May Contain Peanuts

Ignoramuses

I have a few email accounts, one for work, one personal, one for registering on websites and junk email and then and extra miscellaneous one that is a leftover from the early days of the internet. This leftover account still gets an email or two a day; mostly spam, but every once in a while I will get something from somebody forwarding along an email to everyone in his address book who doesn't really know me enough to have had updated his contacts with my new email address.

One of those aforementioned senders is a member of my parents' church. I used to attend meetings with this church when they were planning on constructing a new addition. The email circle was to keep those interested posted on events, announcements, etc; the typical email purpose. Well, this gentleman has kept that list and has decided that these same people should be made aware of many of the email forwards found circulating across the world. Some are sort of helpful, making it known there are certain email chains that contain viruses or to be aware of scams from foreign royalty. The greater majority of them are religion-based, asking for days of prayer or to petition (by petition, I mean forward this email to 15 people or else Satan will take over the Earth kind of stuff) some new law that excludes the word "God" or takes away the right to pray. Surprisingly, I do not have a problem with these emails; people need their inspiration and in most cases, religion helps people and gives them security and hope. These emails aren't harming anyone and are spreading positivity, for the most part. However, this clown also forwards email that push the boundary on not only religious matters but on sheer common decency and understanding.

The one that pushed me over the edge was received just a few days ago. Apparently, this has been circulating around since 2001, but the ignorance continues to swirl. This email calls for the boycott of a set of US stamps that celebrate the Islamic holiday of Eid. This email says things like "remember the MUSLIM bombing of" the USS Cole, the embassies, 9/11, etc. It says to "remember all the American lives that were lost in those vicious Muslim attacks" and to 'pass this along to every patriotic American' and honor the USA. I am no Muslim apologist or anything, but I feel like this is a plainly and purely obvious example of discrimination and ignorance. Yes, those attacks were caused by extreme Muslims, but every religion has its extremists and incurred tragedies. Only small minded bigots would generalize this into hating on an entire population. Only morons would associate a holiday stamp with terrorist attacks.

Herein lies my dilemma. I know that these type of people exist. I know that this type of misinformation is common and easily spread to those looking for excuses or someone to blame. My main problem is that this comes from a church group, whom, from my experience is quite friendly and tolerant. This email spreads misinformation and bigotry and is something I wouldn't expect to come from these people. An easy solution for me would be to just reply and ask to take me off the list. But to be honest, I want to stay on this mailing list so I can see what kind of bullshit continues to get passed around. As bad as the content may be, I almost feel better knowing exactly what is going around so I am aware of what kind of ignorance is out there in my world. I would rather know of this and other kinds of idiocy than be caught off guard by the latest naive trend. So, I end up saying nothing. I can only hope the other recipients also notice the pure ridiculousness of the email and can see it reached them simply by some nut pushing the forward button on another email he received. But just like any piece of media, some will believe what they read without thinking for themselves, continuing the chain of ignorance and miscommunication. That's far scarier than a stamp with Islamic calligraphy.