Have you received the email about . . . ?
All of us get e-mails forwarded from our friends. Many of them contain some story or other that either has a deep meaning, or tell an incredible story, or give us the truth behind some event. Unfortunately many of them are wrong. And, they are not simply wrong, they are fabrications, or even outright lies. One can, at least, forgive the pious story that has a good point, the story that makes us smile, or even the story that makes us laugh and go through the rest of the day in a good humor. Generally, no one is injured, and the point that is made is a true and fair one. One can even ignore those awful superstitious “magic” e-mails that assure us that if we pass that e-mail on we will have good luck, but if we do not we will have bad luck.
But, what about the stories that needlessly frighten people? What about the stories that convince people to try (or avoid) some health treatment that is of not help (or is of help, but you are told to avoid it)? Worst, what about the stories that deliberately lie and distort the truth to libel someone or to commit calumny? Do we bear any moral responsibility for passing on those false and deceptive e-mails?
You may ask, “What brought this on, Fr. Ernesto?” Well, I have formed the habit of checking out e-mails to try to ensure that they are not an urban legend. To tell the truth, anymore I generally simply delete the e-mails. It is not worth my time to check them out, and statistics collected by urban legend sites show that over 90% of “tale-bearing” e-mails are either false or have had the facts altered. But, today, I went to http://www.snopes.com/ , a favorite site of mine for checking out e-mails and other urban legends. I checked out their list of the 25 hottest e-mails being currently forwarded. What I found both startled and saddened me.
The number 1 top e-mail being forwarded turns out to be a legend. And, it is not one legend but a set of e-mail legends being passed on. They are 30 e-mails about Barack Obama. Only three of them are listed as having facts, but are listed as urban legends because of the interpretation given to them. Twenty-four of them are listed as outright lies. Three of them are undetermined, which means that they can neither prove nor disprove them, therefore, they question how the person quoted happened to know that particular fact(s). As far as e-mails, John McCain is not even in the top ten, and has only five e-mails, two completely false, two undetermined, and one true, but with an interpretation that is questionable.
So, what has inspired this remarkable and vitriolic outpouring of lies against Barack Obama? Even worse, why are “good” Christians believing these e-mails and passing them on to others? I must admit to having received several of the e-mails listed, and they have come from “good” Christians who were obviously passing them around as though they were true. I took the trouble to check them out and did not pass them on. But, I certainly did not expect them to be part of the number 1 urban legend in the USA, which has turned out to be the attempted personal destruction of one of our Presidential candidates.
And, so I ask, should we not, as Christians, be much more cautious in what we pass on and whether we believe what we read? During this campaign season, I have received too many e-mails from fellow Christians who seem to consider it to be their Christian duty to pass on to me these falsehoods, and thus have done their part to make the “lying of America” the number one urban legend. Even sadder, I have received not one e-mail about John McCain from anyone. This means that my fellow Christians only seem to believe false e-mails about one of the candidates but not the other! Do we really think that this pleases God? And, do we really think that He will continue to bless us if we continue to bear false witness by forwarding these e-mails? The last I read, the bearing of false witness is a violation of one of the Ten Commandments, and, therefore, the violation of one of God’s supreme commands.
Let us then begin to take responsibility for the e-mails we forward, particularly if they involve negative news about a person. Remember, bearing false witness violates one of the Top Ten.
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