This is something I’ve been struggling with for… I don’t know, a very long time. But I’m going to get it off my chest, and my apologies for those it hurts.
Those emails you forward me? The ones that tell the poignant story of this brave little girl, or the heroics of that dead celebrity, or the ones that tell you how dastardly [insert politician here] is, and how you have to let all your friends know?
I don’t forward them. I don’t forward the funny jokes, either. A couple have been posted here, but the ratio is infinitesimal.
What I’ve found with the non-joke emails is this: Each and every one is almost completely false. Some have a hint of truth to them, enough to make you believe, or WANT to believe. The few that I really bother reading get checked against Snopes, simply by cut-and-pasting a key sentence into a search box.
The problem is this: I am afraid to write the sender back and say anything about it. I made that mistake one time with one of my sisters, who was very indignant about my response and it made for an uncomfortable few weeks communicating. I now sit back, do nothing, and worry that the other 25 people that got this email are sending it on to 25 of THEIR friends, and the untruths perpetuate.
The flip side: I do enjoy the emails, especially if they’re from someone I’ve not heard from in a long time. It’s like a friendly reminder to sit down and type up a little “howyadoin?” message back to them (ignoring what they sent me) and stay in touch with people.
In conclusion: I don’t mind receiving the emails. However, 25 of my closest friends will not get them… and I’ll fact-check them… and I’ll not tell you the results.
