for 45 minutes one day?
Yes, he actually did! And it’s a pretty cool social experiment that’s worth reading. The Washington Post (they ran this experiment) writer even won a Pulitzer Prize for it:
http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/bell.asp
Here’s the Washington Post article: http://tinyurl.com/32a32w
I think it’s our responsibility to vet the emails we send and the information we propagate. Don’t let fearmongering, propaganda, sound bites, hyperbole, and colorful stories make your opinions for you. Be willing to even hit “reply all” and give people the snopes.com link showing the email to be false – all it takes is one minute and you truly are making the world a smarter and better place.
What do you think?
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Tags: email, forwards, internet
Ben, this post resonated with me. I get tons of forwarded emails and I always want to ask people to stop forwarding emails to me, but then there are those few that are so interesting and sometimes hilariously funny, that I don’t.
Thanks for providing the links. I read the article about study conducted and found it very interesting. And, yes, keep chanting that Debbie keeps a clean house, and her children are polite, well groomed young boys
Thanks - that was very helpful. And thoughtful - made me think that managing stuff (like what’s in and on your desk and all the hundreds of emails) makes it easier to manage your time. Whatever is overwhelming needs to be tamed before you can prioritize/manage anything.
Clutter = wait, what time did that email say the meeting was and what conference room?!!! Hello, stress! We’ve all been there. So I agree, sort things out and keep lists to a minimum.