The power of email forwards and the inability to use common sense OR: Why America is aboslutely f****d.
I received a political email forward today. I love/hate these things. Love because they are hilarious. Hate because they are a disheartening glimpse into the mind of the average American.
The forward (which I'm sure you can probably check out in next Month's issue of the Central Christian Observer), contained the following:
For those who don't know me, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I possess a super-power. I know what your thinking;
"Wait! But he's just a mild-mannered-owner-of-a-strategic-design-firm-specializing-in-interactive-and-new-media-based-results-oriented marketing-and-one-hell-of-a-designer."
You'd be right. But there's something else. something... super. I posses the ability to "think critically based on logic and common sense". You thought I was going to say 'fly' didn't you? No need to fly when you can "think critically based on logic and common sense". I even have an ability similar to 'spider-sense' but it's called "red flag sense". It's a small internal mechanism that allows me to detect bullshit. Using the latest in technology, you will now be able to experience my red flag sense as I do. Here's how it went down:
When I finally came to, I wiped the streams of now dried blood that came from my ears, and sat down to write this post.
My ability to "think critically based on logic and common sense" allowed me to discern the following.
1. The whole thing was a lie.
My ability to "perform a google search" gave me even more information:
1. The piece was written by satirical writer John Semmens and was posted on his internet column "Semi-News" (as in "Wish I could be on the staff of The Onion").
It should be obvious to even the casual glancer-of-emails that if any part of this was true, if a popular presidential candidate had said that the American flag was a symbol of oppresion, you would have heard about it in ummmm not an email forward. It should be even more obvious that if a DEMOCRATIC presidential candidate said that that the American flag was a symbol of oppresion, FoxNews would have started a new channel devoted entirely to 24 hour coverage of "FlagGate".
It should also be obvious that the writer has his tounge so far in his cheek, that it actually burst forth and impregnated itself into the cheek of the person sitting next to him, i.e. "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing."
To further the disheartening felt by the email, were the comments of those who had forwarded it along:
---AND---
Folks had better think long and hard about believing everything that happens to make it into your inbox, and basing your decision on who should be the next most powerful person in the world based off of an email forward.
My ability to "think critically based on logic and common sense" isn't always super. In fact, most of the time it sucks. Most of the time, because I value Truth no matter what it is, I am put into the position of defending things that I normally have no business talking about. Muslims, Barak Obama. Because YOU can't help but not use the most basic of human thought processes, I end up having to point out the truth, subsequently defending something I may not agree with.
But I believe this is my "good fight".
It's also obvious that those that forwarded the email typed a quick message, and hit forward as soon as they finished reading. What they read fit into their current mindset regarding Obama, and so, they accepted what they read without a bit of thinking.
American's willingness and readiness to believe anything, immediately, as long as it fits what they already believe is why America is absolutely doomed.
The forward (which I'm sure you can probably check out in next Month's issue of the Central Christian Observer), contained the following:
Just in case you have not seen this one......
Obama Explains National Anthem Stance
Hot on the heels of his explanation for why he no longer wears a flag pin,presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama was forced to explain why he doesn't follow protocol when the National Anthem is played. According to the United States Code, Title 36, Chapter 10, Sec. 171, During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform are expected to stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart.
'As I've said about the flag pin, I don't want to be perceived as taking sides,' Obama said. 'There are a lot of people in the world to whom the American flag is a symbol of oppression. And the anthem itself conveys a war-like message. You know, the bombs bursting in air and all. It should be swapped for something less parochial and less bellicose. I like the song 'I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing.' If that were our anthem, then I might salute it.'
WHAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this could possibly be our next president.
I, for one, am speechless .
For those who don't know me, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I possess a super-power. I know what your thinking;
"Wait! But he's just a mild-mannered-owner-of-a-strategic-design-firm-specializing-in-interactive-and-new-media-based-results-oriented marketing-and-one-hell-of-a-designer."
You'd be right. But there's something else. something... super. I posses the ability to "think critically based on logic and common sense". You thought I was going to say 'fly' didn't you? No need to fly when you can "think critically based on logic and common sense". I even have an ability similar to 'spider-sense' but it's called "red flag sense". It's a small internal mechanism that allows me to detect bullshit. Using the latest in technology, you will now be able to experience my red flag sense as I do. Here's how it went down:
Hey, I should check my email.
