Chain Emails of a Propoganda Nature

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Today I just cracked it. Got one too many of these sent-to-everyone-I-know emails, "Please pass this on if you TRULY CARE" or whatever. It's taken me many years of meh, delete, meh, delete to get really pissy, or maybe it is just that it is over 100F and I don't have A/C. But from this point on I'm replying to everyone who sends me these things with counter-propaganda, and not just to the sender but to the 300 people they mailed it to.

This one happened to be a pro-war email, I replied with a detailed list of body counts. No I don't want to argue this topic in this thread, just giving it as an example.

So.. the number one fwd I get sent is Religious Emails. Maybe it's a ridiculous story easily found to be false on Snopes or maybe it's something sappy that finishes with a "if you truly care" sentence compelling you to pass it on. I want to reply with something that isn't of an attacking nature but does offer a counter, thinking, point. The religious spams masquerade as "uplifting" but almost always are riddled with weird guilt bits. They are not uplifting, they are always either BS presented as "it really happened" or something to make you feel bad about being worldly, or shallow, or selfish.

Anyone have any ideas of thought provoking sites, cartoons etc.. to reply back with?

 

[Amaris]

I countered every mass email my family sent me with rebuttals that were cited and sourced, until they stopped emailing me with that stupidity. Now I never get emails from them.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I countered every mass email my family sent me with rebuttals that were cited and sourced, until they stopped emailing me with that stupidity. Now I never get emails from them.

haha.. well.. I thought my reply to the email I just got was much better than my original, I've cracked it impulse which was to tell them to eff off with their @#@$.

I need something snappier than long personal rebuttals (kudos to you for doing it), I'm working on my anti-war standard reply now. For the religious ones I want an equivalent though it can be much gentler as I kind of don't give a shit about that topic to the same extent. I just don't want to be the passive receiver and deleter of propaganda any more.

(And why is it always the SAME propaganda, from people all over the world? Why don't I get propaganda about vegetarianism, socialism, gay rights, internet censorship blah blah?)

 

[Amaris]

Because people want to believe what they want to believe, regardless of whether it flies in the face of science or common sense. When I don't feel like a long rebuttal, I just link to Snopes.

 

[Bears Discover Fire]

1) Hit "reply all"

2) Write in all caps THIS IS A MULTIPART MESSAGE IN [MIME] FORMAT then paste a few pages worth of disencombulated symbols below it.

3) Select all, copy then paste as many times as you feel the annoyance level of the original chain mail warrants.

3. Make sure you preserve the original message with all the forwarded addresses, so the sender scrolls interminably only to be hit with a repeat of what they sent!

4. Hit 'send' with impunity.

5. Repeat until they get the hint.

 

[think]

wait I thought that sorta email was a 90's thing i really don't get them any more .,

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

it is over 100F and I don't have A/C.

Off topic: I'll trade you. I have cold weather and I DON'T WANT IT.

Making matters worse, the area I work at my job is right there next to the delivery door, and it gets left open for a LONG time. I've had the temperature drop below freezing in my work area several times already and it SUCKS when it happens.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I don't get many of those any more. The couple of prime offenders, I just wrote polite emails to asking them to delete me from their mailing lists, and they did.

The problem w/ using "reply all" (as tempting as it is!) is that you're annoying a bunch of innocent people.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Off topic: I'll trade you. I have cold weather and I DON'T WANT IT.

I also have cold weather and *I* don't want it! The snow, specifically.

 

[Kestra]

I don't get any of these so I'm not going to be too much use, but a few suggestions. I'd definitely hit back with a link to Snopes for the ones that pose a practical threat. If you have an easy chance to stop misinformation, I think it's important to take it.

As for religious or political ones, I would just send back a message saying that you appreciate the thought, but you believe religion is a private matter and you prefer not to discuss it with friends. Or something like that. Just try to politely let them know you'd rather not have any more emails like that sent your way. I wouldn't get too caught up in trying to be clever because it's not really the right medium to discuss such intimate beliefs with good friends or family.

 

[Bears Discover Fire]

As for religious or political ones, I would just send back a message saying that you appreciate the thought, but you believe religion is a private matter and you prefer not to discuss it with friends. Or something like that. Just try to politely let them know you'd rather not have any more emails like that sent your way. I wouldn't get too caught up in trying to be clever because it's not really the right medium to discuss such intimate beliefs with good friends or family.

Be careful with that, I've tried that tactic before and ended up with the sender going into PROSELYTIZE OVERDRIVE. People who tend to forward politically or religiously charged chain junk email often lack the social skills required to take a hint. There's no such thing as a private matter to them.

