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    Your occasional dose of cynicism and randomness.

Gossip is as gossip does

I, as we all have, often receive emails with some wild accusation attached:

"DO NOT VISIT SOMESUPERSECRETWEBSITE.COM, IT WILL DESTROY YOUR ENTIRE HARD DRIVE, MAKE YOUR SPOUSE LEAVE YOU AND SEND HATE MAIL TO YOUR GRANDPARENTS!"

This is part of the internet. We have to deal with the conspiracy theorists, the people out there who just like chaos, and the people too ignorant/paranoid about technology to know better.

I do, however, expect people to think before they act, and by act, I mean hit the "Forward" button on their email.

Why is it that people who would shun gossip think it's ok if it's on the internet? If I walked up to you and told you "Don't drive your car on I-15 today, cars have been exploding due to the new asphalt they put in", you'd probably laugh at me.

Ok, yes. There are attack sites out there. There are viruses, identity theives, and killer robots that can make your cyber life painful. But when I hear a rumor about the latest batch of Ford cars that have a faulty part that make the car dismantle itself when you drive over 50MPH, I tend to try to find out at all if it is real before I frantically call all my neighbors, friends, and family with "OMG, don't drive more than 50 or you'll all die!"

Google is your friend. Look some of this crap up before you hit "Forward". Try this site. They research urban myths and emails and such. Be part of the solution to this spam, not part of the problem.

(To those who received my angry replies to some of these, I apologize, but it's because I know you're smarter than that)

7 comments:

Jer said...

Sorry Jim. Had to delete your comment. For anyone unaware, I wrote a very nasty and rude email to someone today who sent what I considered to be an "auto-forward". There's no need for it to be repeated. I was wrong and out of line. I've apologized for it, and would like to put it to rest. End of story.

jim said...

Wow - how exciting. I've never been censored before. But I can respect your apology and and leave it alone. Sorry to have twisted the knife.

JonAli said...

Ha! The apology made me laugh more than anything. I love Jers apologies. "sorry I was a jerk, I just didn't think you were such an idiot" Ok so maybe not that blunt, but it still made me laugh :)

BTW people make sure you do not go to snopes.com! If you do an angry drunken clown will come in your bedroom at night and tell racy jokes!

Anonymous said...

i'm censoring myself...instead of leaving the comment that is screaming in my head, i'll just simply say nothing.

maybe you'll follow my example the next time someone touches one of your ultra-sensitive hot buttons.

Joel said...

Wait... are all of you being intolerant of Jer's intolerance? That's one thing I can't tolerate.

Jer said...

You know, a friend just asked me why my siblings are overreacting so much to this. I've apologized several times (sincerely), I'm trying to stop further conversation from exacerbating it, and am trying to make peace. My brothers and sister, however, feel they have to use this as an opportunity to continue harping on my bad behavior.

I've admitted that I was wrong. I'm very sorry. What else do you want from me? Isn't treating me badly for my stupid email just as bad as me treating someone else badly for their email?

At least Jim seems to understand what I'm trying to do here.

Anonymous said...

treating you badly????
I'm sorry...what the what?
"over-reacting" ??? LOL
that comment might make me laugh louder than the fact that mom did another auto-forward right after your post and our banter about it.