Ahhh.. An email forward.
When I finally came to, I wiped the streams of now dried blood that came from my ears, and sat down to write this post.
My ability to "think critically based on logic and common sense" allowed me to discern the following.
1. The whole thing was a lie.
My ability to "perform a google search" gave me even more information:
1. The piece was written by satirical writer John Semmens and was posted on his internet column "Semi-News" (as in "Wish I could be on the staff of The Onion").
It should be obvious to even the casual glancer-of-emails that if any part of this was true, if a popular presidential candidate had said that the American flag was a symbol of oppresion, you would have heard about it in ummmm not an email forward. It should be even more obvious that if a DEMOCRATIC presidential candidate said that that the American flag was a symbol of oppresion, FoxNews would have started a new channel devoted entirely to 24 hour coverage of "FlagGate".
It should also be obvious that the writer has his tounge so far in his cheek, that it actually burst forth and impregnated itself into the cheek of the person sitting next to him, i.e. "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing."
To further the disheartening felt by the email, were the comments of those who had forwarded it along:
.............is this guy for real??????
Oh me.........for sure NOT voting for this one!!!
---AND---
Does this man not know the history of our national anthem………..or what??
Wearing the USA flag is taking sides------------if you want to be president of the US---whose side are you on anyway?????
This is ridiculous------folks had better think long and hard about this election!!
Folks had better think long and hard about believing everything that happens to make it into your inbox, and basing your decision on who should be the next most powerful person in the world based off of an email forward.
My ability to "think critically based on logic and common sense" isn't always super. In fact, most of the time it sucks. Most of the time, because I value Truth no matter what it is, I am put into the position of defending things that I normally have no business talking about. Muslims, Barak Obama. Because YOU can't help but not use the most basic of human thought processes, I end up having to point out the truth, subsequently defending something I may not agree with.
But I believe this is my "good fight".
It's also obvious that those that forwarded the email typed a quick message, and hit forward as soon as they finished reading. What they read fit into their current mindset regarding Obama, and so, they accepted what they read without a bit of thinking.
American's willingness and readiness to believe anything, immediately, as long as it fits what they already believe is why America is absolutely doomed.
posted by Jarrett Green at 2:35 PM
10 Comments:
ugh. i hate forwards. nuff said.
ps)glad to see you're back to blogging. thanks, too, for the kind response to my chicken pot pie post. it's nice to know i'm not alone on the food thing.
u r funny. this made me laugh...with you, not at you.
Oh, it's a bullshit detector. I thought by your red-flag lapel pin that you were a communist. I'm glad you wrote this post as I was just about to start an email chain outing you.
I agree with you until the end when you say that "American's willingness and readiness to believe anything, immediately, as long as it fits what they already believe is why America is absolutely doomed." I don't think it's just "American's". Any self-defined subgroup of the world's population is prone to this type of non reasoning.
Yeah. But I put it in my title. So I had to stick with it. Perhaps ESPECIALLY Americans? I feel like because of our quick draw media, talking points based news, etc., hat Americans are not as well informed as they think.
"ESPECIALLY Americans?"
I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. There are, however, some days when this seems to be the case--mostly when I'm around my grandparents--who also have access to email. Does a free trial of Juno come with a new Buick?
I'm glad we have instant fact checking sites like snopes. I used to hear about these ridiculous emails from someone in my office until I pointed him in the snopes direction. Now he complains about stupid email forwards from other people. When you show someone down with the facts about how the myth/hoax was created and how they were played, they come around pretty quickly.
"which I'm sure you can probably check out in next Month's issue of the Central Christian Observer"
HA!
(oohh, it doesn't link to my blog - so i will shamelessly post it in this parentheses - mattbrunk.org)
who is this "other matt" ????? i didn't know you had another matt.
one more thing - i also got an email that obama is a muslim. actually, a gay muslim. then i got an EXTREMELY disturbing email. brace yourself for this one: he's black. a gay, black muslim.
then i got a forward of obama (the gay black muslim) hanging from a tree branch with a kitten also hanging and the tagline said, "Hang in There!" It was really cute.
okay, i'm done.
You need to write another fr**king post. You si**y s*n of a gu*.
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