Ever have friends send you Neo-cons propaganda e-mails?

[bliss_eternal]

Some of the people dh grew up with were super conservative (very Catholic), big families, did what everyone in their small community did, etc. You get the profile.

Anyway, they used to send us their group e-mails of conservative propaganda--particularly after 9/11. We started getting all these weird e's about 'the righteousness of war.' Really disturbing.

I started to block their e's and dh is no longer friends with any of them.

Have any of you ever got those kinds of e-mails from friends that assume because you 'know' each other, you must share the same belief system? What did you do with the e's? Did you confront the friends? Ignore them, etc.?

:hi:

[skygazer]

1. I used to get them from my father

I simply emailed him and told him not to send me that crap any longer - that if he wanted to discuss politics, I would be delighted to but not by using other people's ideas and talking points. If he wanted to actually state his views in his own words, I told him, I would be happy to debate him.

He stopped sending them and stays away from the subject. Probably because none of them are capable of debating in their own words.

[bliss_eternal]

5. Yikes--from your father?!? I'm so sorry.

I feel your pain, though. My father was a repub. too--I'll never understand. He was also uber religious and constantly trying to take us to his cult like church...

:scared:

[skygazer]

10. What's worse is my daughter is one as well

:cry: Oh, the shame of it! Where did I go wrong? :blush:

[bliss_eternal]

15. Oh NO! I'm so sorry!

I'm sure it isn't anything YOU did or didn't do. Sometimes kids just want to do the direct opposite of what their parents do--hopefully she'll come around.

One of my friend's daughters was conservative (but not insane about it) prior to the 2000 election. She didn't vote for *, and saw him for what he was. But she still leaned in a more conservative direction.

Anyway, after the debacle in Florida, she was outraged. :grr: Everything with her changed then and there. She is now a very staunch Democrat, progressive and proud! :patriot:

So there's a chance she may come around... don't give up hope!

[skygazer]

24. I blame her husband

A staunch Kansas Repuke. She was never political at all really until she met him and the opinions she did have were most decidedly liberal leaning.

He's a jerk, quite honestly. I hate to say that but he really is. He has no work ethic, drinks too much, spends a lot of money on things like TV's and video games when they have 2 small children to consider. They've already ruined their credit because of their credit card debt - she's 25, he's 28. Pathetic. No one listens to me, though, because I'm a *gasp* liberal.

She supports the family while he stays at home with the kids, supposedly taking online college classes (we'll see how far that goes). As far as I can tell, he's not abusive towards her or the kids (they live in Kansas, I'm in Cal so I don't see them often) - if I ever found out he was, I'd tear him from limb to limb.

I can only hope she smartens up - I'd hope he'd change but I think the other is more likely. :(

[bliss_eternal]

30. Skygazer--I am SO sorry...

:hug:

...he just sounds like a real piece of work. It must be so hard for you to see the ones you love in a situation like that. :(

I think you are right in that in time, she may see the light and there is probably no hope for him.

It's just such a shame, she has to work so hard with no help or support from him...what a jerk!

All you can do is let her know that you are there, if she ever needs you. She will go to you and probably drop all the insanity he has taught her.

[hyphenate]

2. A couple of the mailing lists I was on and running

had some holy rollers on them. One in particular forwarded her "Christian" emails to the group a lot, and as a moderator, I had to tell her to stop. She didn't listen to me at all, and there were some more complaints from people on the list, so I finally had to ban her from the group. She never took the hint--either she was severely mentally impaired (there are only so many ways you can say "no!!") or as thick as a brick wall.

What's worse if people send all those urban legends emails without checking through Snopes or one of the other urban legend sites. And of course, I'm sure most of us have gotten that neverending email about our founding fathers being "Christians." Personally, I've been tempted to shove that one up their collective ass.

[bliss_eternal]

12. I love the way you put that!

Shoving it up their collective ass!:rofl:

One of the wives of a(former) friend of dh, used to send me those dumb urban legends things. I used to ignore them, until she started sending ones that were just so damned ridiculous you just read them and KNEW they weren't true. She sent them A LOT! I just got fed up and responded to one with a link to the urban legends check sites.

