FW: Email forwards drive me nuts

People love to forward emails, don't they? It's not that I really mind - it's just a few kb of space and sometimes I actually do check them out and delete them.  What burns me the most are these political emails full of lies and misinformation which people don't double-check.

I actually got into a brief email argument with an acquaintance who had forwarded that stupid email about Target not supporting our troops and being owned by the French. I will post my reply to that in my next post.

My current rant is about the whole "Barack Obama is a closet radical Muslim" email that my wife has received twice. I guess people know better than to send it to me. The link I've given is Snopes.com's take on the email - they're a really good resource.

What's really funny is that, as Snopes notes in the link, the email actually claims that the information had been confirmed via Snopes.com. As Snopes says, "It's our guess that whoever included that bit was counting on folks to not check, as our article says the opposite...."

I could repeat what Snopes and other sites say about this half-and-half concoction of drunken lies and savory truth, but instead I'll just post the links and make you do the work.

Google search for "barack obama muslim"
Snopes about Obama and the national anthem
About.com concurring with Snopes' take, with a few more links (many of them also in the Google search).

I just need to say this: Don't spread something you didn't check into. Don't put your name on it unless you want to rise or fall by it. There's a reason why television, radio, and print media often state stuff like, "The opinions cited herein or those strictly of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of this company, its stockholders, the board of directors, the founders, or the web gnomes who actually coded it for you to read. Blah blah blah...."

And if you ever send me a forward or a link without verifying the truthfulness of its reporting, do not be surprised if you get a reply full of links and corrections. Also don't be surprised if I'm not very tactful or nice about it. I have a very intense dislike for the spread of unverified "facts".

Of course, don't be surprised if I don't do or write anything in response, either. I don't keep up too much with the forwards I'm sent - my Mail program has a folder with 270 unread messages (and counting). Although emails with hot potatoes like "muslim", "Obama", "French", "American", etc., tend to make me want to either read or immediately delete them, depending on my mood.

And, by the way, no, this is not a plug for Barack Obama. While I am strongly motivated politically, I'm not going to stump for one candidate or another here. There's enough crap - good and bad - out there about the candidates. Just make absolutely certain you check your sources... especially before you send something to me... or, you know... VOTE!