I received one of those dreaded e-mails today, You know the ones. They have a ( FW: )in the subject line, flashing like a red warning light, assuring you that reading said e-mail would most likely use up five minutes of your life that you could never again reclaim. However, for some unfathomed reason I clicked the link, and read the message. What I was subjected to was worse than the usual pap. This message was one of those collections of fear mongering, misinformation,cleverly disguised as patriotism,
The problem with these perpetually Forwarded e-mails are, that no one bothers to check out the truth of the details, but simply forwards them irresponsibly. If they did, they would find, that the story which outraged them enough to prompt inflicting it on their friends, is essentially false with a few truths sprinkled in.
We as a citizens need to stop blindly taking up the cry of patriotism. When we do, it allows the wielders of information too much power over us. It is our duty to question the veracity of the information that we receive and to assert its truth before passing it on to others.
If we blindly take up the “call to arms” we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of history. The knights of the crusade, blindly followed the Pope to rape the Holy Land in the name of Christianity. The German people blindly followed Hitler and his “Final Solution” in the name of German patriotism. These are just two examples.
From e-mail to Hitler! My Soap Box indeed! Please if you read it, hear it, or see it, question it!
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