Think Before You Forward

We've probably all been on the receiving end of forwarded e-mails of things that we didn't find amusing, or might have even found annoying.  We're probably also all guilty of forwarding something to someone who was likewise annoyed with our sense of humor or importance.  I'm prone to sharing raunchy, bawdy, downright rude and crude humor.  I tend to be the recipient of a whole bunch of "if you love Jesus you'll send this to 1,000,000 people in the next 2 seconds.  If you don't that means you don't love Jesus and Jesus said 'whosoever is ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of him' and you're going to hell."  WTF-ever.  Watch how fast I can hit delete.  Oh, and I flipped the bird to the thumbs-up Jebus statue on my desk while I was hitting delete. 

Those yappy, sappy, be-a-good-little-puppet-and-prove-you-love-jebus e-mails aren't the ones that really bother me, though.  Granted, their purpose is to spread the brain infection known as religion, but they're otherwise harmless.  It's the ones that spread outright lies that bother me.  The people who started the e-mails are bad enough.  They knew they were spreading lies when they did it.  The people who don't bother to verify the contents before hitting forward - they're the ones that stick in my craw.  You don't have to research it like it's your thesis and dissertation to obtain your Ph.D.  Just a few simple clicks of the mouse, such as http://www.snopes.com/ or http://www.factcheck.org/ will confirm or deny the veracity of just about anything making the rounds.  The current one is some bullshit that Obama orchestrated the shut-down of Chrysler dealerships whose owners donated to Republican causes.  Pure bullshit.  While most of the ones that were shut down donated to the Repugs, so did most of the ones that stayed open.  The truth of the matter is that car dealers are more inclined to lean to the right.  Then there's the one calling for the boycott of Target for not supporting veterans.  The truth of that one is that some cat soliciting donations for a veterans' cause didn't want to follow the procedures to get the donation and instead decided to start the smear.  I'm sure a lot of people are wondering:  "So?  What's the harm?  If it's not true, ignore it."  Well, the harm is in the people that do believe it.  The Target e-mail, for example, called for the boycott of Target - allegedly to "teach them a lesson."  Think this through, brainiacs.  If Target's profits drop, the folks at the top aren't going to take a pay cut.  They're going to cut the labor force at the bottom.  That's right, genius.  The cashier who is barely making ends meet is going to get laid off because the store isn't making as much money.  All because some asshole didn't want to follow the procedures to get a donation and started a lie that none of the assholes on the receiving end bothered to investigate, and then sent on to more dipshits who didn't check it out.  Jesusfuckinchristonthecrapper, people!  Think things through!  Oh, and then there are the ones about the person who accepted jay-zuz ka-riiist as their lardass lord and savior just immediately prior to what would have been a certain, gruesome death.  My favorite, or should I say least favorite, is the one about the college competition diver who was preparing to do practice dives alone, in the inside pool, in the dark, and accepted Jeebus on the diving board.  About the time he finished "being saved," the janitor comes in, turns on the light, and lo and behold, the pool is empty.  Taking the time to be "saved" saved the lad.  Bullshit!  No, really.  Bullshit.  First of all, no competition diver is going to dive alone.  They have a spotter with them a) to critique and b) in case something goes wrong.  Nobody is going to dive in the dark, and certainly not a competition diver.  Finally, the pool isn't going to be drained during competition season.  Yet this bullshit gets sent around and around.  Nobody bothers to think this crap through.  It's all about Jebus saved another soul. 

I'd really like to start some "Frankie became an Atheist just before he was swindled by the First United Church of King Jesus into signing his home and bank account over to them.  If he hadn't become an Atheist, he'd be a homeless beggar at the mercy of FUCKJesus.  Praise science he came to his senses."  My brother, who forwards everything without discrimination, will be the first to receive such an e-mail.