I am so fed up with these damn internet rumors that become so widespread, they somehow become fact. I try my hardest to ignore emails where the subject line is preceded by the two letters "FW" and hit the delete button when the subject line contains some sort of fear-mongering nonsense like "Baby carrots are made from deformed full-sized carrots that have been permeated with chlorine" (yes, I know this is partly true but it is NOT harmful as the email scarily - is that a word? - suggests). But sometimes, an email comes along that sucks me in. Like the recent one my mom sent to me (and a hundred other people) with the subject "Changes in Social Security." Now there are a lot of changes going on in Washington these days with the economy being what it is, and I try to stay current, so I opened this email hoping to find that Obama and his team have found a solution to the mess that is Social Security (yes, I do experience glimpses of optimism). Instead, I get an email that scares me into thinking that my future social security check is in danger because Congress just voted to grant social security benefits to illegal aliens who dont pay into social security. The email implored me to sign an e-petition that will eventually be sent to the White House, and forward it to everyone I know so that Obama will get the message that we all disagree with such a policy. The version of the petition that I received had been signed by 920 people! I can't believe that 920 people (and probably many more) didn't have the gumption to question the ridiculousness of this email! I mean, seriously, people. Congress-folks are hypocritical, and certainly have their issues and problems, but it doesn't take a genius to know that there is no way the Senate OK-ed such a bill. Thanks to the gods for snopes.com. Within seconds, I found that this is entirely false, and that the email has been percolating since the dark days of George W. But why did my mom blindly forward the email to me? And why did her friend - an educated lady, I might add - forward the email to her without checking the facts. More importantly - why is the White House being bothered with such nonsense (assuming, of course, that there really is someone out there monitoring and collecting these signatures to send off to the White House)? I'm annoyed. There are legitimate concerns and issues that are being clouded by these sorts of nonsense emails. And there are certain of us who don't want to live in a world wherein fear is passed along negligently and blindly. So if you feel compelled to forward on an email that is intended to instill fear or that issues some kind of warning that our collective well-beings are in danger, please, do us all a favor and check the facts. Otherwise, keep me off the distribution list.
Thank you.
Thank you.
