So I got this e-mail from a nice lady here at work. Now, everyone gets spee-mail (spam or spam-like E-mail) and usually it's harmless enough with cute kittens and wacky dogs or off kilter Motivational Posters and I like them. I tend to delete them and continue my work but occassionally I get one or two that seem to say, if I don't forward this inspirational story of God's providence in the life of some hapless stranger that horrible things will happen (usually not to kittens or puppies - hopefully!) and I respond with a thank-you and a gentle admonishment for thinking God needs e-mail for smiting.
Then there is the Right-wingnut wacko e-mail. I read them and then I research them, and then I reply to them. I reply to Reply All. So, I get this spee-mail from the nice lady here at work entitled: "Born July 4th 1776 - Died?" and there accompanied is a picture of a tombstome with the death date of Nov 4th 2009.
Hey! This isn't a motivational poster!
This will not stand!
Below the fold is the spee-mail and my Reply to All.
Am I wrong?
Immediately I recognize it as having been circulated before though I can't recall when and where nor what I did about it. Today, however I believe it is important to respond because though it may not help with the sender, it sure couldn't hurt a receiver who may be sitting on the proverbial fence and waiting for a sign as to which side of an issue they should fall for.
here it is:
It does not hurt to read this several times.
here is where the stupid tombstone picture is It continues:
Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul , Minnesota , points out some interesting facts concerning the Presidential election:
Number of States won by: Democrats: 19 Republicans: 29
Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000 Republicans: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127 million Republicans: 143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2 Republicans: 2.1
My first thought is to look up abortion rates in red states vs blue states but I quickly realize this one isn't about statistics
Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Republicans won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare....."
Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.
If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegals and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years. If you are in favor of this, then by all means, delete this message.
If you are not, then pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.
uggh! Okay! so this is my reply:
Someone wants us to believe the country, my country, my beloved country is dead.
WTF?!
Huh! it "died" after the elections of 2008. The 56th consecutive presidential election since its birth a feat unprecedented in the history of the planet.
Joseph Olson?
Joseph Olson is a real Professor at Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul Minnesota but he did not write this, according to his faculty bio page on the university site. Olson called it "bogus" in his disclaimer and said that the eRumor dates back to 2000 and originally was a commentary about the Bush/Gore election
http://www.truthorfiction.com/...
Interesting that this E-mail has the same stats as the Bush v Gore email with new names pasted on instead. Take a look:
http://www.snopes.com/...
2008 saw 365 Electoral votes go to Obama and 173 Electoral votes; one needs 270 Electoral votes to win.
The popular vote totals: 69,492,376 for Obama, and 59,946,378 for McCain That translates to 53% for Obama and 46% for McCain.
http://www.cnn.com/...
So, regardless of where people lived November 4th, Our democracy elected Obama.
Only male property owners were allowed to vote in the first presidential election and this didn't change for a great while. " the map of the territory Republicans won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country.
I know many non land owning republicans and many land owning democrats as well; I fear the author wants us to believe that we made a mistake in allowing non property owners to vote...
I see that the author is equating non property owning voters with " citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare....."
Hmm, like equating millions of illegal aliens who come to this country as " criminal invaders" belies the author's bigotry in inflating the number of illegals in this country by 7 or 8 million and claiming all of them are here to invade.
It is sad that people would forward this e-mail and believe it as fact without doing any kind of research on their own. To me, that is the highest form of "apathy" and "the greatest danger to our freedom" comes from people who listen to others who lie to them. For instance:
look at this
No, my country is alive and well. She has thrived since we decided that the words "...all men are created equal" included women and she has prospered since we realized that our inalienable rights applied to everyone or they mean nothing.
Feel free to forward this to anyone else you think may have deluded themselves into thinking that losing equals tyranny...
...
Really, this whole thing took me about an hour to debunk and send back. It really wasn't difficult to do either and what really gets me is the blind following displayed by this woman.
By the way. I was prompted to write this by not only my fellow recipient of said spee-mail but also a great diary by Myles Spicer from earlier today. I want to say that this kind of thing must be dealt with. We may not do any good to the sender but perhaps if enough people reply to these spam emails than maybe they would stop sending stuff that confirms their idiocy and they would start sending stuff that is researched and debate-worthy. Either that or some decent LOL cats! Man! I can't get enough of those!
P.S.
into thinking that losing equals tyranny
is in fact a nod to Jon Stewart wherein I twist his words to do my bidding