I have never been happier to hit the "send" button in all of my life.
I just sent a reply to a wingnut cousin's smear email (a distant cousin, thank God) that I am sure has left him gasping for air and I couldn't be happier.
That may sound harsh but this guy has crossed the line one too many times so I sent him a nice little reply to his email today - and I bet that steam is still coming out of his ears.
A brief background before I paste my email in:
I am not close at all with this supposed cousin (I say supposed because I am hoping that maybe like on one of those soap operas they will suddenly discover that he was actually switched at birth, found on a doorstep...) Anyway, the only reason that this guy even has my email in the fist place is because I am a genealogist. I have spent years researching our family tree and shared my findings with my relatives.
But despite the fact that he barely knows me, this cousin has sent me despicable smear emails regularly for the last 6 months or so. Some of the emails were so ridiculous that they made me laugh (one said we should refuse to take some new coins because "in God we trust" was not on the coin).
I found that astounding given that so many people in our country at this point in time only wish that they were in a position to refuse money of any kind! Out of touch a bit?
But then there were other emails that just made my stomach sick. I got the "Can Muslims be good Americans?" email....the "Obama doesn't salute the flag" email....and this list goes on.
So what did I do?
Given that the person in question is a cousin, and the fact that I was raised with MANNERS I tried to still be polite but at the same time make it very clear that I would like to be taken off of his mailing list and didn't appreciate receiving his emails. NOTE: I generally follow the Obama principle in matters like these- "you can disagree without being disagreeable". Unfortunately, my cousin doesn't follow this principle.
I then followed the Obama team's recommended course of action, which is:
- Forward the email to watchdog@barackobama.com so they can track them.
- Hit "reply all" and counter the smears with the facts -factcheck.barackobama.com
This - sometimes - embarasses the sender and discourages them from continuing.
Unfortunately, none of these strategies worked with my cousin. In fact, his emails have become more freguent in recent weeks (maybe he is panicking) and they have also become more personal. Here is what happened in the last week and why I said it was THE. LAST. STRAW. :
- First he sent me an email stating that he was going to send me every, single anti- Obama thing that he could find and challenged me to a game. He said he bets that I can't find more bad stuff on McCain then he can find on Obama. Needless to say- I ignored this email and did not stoop so low as to take him up on his "challenge".
I found it to be childish and an incredible waste of time. I mean, is that the way to pick a President? Whoever has the most smears and rumors circulating on the internet loses? Whatever happened to the ability to discern fact from fiction - and voting based on the facts?
- In case you thought this lovely cousin of mine couldn't go any lower- guess again. He then sends an email to his ENTIRE EMAIL LIST - CALLING ME OUT BY NAME!!! He knew from my previous replies to his smears that I was supporting Obama, so he decided to out me in front of his whole wingnut email list of people that I don't even know! I take my privacy (and my safety) very seriously so THIS WAS REALLY THE LAST STRAW.
Here is part of the text of his last email:
"NewYorkNewYork", your the only one I know for sure is an Obama supporter. Don' t be foolish! Voter fraud? Wow! The ACORNs are falling, just in time for the election. Something sinister is going down. Does character count? Politically correct am I? No. In my opinion Obama's a charlotan...
"XYZ"
PS: It's the econnomy stupid! Ah yes! Senator Chris Dodd, Barnie Frank, Reed and Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House and two years in the drivers seat, equals
Blame Bush and McCain. Hey folks, this has all been thought out by the Democrats for over eight years to win the election.
I know by now that falling into his trap wouldn't help in the least bit.
I know that replying with facts wouldn't do any good because he's decided to see what he wants to see.
I also know that politely asking him to stop sending these emails doesn't work.
I needed a new strategy!
So what did I do? I let him know that every email he sends me HELPS THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN!!!
Check out my email to him below:
Dear XYZ, (I DO respect people's privacy so I won't name him here)
Just a quick note to let you know how much I appreciate you sending me these emails.
I enjoy getting them- I really do- because it informs me of what the new attack of the day is. And I, along with tens of thousands of my friends in the groups I belong to quickly counter these attacks with a little thing called the TRUTH (maybe you have heard of it).
So please keep sending them. They are very helpful.
Sincerely,
"NewYorkNewYork"
I know that this reply will eat away at him. Even the thought that he could be helping Obama's efforts in any way is surely killing him!!
See what these wingnuts don't realize is that things are different this time. We are organized, united, energized and ready to take action. Unlike this fool who thinks he is doing something by sending an email to the 20 or 30 people on his list, we have community blogs like Kos and hundreds of well- structured Obama groups- dozens of which I belong to where I can literally reach 100's of thousands of people with a few clicks to counter this crap.
So go ahead cousin, keep sending them. I dare you. My fellow Kosacks and many of the 3 million who have donated to Obama's campaign and ready to fight back. And I don't care if you are a relative. If you and your cohorts think we are gonna sit back and take your lies, your fear and hatemongering this time then you've got another thing coming.
PS- As of this writing, there is no reply from said cousin.
PPS- If he is foolish enough to send another one I will inform him that for every email he sends me I will donate $10 to the Obama campaign.
NOT. THIS. TIME.