Forwarding emails

Let me start by saying that I hate most forwards. Pictures of babies I don't know, chain emails promising free ipods, Neiman Marcus "secret" chocolate chip cookie recipe (the one they post on their own web site), you name it. I generally delete these forwards before reading them. I am interested in political causes, but don't send me slide shows of dead people and don't send me things you haven't vertified to be true. If you heard a cleaning product will make you pets ill, check www.snopes.com first before forwarding it to every single person in your address book. This goes for jokes, too. It better be off-colour, black humour if I'm expected to enjoy it. Political humour works, too. Instead of the aforementioned crud, send me newspaper articles, send me videos of actual public speeches, but don't send me shit that someone else sent you "so it must be true" sort of shit.

A few weeks ago my husband received an email from a Lebanese friend. The email was CLEARLY labeled "parody". My husband's friend was forwarding it as a truth. Here's the letter, found on snopes.com. This web site debunks all those urban legends and dodgey email forwards that claim to be spreading the truth. Read this link before going on: http://www.snopes.com/politics/israel/schultz.asp

George W. has a documented history of alcohol and drug abuse. He is known for being irresponsible as a public official (published stories about him playing solitaire often in his office as govenor of Texas)and a poor student. These are all accepted as facts based on what the American media has reported. (from Wikipedia: "There are a number of accounts of substance abuse and otherwise disorderly conduct by Bush from this time. Bush has described this period of his life as his "nomadic" period of "irresponsible youth" and admitted to drinking "too much" in those years.[5] On September 4, 1976, near his family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, Bush was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, having been drinking with former Australian world number-one tennis player John Newcombe and his former advisor, Raphael Rosenast. He pleaded guilty, was fined $150, and had his driver's license suspended for 30 days within Maine.[6][7]"

When SNL shows Will Farrell portraying Bush drinking from a keg in the Oval Office, it is for humour and political commentary. Emails do not circulate telling everyone that Bush is drinking from a kegger in the Oval Office.

Anyway, I found a follow-up article (yes, folks, it's good to check your sources before sending this shit out to everyone in your address book) http://www.businesstodayegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6910 that sheds some light on Starbucks, Israel, and Egypt.

Here are comments from that author of that original letter intended as a parody (definition: http://www.answers.com/parody&r=67), Andrew Winkler.

The author noted in an update that
although
the letter itself was a spoof, he based his satire upon factual
information
about Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz:

The Howard Schultz spoof letter above has caused quite a bit of a
stir. We had
over 10,000 visitors reading this article in the past 24
hours.
Some of them
were not quite sure whether the article was 'kosher'
or not.
Well, it was and it
wasn't. Howard Schultz never wrote that
letter, I did.
If you didn't find it
funny, blame it on my German
humour. However, all the
statements I made in that
letter about
donations, sponsorships, political
views etc. — are based on
factual
Howard Schultz actions and quotes, as 1/2
hour of 'Googling' will easily
confirm to anyone interested.

I lived in the Middle East. My allegiance tends to lie with the underdog in cases such as these, and it is my opinion that Israel is no underdog. I just think we need more intellectual discourse and less conspiracy theory talk when it comes to these things. Everytime I get an email like the letter parody mentioned above (and that letter is represented the writing of Shultz) my heart sinks. Can't we do better?