I guess it 'offended' her. She never e-mailed me again! :rofl:

Honestly, I don't need any friends that are that naive...

Oh the Christian lady from your mailing list, sounds pretty dense. Then again, she may have just been persistent. Some of them are. They seem to think they are doing 'the lord's work.' Even if it bugs the hell out of people and no one wants to hear it, they don't care.

:banghead:

[Wetzelbill]

43. you ever hear the one about the liberal, atheist professor

who lectured all semester about how God didn't exist, and on the last day dared all his students to bet that God wouldn't stop a pen he was holding from hitting the ground when he dropped it. So nobody ever challenged the prof. until one Christian - the e-mail "writer" no less - finally stood up when he had the class and declared that he knew God would stop the pen from hitting the ground. Ok, the professor dropped the pen, but as he was letting go, it slipped a little and the trajectory flew close to his body, where it hit his shoe and stayed, never hitting the ground. The Professor ran out of class embarrassed, while the Christian student went to the front of the whole class and lectured about Jesus for the rest of the period.

I'm going to call BS on that one. And, I'm a pretty religious Christian myself.

These stories are hilarious, I love the Pro-war ones about Apple Pie and all of that. Those are great. :)

[kikiek]

3. My cousin quit sending me emails completely after 9/11 when I told

him that I was a liberal and against the war and to not send me pro war messages. He talks to me and is nice and all, but I still don't get e mail! Funny thing is he admits I was right.

[bliss_eternal]

13. At least he can admit you were right...

and he was respectful about it and stopped sending them. That was cool.

[kikiek]

14. You're right.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. My oldest and dearest friend

sends me the most obnoxious emails about supporting the troops, worshipping the Lord, etc. I usually just delete them but sometimes I write her back and tell her why the email is wrong.

I got one from her yesterday telling everyone to wear red on Fridays to show support for the troops in Iraq. All I can think of is that red stands for blood. But I don't want to say that in a reply.

[bliss_eternal]

18. I'm sorry--that must be very difficult for you.

I don't know how I would deal with that at all...

Has she always been conservative and religious?

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. She is actually pretty liberal

but she got religion about 5 years ago and she now has a group of fundie friends who send her most of these emails.

[bliss_eternal]

32. Ah--the fundie friends...

Leave it to them to circulate those insane e-mails.

When I think about the times in my life that I was surrounded by people like that--(shudder) It's just not a pleasant memory. :scared:

I hope they don't lean your friend to the other side of the political spectrum.

Even if they did, sounds like your friendship would weather the storm. :thumbsup:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. I have a friend who used to send me radical right wing stuff.

Being basically chicken, I confronted her via email and asked her to stop sending this stuff. Some of the things she sent me I was able to debunk using the website Urban Legends. She no longer sends me all this right wing nut job crap. In a way I'm sorry; it is a little useful to know what those idiots are talking about!

:rant:

[bliss_eternal]

19. That's a cool perspective. I never thought of it that way

but I suppose it could be useful. :think:

I just found it so offensive that they assumed we automatically would feel as they did. I thought the fact that I openly shared the fact that I liked Clinton with these people would have clued them in. LOL!

[MrScorpio]

7. Oh hell no

I can't dig that at all

[ladeuxiemevoiture]

8. Yes, I did in the run-up to the election, from a Bush-supporter

and I would actually respond to them, not realizing they were mostly debunked urban legends. She hasn't sent me one in a while. This is a friendship of longstanding, like since kindergarten. LOL

[FloridaPat]

9. I got them from some people. Then I'd reply to everyone and how

the information was lies and offering proofs and web site stories. I no longer get them

[bliss_eternal]

20. Of course not.

It probably made their heads explode--truth, what a concept. LOL!
Good for you for debunking them.

[48pan]

11. Sure

I send back left-wing web site URLs.

[bliss_eternal]

22. I LOVE that!

:applause:

[grannylib]

16. We get them from my husband's sister; she's a freeper fruitloop with

two kids in the military, so she's swallowed the lies hook,line and sinker.
We're all proud of the nephews, even if we don't support the war, but she doesn't get that distinction. We delete 'em and don't reply, these days. It's not worth it getting into it with her; she drinks too much to be rational anyway, so it's a lost cause.