 

[Kestra]

As for religious or political ones, I would just send back a message saying that you appreciate the thought, but you believe religion is a private matter and you prefer not to discuss it with friends. Or something like that. Just try to politely let them know you'd rather not have any more emails like that sent your way. I wouldn't get too caught up in trying to be clever because it's not really the right medium to discuss such intimate beliefs with good friends or family.

Be careful with that, I've tried that tactic before and ended up with the sender going into PROSELYTIZE OVERDRIVE. People who tend to forward politically or religiously charged chain junk email often lack the social skills required to take a hint. There's no such thing as a private matter to them.

Yikes! I certainly haven't had people like that in my life but I don't doubt that they exist. I suppose I would just end up firmly telling them that I don't want to discuss it with them. I'm civil and gentle with people to a point. If it's something that's really bothering me, I'll just tell them.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

If someone is a real friend, and you have that kind of trusting relationship, it is possible to tell them that they have trodden in a sensitive area and that you would ask for the sake of maintaining the friendship that they not do it again. There are a few people that I am close enough to, that we can say that to each other and still respect and be respected.

Assume first that they don't realize the effect they've had. But if it keeps on, then that shows that person doesn't respect you.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

You are all so sweet and polite (except Bears Discover Fire whose idea I like best). I don't so much want to tell them to stop sending them as to return fire, so to speak. My dad once fwded 100 people the Jane Fonda Traitor email. Someone reply-alled with an intelligent, if scathing "this is what really happened" email, complete with links, and there was a flurry of responses amongst these people brought together only by spam, lol.

Some of this stuff I find so offensive I now feel I must counter it, though I have to be pithy because no one wants to read a tome. I realize a lot of it is fwded thoughtlessly. I wonder how some of the religious right fwds peoples would feel if I fwded them pro Gay Marriage spam? They would be VERY UPSET to be getting that in their inbox (and as Bears says, no doubt they would go into "PROSELYTIZE OVERDRIVE".) And yet they can send me what I see as hate spam at worst and tripe at best and never wonder for one second if this might not be well received. It's like they are so walled into their own subculture they can't imagine how what they send could anger or upset someone. By replying to their fwds seriously it's letting them know that no, not everyone in their field of email acquaintance has the same views about every durn thing.. and if you are going to send people all these opinions you should be prepared to get some back.

(Though they don't send them as opinions, they send them as TRUTH.)

 

[Kestra]

By replying to their fwds seriously it's letting them know that no, not everyone in their field of email acquaintance has the same views about every durn thing.. and if you are going to send people all these opinions you should be prepared to get some back.

(Though they don't send them as opinions, they send them as TRUTH.)

I understand what you're saying but I'm coming at it from a point of what could be constructive. I figure the type of people that send these things really are truly ignorant and good-intentioned, or they're close-minded and want to remain that way. If they're the former, I think it would be better to take a "gentle" approach and educate them to the fact that not everyone appreciates these emails because not everyone shares the same point of view. You can always expand on your point of view if they seem receptive. If it's the latter, there's really no point in sending a well-reasoned response.

 

[Sephiroth]

next time you get a religious, pray for the welfare of this 5 year old accident victim kind of thing, hit the reply button and thank them for bringing the touching story to your attention and you will pass it on the the preacher of your congregation, the first church of Satan and you will get your whole congregation to pray for her

 

[Owain Taggart]

If someone is a real friend, and you have that kind of trusting relationship, it is possible to tell them that they have trodden in a sensitive area and that you would ask for the sake of maintaining the friendship that they not do it again. There are a few people that I am close enough to, that we can say that to each other and still respect and be respected.

Yep, there you go. I once had a "friend" who would constantly send chain letters, always about friends and what it means to be a friend. Finally, I got so pissed off that I sent them an angry email. I said, "If you really do like me and you really do care about me, then you'd tell me in person instead of letting a chain letter do it for you." Chain letters promptly stopped. Honestly, it seems like the most popular thing someone does when they get a hold of your email address is send chain letters, as if they have nothing better to do.

I once had a friend email a whole club mailing list about virus going around, and included a fix, in a zip file. This was around the time when viruses were starting to spread themselves via zip files, in the early 2000's. I sent him an angry email explaining why it wasn't a good idea to ask people to open up the zip file to find the fix. It sounds like one of those spam viruses itself, but it wasn't. This coming from a guy who has a slow computer due to Norton and still manages to infect himself. We've often had to wait long periods of time for his computer to do anything while doing presentations.

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

What scares me is that the same people who fall for these emails are the very same people who sit on juries.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I set up a Gmail filter so that anything with "FW:" in the subject line is an instant killfile.

 

[Owain Taggart]

What scares me is that the same people who fall for these emails are the very same people who sit on juries.

Your honour, it must be true! It was sent to me via a chain letter!