Stop Sending Me Your Crazy Email Hoaxes, Please! I Can Keep Abreast of the News Without Your Warnings of Doom and Gloom

It is interesting to note how some folks prefer to communicate in person, while others are more comfortable writing a letter or sending an email, and a third category would rather chat on the telephone. My personal belief is that avid readers are more comfortable with the written word, though I have not proof to substantiate this theory.

Since getting connected to the internet and opening an email account in the past ten years, I have noticed that certain friends and relatives only use this medium to send me warnings that they have received of scary or disturbing rumors. It never ceases to amaze me that they don't bother to check the veracity of these stories before forwarding them to everyone in their address list.

I'll admit that the first time I received an email that said I should forward it on to all my acquaintances in order to receive a gift certificate for Cracker Barrel (one of my favorite restaurants), I fell for it. One of my friends quickly responded asking if opening my email would subject his computer to any nasty viruses. When I replied in the negative, he opened it, read it, and sent me a link to Snopes.com which denounced this particular promise as a hoax. Thus began my habit of investigating suspicious emails - and that includes any email that says I should forward it to everyone I know.

I found that there are several websites that are especially well worth visiting while hoax-busting. In addition to Snopes.com there is Scambusters.org and Urbanlegendsonline.com. Usually there is some grain of truth to the story that is mailed around, which has been twisted or taken out of context so as to alter the original facts.

Here is a sample of some of the emails that I have received recently from well meaning friends and relatives:

Bill Cosby should be elected President of the United States as a Write-In Candidate

This email claimed that Bill Cosby would support a reactionary platform of intolerance towards others, punitive measures towards criminals, restrictions for Welfare recipients, and isolationist politics if elected to office. A spokesman for Mr. Cosby confirmed that he was NOT the author of the manifesto attributed to him in this email.

Barack Obama is a Radical Muslim who will not recite the Pledge of Allegiance

This email stated that Obama takes "great care to conceal that he is a Muslim" and added that he will not recite the Pledge of Allegiance nor show any reverence to the U.S. flag. Adding insult to injury, this hoax stated: "We were told this was checked out on snopes.com. This factual". In point of fact, snopes.com disputes the content of this email.

New Dollar Coin and "In God We Trust"

This email stated that the U.S. Mint was producing dollar coins which would eliminate the words "In God We Trust" and urged shoppers not to accept these coins as change. It turns out that the words are inscribed on the rim of the coin instead of on the face.

In summary, I think it is important to use a little common sense when you receive a communication that sounds slightly hysterical with the need to "get the word out" about some new issue, and a little investigative research on the net never hurts either. And please send me an email that asks how my family is doing and what's new in my neck of the woods once in a while!