Call me nuts. But I love presidential politics time.
Maybe it’s because it helps cut down on the amount of time I have to see Britney, Paris and other waste of space celebrities taking up time on the news. Or perhaps it’s because I enjoy taking the time to listen to what the candidates have to say and learning about their positions on the issues.
And then there’s the emotional involvement where getting to know the candidates is like becoming acquainted with a new love. You go out on a few dates, take about your wants and desires in life -“I am so into affordable healthcare. How about you?”- and hearing what their goals are for their five-year, er, four-year plan.
Because I’m a journalist, people often ask me who I plan on voting for. Usually these are younger folks who I take classes with and have little time to research the pundits on their own. Or they’re just lazy and look for an authority figure to tell them what’s right. (“You remind me of my dad” is not always what guys like to hear.)
Then there are those people who ask simply so they can start an argument. I don’t usually take the time out to engage with them because there is no point. They’re zealots and they don’t believe in exchanging ideas as much as they would simply like to shovel theirs down your mind’s throat. (I want to make a Fox News joke here, but will refrain.)
In the same category of the zealots are their weaker spined cousins, the Internet majority. While I am not opposed to e-mail and Web sites as information sources, I tend to be skeptical of sources that often bombard me with superfluous information about erectile dysfunction medication and hair restoration. (Which is not to say I haven’t bookmarked a few sites about one of those topics.)
In the past week, I have been swamped with Internet sites and e-mails and hard copies of e-mails sent to me via “Zodiac” looking envelopes – scrawling ball point pen handwriting with no return address from anonymous senders – informing me about the evils of Barack Obama.
I do not wish to list the accusations here, but I found them disgusting and uninformed. While ignorance is critical to my trade – how can I inform if readers already know? – I also find the lack of common sense a disturbing trend in people of all ages.
Suffice it to say, the chain e-mails basically say Obama is not a true American in heart or mind.
I don’t know; he or any of the other candidates could be the anti-Christ for all I know. (It is getting close to the History Channel’s favorite year for the apocalypse, 2012.)
Perhaps instead of relying on Internet rumors for political insight, one should research accusations and (gasp!) policies before making conclusions aka assumptions. These e-mails have also included the tag line “as confirmed on Snopes.com.” If people only read the supposed “confirmation” of the rumors on Snopes.com, they would realize these are all untrue statements. (Even the ones with the green ball indicating “true” beside it.)
But then again, why use one’s brain when thinking about voting? It’s much easier to point and accuse without thought.
An especially disconcerting trend in these e-mails is that they are being sent to and from several government and school addresses. I checked with the state law library and guess what? It’s illegal to use school or government e-mails to send political speech. Keep that in mind employees of Allen, Commerce, Bonham, Rockwall, Sherman, Chisum, Mesquite, and Paris ISDs (as well as A&M-Commerce). I’ll bet it’s also against the law to do so with government e-mails as well. Just a reminder Frisco, state of Texas, Grayson County and Veterans Affairs staffers.
I’m still pondering if I should give the names of the people who forwarded the message on to their bosses. I think everyone has sent stupid e-mails from work computers before and one column isn’t going to change that. But if persons would take the time to think before blindlessly following a hate-mongering, paranoia spewing idiot’s rhetoric lead – shades of Hitler! – and uses their time for something more useful, like thinking independently, I’d feel a little better.
If one would like to know the truth behind this e-mail, they could go to http://www.sptimes.com/2007/11/09/Worldandnation/E_mail_assailing_Obam.shtml and read a column from the St. Petersburg Times’ Bill Adair addressing these allegations. Be aware this may take more time than simply reading or forwarding an e-mail