[bliss_eternal]

27. I'm sorry to hear that...

..about the drinking. :(

Are your nephews in Iraq? I hope they come home safe.

[grannylib]

40. One was, he was Top Gun in his class (woowoo!! we were very proud!)

and he's back OK; the other is in Europe.
The one who was in Iraq, it was scary, he sent us pix from the cockpit of his plane and you could see popped rivets and pieces of metal peeled back on the fuselage of the plane, it worried me. I am sure it made his Mom crazy.

[bliss_eternal]

45. Thank you for responding! I'm SO glad he's out of harm's way...

Those pictures sound so frightening.

[grannylib]

55. They were, we were very happy when he returned home safely! And

now he and his wife have just had their first baby, so that's all good!

[bliss_eternal]

56. That's wonderful! Congratulations!

:party:

A new baby...

:toast:

[Wetzelbill]

17. I kind of did, but people know better nowadays

I have one friend who likes to argue but his arguments are even worse than the paper thin Hannity and Limbaugh fare. Pretty easily refuted.

[bliss_eternal]

29. Then you do better than I do w/them.

There was a woman on another site I used to visit. She would regurgitate all their propaganda and wasn't at all rational. Once, several women challenged her on her views. All she did was say over and over,"It simply isn't true...", "That's false," "That's wrong," etc. Even with people citing the facts directly to her.

It was one of the most surreal and insane things I ever witnessed. It's like she was brainwashed or something. No logic or reason at all.

:banghead:

[Wetzelbill]

31. Oh I've run into that kind before too

Just not too much anymore, definitely on a regular basis. There are some people out there who will tell you that an orange is the color red, so then you show them the orange and it's not red and they will say, "well that's just because the liberal media is biased against red oranges." And, you're like, huh? WTF?

Wow, I lost myself on that one. :)

No, honestly, facts don't matter to some people. Not at all.

[bliss_eternal]

33. Exactly! I'm sitting here laughing aloud at your analogy--

That was perfect! :rofl: It was just like that. We were all showing her the proof, and she was going on saying it isn't true, how can you believe the lies, blah, blah...

Just like you said, we were all like :wtf: Like, 'Can't you READ and comprehend what you are reading?'

People like that sincerely frighten me. They scare me because they so obviously can't think for themselves. People like that allow horrible things to happen and deny the fact that it is occuring to the rest of us.
:scared:

[Wetzelbill]

39. But we're Merkca!

We stand for freedom!! Liberty! Nobody is gonna make me take my flag down!


I know a guy who hates Bill Clinton for stuff that Republicans did. Now how do you argue with somebody who is that indoctrined? When people are so spun, and so filled with propaganda, at some point you just have to let it go. Even if you're right, I pretty much ignore some of the most inane stuff one of my closest friends says, because we were about to lose our friendship over politics.

I used to think that we were a pretty smart society, all wanting to do the right thing, basically free of prejucice, racism, anti-feminism. Ha! That shit flew out the window after 9-11. It's gotten ugly. Now, it's mainstream to say crazy stuff. Look at Rick Santorum. Look at James Dobson. On another thread somebody posted how the Freepers were talking about internment camps for Muslims. Internment? In this day and age? That is just awful. Being bigoted has become a mass movement not a thing of the past. So has being stupid. Some wear idiocy like a badge of honor. I've heard people brag about not being educated that's how en vogue Bush has made being dumb.

[bliss_eternal]

44. I was just on the internment thread, too.

Can you believe that? :eyes:

I would LIKE to believe that as a society we all want the same things. Sadly, more often than not it seems a large group of white men wouldn't be happier if they could do away with all the people of color and strip away what's left of women's rights-- to put them into a position of servitude to them. Some may want to keep a few of the 'darks' around, and bring back slavery while they are at it. :thumbsdown:

I hope this doesn't sound racist toward white males. But I've seen and read some pretty mind blowingly, intolerant things on the internet since the boy king has been in office.

I was visiting Margaret Cho's site after last year's election results. You wouldn't believe the disgusting things people wrote to her--horrible, racist, vicious things (i.e. Go back to china, slant eyes, nah,nah, you and your faggy friends lost, etc.) Disgusting!

