"The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart.
The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace."
- Carlos Santana
This is such a great quote. I try every day to honor the meaning of these statements. This month's essay, "Fear Factor Again," is an effort to figure out how to do that in the face of some pretty distasteful stuff that arrived in my e-mail.
Let me know what you think.
- Ben
May 2008 - FEAR FACTOR AGAIN
Another hoax e-mail letter arrived in my inbox recently. There have been so many. They are sent to me by well-meaning, good-hearted people, clearly oblivious to the fact that they are spreading rumors based on lies.
This is all coming to the forefront now because, of course, it's an election year. These e-mails are politically motivated, designed to exploit the fears and anxieties of ordinary people, and turn them into foot soldiers for a very dishonest political movement.
Take this latest example. This one is insidious: it plays on people's feelings regarding the horrible true story known as the Holocaust, in order to get the reader to swallow a petty, but inflammatory little lie. The e-mail opens with a picture of a German concentration camp from WWII being liberated, and proceeds with grim warnings about the danger of forgetting the unspeakable horror that was the Holocaust. Then the writer brings up the supposed actual current event that prompted him to issue his warning:
"This week, the University of Kentucky removed The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offended' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. This is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it."
In one neat little package, we are given a reason to be afraid and angry at Muslims, and the liberal academic elite that coddles them.
This story is of course, a lie. It was debunked, and publicly denied by the university in question, when it first appeared over six months ago. Yet here it is, presented as if it just happened. It is circulating widely; the list of addresses that it had been forwarded to before it got to me was very long indeed.
I know it's a lie because I checked it out. It took all of 20 seconds to Google the subject and come up with a long list of reliable sources to explain that it was a hoax. But I saw it for what it was even before I checked it out. I have seen enough of these manipulative e-mails to recognize a pattern:
1. No references are given to support or document the claim. This should be a dead give-away, but it doesn't seem to register an alarm with very many people. That is a sign of how effectively the reader can be distracted from the lie by being told a story designed to generate fear and outrage.
So after getting so many of these e-mails, checking it out and discovering it's a lie, over and over, I have come to a conclusion: any e-mail that tries to generate fear and outrage is bound to be based on a lie, a distortion or, at best, a misconception.
The political orientation of these things has also become evident to me. The lies tend to be about:
There is plenty of legitimate debate to be had on all of those subjects. Intelligent, well-meaning people are entitled to disagree and argue. But what is changed, corrected or solved by spreading stories that are patently false? Nothing, but to inflame the fears and anxieties of ordinary people who read it and believe it, and to aggravate the prejudices and bigotry of those already inclined toward intolerance. It's a very old, pathetic tactic. Aren't we tired of it?
This is not just happening in the realm of e-mail. The pattern is repeated in all areas of our life today, in which our leaders, and candidates for office, use the media to exploit our fears to persuade us to support their self-serving agendas. What passes for political discourse is, for the most part, plain and simple propaganda.
Who benefits from this?
Ask yourself that the next time you get one of these messages. Who benefits from sowing the seeds of intolerance, fear and discord?
For them to resort to such easily detectable lies to promote their agenda, the perpetrators would have to be pretty desperate. Or perhaps they simply have so little regard for us, the recipients, that they have concluded we are so stupid that it doesn't matter how lame the story is, we'll still believe it.
The people who start these rumors count on us not paying attention, not taking the time to check. They count on us acting based on our fears and anxieties and not bothering to use our rational minds. They count on us getting so angry and afraid that we will obey their instructions without question and pass the message along to all our friends and family (and it is obviously a very effective tactic, judging from the huge number of addresses at the top of the original message). The convenience of e-mail has made this manipulation so easy to perpetrate.
Again, ask: who benefits; what is gained? I could tell you what I think the answer to that question is, but this would be a very, very long paragraph. Suffice it to say that, whoever is doing this, is not promoting peace, or even tolerance. So ask yourself: why do I want to do these people's dirty work for them by spreading this message any further?
Indeed, I encourage you to do the opposite: spread the truth. This marvelous technology that is being so abused can just as easily be used to spread the truth, just as effectively. If you get an e-mail that seems suspicious, check it out. If it's a hoax, send a message back to the people who got it before you, letting them know. Tell people. Shine a light on it. Discourage divisiveness, fear and hate. Encourage peace, forgiveness and loving compassion for all people and things. And in all things, try to do as Gandhi said, and "be the change you want to see in the world."
- Ben
Your comments welcome!
I feel an urgent need to shine a light on this subject.
I hope you'll stick with me and see why I think this is too important to just press delete and forget about it. This is not about simple differences of opinion; it's not about agreeing to disagree. It is about conducting your life on a foundation of truth, and not accepting stories meant to deceive.
2. Some messages may have references, but they don't lead to any objective sources. Instead, they take you to websites that are blatantly political, partisan and often frighteningly paranoid. There is no truth here, just self-reinforcing propaganda.
3. The underlying tone of the message is one of fear and outrage, directed at a particular individual or group. This is a giveaway because in essence, it is an attack on that individual or group. The message is saying, "Believe this story, and get angry at this person/group." In my book, that is not an invitation to any meaningful discussion. In fact, you can be sure that a false story will be found at the bottom of it.
a: Barack Obama;
b: Muslims;
c: Democrats, liberals or liberal Democrats;
d: war opponents;
e: illegal (Latino) immigrants; or
f: some combination of the above.