LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
CAMP Talk |
by Bill Sievert |
A Warning to Forwarders: Are You a Closet Spammer?
Unwanted email solicitations from sexual-enhancement products and similarly suspicious businesses are bad enough, but now many of us are being spammed even by our best friends. The problem stems from the all-too-common practice of forwarding jokes floating around the internet to everyone on a sender's mailing list, without really thinking about their content or consequences. In recent weeks, I have received several purported jokes regarding the debate over immigration policies, and each included generalizations and stereotypical statements about Mexicans that anyone who knows me should be aware would not make me laugh. Another emailed bit of humor started with the statement, "The answer to our problem in Iraq is for the Bush administration to declare victory and pull out." That's a fine idea with me (and I remember suggesting much the same thing during the war in Vietnam). But the missive went on to urge that the United States then "cut off all foreign aid to every nation that didn't support us, including all those African countries that have received billions in our foreign aid." Rather than simply deleting the email, as I often had done with similar diatribes in the past, I put my foot down and responded to the acquaintance who forwarded it: "Do you really think we should deny assistance to every countryand that includes almost every country on the planetwhere the government was smart enough not to endorse Bush's folly? Do you really mean that you oppose providing any assistance to people in African nations who are starving to death through no fault of their own?" Almost immediately, my friend wrote back, "Oh, my God, Bill. Of course I don't believe that. I just read the first paragraph, thought it was cute and sent it on to everyone on my list." Cute, schmoot! Another friend, a lesbian whose own adopted son is of mixed ethnicity, had an even stranger explanation for forwarding a joke that included a litany of derisive comments about people of Mexican descent. "I'm so sorry," she wrote after I read her a new set of beads. "I was away, and I let my son process my emails. He knows that I forward a lot of jokes to my contact list, and he sent that one out without my ever having read it. It won't happen again." Ok, apologies accepted. But it's time that all of us own up to the messages with which we're flooding one another's mailboxes. When we send an email from our address, we ought to be prepared to defend its contents. That includes guilt-tripping chain letters, too. I have repeatedly asked my friends not to titillate me with promises of great wealth or the answer to my wildest dream within 48 hours if I simply forward the message to a dozen other equally fortunate-to-be folks. Usually, such emails are full of innocuously pious and lofty Zen-like thoughts, but they usually end with a lightly veiled threat: It's my choice. I can experience much happiness, or, if I fail to pass on the message, my body will cover with hives, as will the face of the pitiful soul who sent the email to me in the first place. "I thought I'd be the first to offer you condolences," I responded to a friend who insists on sending such tripe to me despite my repeated attempts to beg off. "I immediately deleted the correspondence you mailed me this morning. Unfortunately, you won't be winning the lottery and your face is about to break out in a most unsightly manner. Have a nice day." Still, she sends me more. I suspect that's because it's easier to forward an email to her entire address book than to pick and choose recipients who actually might appreciate such a communication. However, if we all don't become a little choosier in what we send out and to whom we send it, checking email will become as unpleasant a task in our daily lives as going to our snail mailboxesnowadays home to little more than mass-marketing advertising circulars. What's worse, when millions of us unthinkingly forward political jokes or commentaries that don't truly reflect our personal values, we may be helping to shape the social conscience of our nation, potentially moving it down a sorry path to simple-minded stereotypes and bigotry. Speaking of social commentary, the never-ending failures of the Bush administration have led to a reemergence of protest songs in popular music. For the most part, this summer's surge of message albums is quite exhilarating both sonically and lyrically. Among the best is Bruce Springsteen's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, in which the Boss leads a spirited New Orleans-style jazz band and a big chorus in updating the classic folk tales of the legendary Pete Seeger. Included are a touching version of "We Shall Overcome" and rousing renditions of "O Mary Don't You Weep" and "Eye on the Prize." Another rock message-maker takes aim directly at the White House's occupant with Living With War, a strong collection of new protest songs, including "Shock and Awe," "Let's Impeach the President" and "Flags of Freedom." The album concludes with a touching version of "America the Beautiful," which a lot of us think ought to be our national anthem. Then we have Dixie Chicks' wonderful Taking the Long Way. I can't get the angry but beautifully sung track "Not Ready to Make Nice" out of my head. The song addresses lead singer Natalie Maines' refusal to apologize for her once-controversial remark about being "embarrassed" to hail from the same state as the President. Now that so many other people share Maines' sense of embarrassment, the Dixie women have found a stronger voice and a huge new audience, despite the reluctance of some country radio stations to give their album airplay. It's those stations' listeners who are missing out, because Taking the Long Way is a splendidly written, sung and produced collection of country-folk-pop fusion. Finally, another folk-rock hero of decades past, Paul Simon, is back with a fresh collection of his trademark poetic messages. Surprise includes 11 excellent new Simon compositions, all with a touch of "sonic landscaping" by veteran producer Brian Eno. Each of the songs is superb, and one cannot help but be moved by "Outrageous," "Father and Daughter" and "Wartime Prayers." |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 16, No. 7 June 16, 2006 |