Sunday, September 14, 2008

Thoughts upon returning from vacation

Dear Relative/Internet Friend/Distant Acquaintance,

Please don't send me emails of stories or links to YouTube videos in order to try to change my political or religious beliefs in one fell swoop.

Also, don't forward emails about things that have been disproved on Snopes.com or any of those "Chicken Soup for the Soul" type stories. I'm actually kind of offended when I receive things that are forwarded by people who don't check them out first. Especially annoying are those emails that suggest that by forwarding this email I'll get blessings abundant or by failing to forward it I'll cause bad things to happen. My estimations of your IQ will drop pretty dramatically as a result, and you may get one of these...

I do have pretty firmly entrenched political beliefs. I do a lot of reading and observing and attempt to do this via original sources, not rumors. I base my decisions about political candidates on the fact that they are applying for a job: I decide who to "hire" based on how they have dedicated their lives professionally, not on what they say they'll do or claim to believe. To me, how someone dedicates their lives professionally says a lot about their values, and it's unlikely that a single event will change my vote (or my life), and please don't take that statement as a personal challenge.

Dear one, I know that you believe very strongly what you believe. Good for you. Just don't bug me with it. Oh, and by the way: the bikini picture of Palin was photoshopped, and Obama usually does salute the flag.
Now leave me alone.

...

11 comments:

  1. Sing it Sister. AMEN!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I couldn't agree more!
    : ]

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've finally gotten most people I know to stop sending me these things. The bigger problem comes from people I DON'T know and who think my email address belongs to someone else.

    And thanks for that link. I will be using it :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. THANKS for saying it for me...!

    Most of the stuff that offends me comes from my sister and her dead beat boyfriend. (oops!)
    You sure won't get anything like you mentioned from ME!
    :-0

    ReplyDelete
  5. My husband just blocked his brother's email address for a series of emails titled "Nothing personal libs" containing offensive and manufactured material and photoshopped pictures.

    There are about 3 people in the world I will read forwards from, all others are deleted without opening. So far I have not been hit by a truck or grown hair on my chest.

    ReplyDelete
  6. That spammer site rocks. A non-confrontational way of saying knock it off!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey, this is good advice. I think I'll forward this post to 10 people in the next 10 minutes... then I should get a check from Microsoft instead of having a virus erase my hard drive! Yeah!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. What vacation?
    :)
    Weren't you battling mountain passes and snow, wind,and rain?
    Congrats on the Colorado Relay!

    As for the spammers, yes, I agree-Leave me alone!
    Good post.

    ReplyDelete
  9. It was pretty obvious that they photoshopped the US flag into the background of the Palin bikini photo!

    muffinman

    ReplyDelete
  10. AWESOME AWESOME POST!
    Thank you! I've had to say the same thing to several friends trying to make me see the error of my political ways!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh man, sing it sister. I am from Alabama and moved away to DC about 4 years ago. The forwards that I receive from my sweet older aunts and uncles drive me batshit crazy.

    Although, I did get one funny forward that joked that people in Alabama were putting a G in front of Obama's signs so that they said GoBama...that one made me laugh. Oh and then there was one that said I should vote for McCain/Palin becuase she supports the right team, and it had a photoshopped photo of Palin dressed up in a Houndstooth hat and crimson jacket.

    ReplyDelete

Comments containing links to commercial websites from people with invisible profiles are deleted immediately. Spammers are immediately deleted.

Moved.

 I'm no longer involved in multisport or endurance sports. I've started my own business, a psychotherapist specializing in anxiety d...