I Want To Believe

More than just the name of the new X-Files movie, I Want To Believe is what people must think when they receive a forwarded email and decide to then send it to everyone in their address book too. I'm not sure what makes that unsolicited and unverified information so irresistible to some folks but the chain is hard to break.

Some of the more famous, and durable, email hoaxes include "Bill Gates wants to pay you to try a new email program," "Telemarketers will soon be given your cell phone number if you don't put it on a Do Not Call list," and "Boycott gas stations on a certain date to send a message to Big Oil."

Politicians are often victims of mass email smears, either through carelessness or malice.  Some recent examples of widely circulated stories that are false include "George W. Bush has the lowest IQ of any president" and  "John McCain does not qualify to run for  president because he was born in Panama."

But Senator Barack Obama is the undisputed recent champion of misinformation victims. See how many of these untrue stories you recognize from the past year:

"Barack Hussein Obama" is a Muslim."
"Barack Hussein Obama is a radical Muslim"
"Barack Obama will not recite the Pledge of Allegiance."
"Barack Obama was sworn into office on the Quran"
"Barack Obama has been endorsed for president by the Ku Klux Klan."
"The bulk of donations to Barack Obama's campaign come from foreign financiers."

And my very favorite, "The Book of Revelations describes the Anti-Christ as someone with characteristics matching those of Barack Obama."  That one includes a Biblical warning about Muslims that was written some 400 years before Islam was even founded!

New to in-boxes this week is an email originating from a Captain Jeffrey S. Porter, soldier in Afghanistan describing how the Senator "blew off" the troops during a brief visit to Bagram. It described how he ignored soldiers that "were lined up to shake his hand" in order to instead "take his publicity pictures playing basketball."

U.S. Army spokespeople have declared the email "factually false," citing among other things that Mr. Obama "took time to shake hands, speak to troops, and pose for photographs" while in Bagram. Additionally, he did not visit the recreation tent mentioned in the original email for basketball, photos or any other reason. The  solider may have been confused since the Senator did spend some time in the gym, playing and talking with dozens of American servicemen in Kuwait earlier in the week.

Capt. Porter has since released a statement that includes, "After checking my sources, information that was put out in my email was wrong."

Much like a print newspaper's correction on page D27 of a front page mistake I am certain only a tiny fraction of people who received the original false description of Mr. Obama's visit to Bagram will ever read the factual follow-up. Something to keep in mind before any of us hit Send on something that might be too good to be true.

For those who don't have them bookmarked, there are two terrific websites worth visiting to check the veracity of forwarded material of any kind. You can find more details on all of the examples mentioned above as well as hundreds more.

Snopes.com is perhaps the best and best known but TruthOrFiction.com is also very good. 

Comments

[IHeartBean]

I got the "Obama is a Muslim" email a while back. Is that supposed to upset me? If a candidate worships the moon I will vote for him if he has the right qualifications. I don't know why people think emails like this will scare us away from voting for him.

[Ms. Inkymae]

Here is another one. I hate those emails...I always delete them, no matter what they promise or what lies they propagate!!
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome/

[Stacey]

I've gotten all the Obama false info e-mails from the same person that also sends me the ones about the children that will die if I don't forward the e-mail to everyone in my address book, the founding fathers really did intend for there to be no separation between church and state, and all those warnings to women everywhere about the dangers in everything (parking lots, your telephone, Coca-Cola, frozen dinners, etc.).

My personal favorite was the one where the war in Iraq was fortold in the Book of Revelation, which the U.S. will only win for God Almighty if we also happen to clear out the non-believers and the gays in the meantime.

Do people even read this stuff before they send it???

[Patrcia]

These stupid e-mails show how scared sh**less some people are at the idea of a black president. It will be interesting to see, in a sad way, how ridiculous these accusations and lies get if Obama stays ahead of McCain in the polls.
It is fun, however, to watch stupid family members spout this crap as though it is the gospel truth. When I tell them it's all lies, they insist it's not because they heard it on Fox or from someone at church, so it must be true!

[Jennifer]

I just got the "Bill Gates is going to send you money if you forward this email" on Friday, from my husbands cousin. I have gotten it several times before and am amazed that it still goes around. I can't believe how gullible some people are and how common sense simply gives way to desperation and stupidity if people think they might get something for nothing!

[Preston Scott]

I get the exact same emails from my crazy aunts who think that email was meant to forward wacky emails.

What's crazy is the whole Bible thing. It's always the Bible that predicts these things, because in 70 AD, the writer of Revelation was thinking about Obama, Bush, Iraq and of course, the always future antiChrist. These things are forwarded by people who aren't educated in the book, the writer, the audience, and the context.

It seems, at least in my experience, that those who forward these emails are the same crowd that says you all Christians are right wing Republicans who want to bring prayer back in school, who want women who get abortions to be jailed, and think that the world is coming to end with the next Pope.

It's so sad and depressing, to see the Bible to be continually used as a political tool since Constantine decided it was advantageous to claim he was a Christian.

[Emily Alexis]

My mom just received one of those forwarded e-mails about Obama last week. She doesn't even really like Obama, but was so offended by the content and blatant lies in the e-mail, that she sent a reply to every single person on the list telling them to check their facts before they spread such ugly rumors. I was very proud. And Truth or Fiction is awesome...my favorite fact checking site.

I would love to sit down and have a chat with people that actually forward this stuff. I imagine it wouldn't be the most stimulating conversation, but it would be like staring into a large fishtank.

[Vic Rattler]

Two things:
1. A recent Supreme Court decision (re: gitmo) criticized by McCain asserted that a territory held in lease by the US was subject to US law.
Had the decision gone the way he wanted I think it could be legitimately argued that his birth in Panama, a territory held in lease by the US at the time, would in fact disqualify him from office.
A moot point, but I find it funny.

2. There's a President with a LOWER IQ than W? I demand to know his name.

[Ken]

If I see emails from the usual offenders – Delete. If one chain email sneaks in and I’m required to send it to 10 friends, I just send it back to the same person 10 times imagining them trying to figure out who they’re going to send 100 more copies to.

So far, I should have died three times, lost six billion dollars, lost all my friends and love ones, twice and been damned threes times, based on how quickly I break email chains – I can’t attest to the being damned part, but none of the other things seemed to have happened

[Stacey]

I just got one that says that I should beware of any e-mail that informs me of an e-mail virus that is about to sweep the internet - if I open up the e-mail that warns me of the virus, I will, in fact, get the virus on my computer.

It also says that this has been verified by snopes, with a link to the snopes page that will confirm that it's true.

So, instead of clicking on the link (I'm smarter than that), I ran my own search on snopes, and found that it was, in fact, FALSE.

[bruin]

Stop the god damn money angels.

[Ken]

Bean,

http://www.theobamafile.com/

This is the website that I like to check when I hear a rumor about our future President. I haven't found one for McCain yet.

Who checks the info on snopes.com, just because they say true or false doesn't make it true or false.

[The Secret]

C'mon peeps. Just delete.

But the one about not buying gas on Wednesday is totally true! It will be a big BURN on Big Oil.