:puke:

While socially it's still not all that cool for people to say things like that, they seem to feel quite comfortable spewing such hatred on the internet. Again, scary. :scared:

[Wetzelbill]

47. I definitely agree on all counts

[DemGirl7]

21. I get some weird somewhat conservative chain e-mails from a friend

I mean to begin with she's not even political, I think she has no idea of the stuff she sends me. The chain e-mails she has sent me, include something about asking the reader to boycott Newsweek magazine, because the whole koran thing not too long ago, and this one that was super patriotic jingoistic pro-Iraqi war crap. I think she gets it from her music message board pals, who are a majority of teenagers. When I get the crap I just delete it, one day when I get another one from her, I should really talk to her about the crap she is sending me.

[bliss_eternal]

34. Go for it--at the very least

it would be interesting to find out if she understands the content of what she is sending you.

Some people, it seems, just like to have things to send to people (e-mail wise) and don't read half of what they send to their list.

I used to send a cousin jokes, only to have her send them right back to me. She didn't even read the stuff or think about where it came from...

:dunce:

[bikebloke]

23. It soon stopped when I disassociated myself from them.

They want to scream that it's war, then so be it. And not without letting them have an ear full.

[democracyindanger]

26. I did once, from one friend.

My response and the additional ridicule by some other guys on the list nipped it at the bud.

[caty]

28. For every one

I got, I sent back five anti-repub e-mails. Including the bush/anti-christ ones. They stopped.

[bliss_eternal]

35. LMAO, caty!

That's funny! Not just one but FIVE--nicely done!

:woohoo: :applause:

[caty]

36. When I get p-o'd

I get P-O'd.:mad:

[Wetzelbill]

41. remind me not to mess with you in a dark alley

:hide:

:)

[caty]

48. Oh, I'm really very sweet.

;-) :hi: :loveya:

[Wetzelbill]

51. I can see that

:D

I still won't get you PO'd thought. Just to be safe. :)

[caty]

52. Don't worry.

I'm several states away from you. I'm sure I'd cool off by the time I got there. Really!:rofl:

[Wetzelbill]

54. ,,,,,,,

:)

[nickgutierrez]

37. Once.

A mass email, sent to literally dozens of people. I replied to EVERYONE, at length.

It never happened again. :)

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

38. If you're going to reply/debunk, "Reply to All". Most of these wingnut

emailers are too dumb to use blinded copy and instead include all the email addresses on their header, so you can send your debunking to all on the list.

This often cools off the red hot RW emailer, when their BS is debunked to everyone on their list.

The alternative is simply to point out that you disagree with their views and don't wish to receive further emails of a political or racist joke nature, and if they can't refrain from sending them, you will have to filter/reject all email from their address like from any other spammer.

[Seabiscuit]

42. No, but some neanderthal relatives forward it without even understanding

how offensive it is to us.

[bliss_eternal]

46. (sigh) I know...

:(

[Seabiscuit]

49. It's really strange. We live in the same county but in two entirely

different worlds.

We live in the Del Mar area along the coast of San Diego. They live in Escondido in the "valley" of San Diego. To them we are "beautiful people" living in "the beautiful country". To us they seem like cartoon characters right out of Dubya's Crawford western dude ranch stage set (they spew Limbaugh one-liners all day long).

They're my wife's cousins - born of her mom's sister, who unwittingly married a redneck when she was too young to know any better. Their husbands are even worse.

[bliss_eternal]

53. Sounds surreal--but sadly I know exactly what you mean.

I find it hard to believe my husband is blood related to his brothers. He is kind, compassionate, generous and liberal. He is proud to be Democratic.

His brothers are greedy, thoughtless, selfish, sheepish-followers of the pack, tightwad types. Two of them converted themselves to repukes. Part of it was to rebel against a very heavy handed, overbearing father that demanded a great deal of them. Another part of it is they are just assholes.

I feel your pain.

Thankfully, dh got sick of the whole lot of them and won't talk to them anymore.

:applause: :woohoo:

[Kathy in Cambridge]

50. They wouldn't dare. They know better.