How do the rest of you penetrate the skulls of your relatives who forward freeper email?

And, well, who forward any kind of spam, for that matter...but especially this crap?

I've been hit at least twice by my father in the process of him sending out this stuff. This most recent time, he was forwarding the latest variation on the one about the postage stamp that commemorates Eid...This stamp has been around since just before 9/11, ironically enough, but ever since, there have been spam-mails going around about how wrong it is for the US Postal Service to sell it, how everyone should refuse to accept it in the name of all the "MUSLIM" terrorist attacks on our country, and how stupid it is to have it because Muslims don't believe in the divinity of Christ yet they have a "Christmas stamp." (I mean, how dumb do you have to be to believe an Eid stamp is a "Christmas stamp"?)

The latest iteration claims that the stamp is brand-new and has just been decreed by President Obama...you know, I guess because he's a sekret Muslin and all.

The first time I got this kind of thing, I hit "Reply All" and provided a link to the Snopes page discrediting whatever it was...this time I felt compelled to add a bit more, such as that I do not hold Muslims collectively responsible for terrorist attacks any more than I hold Christians collectively responsible for the Spanish Inquisition, even though the people who conducted that claimed to be Christians. I also said that I think it's fine that there are US stamps commemorating the various holidays celebrated by Americans of different religions, because that's the kind of country I am proud to live in...a country that welcomed all my grandparents when they immigrated here, regardless of religion.

That was the kindest way I could think of to say to my father, "You are the son of immigrants who came here because America is a free country. You have no damn business advocating against other people's religion or expressing prejudice against it when this country's freedom of religion was part of the reason so many people came here to begin with."

I could have made it worse. I could have said "My mother did not raise me to be a prejudiced person." That would have stung, because my father was not very involved at all in my life during my childhood (being there only for the first four years or so).

My father has made efforts at a distance (he lives out of state), stilted though they are, to get to know me and have a relationship with me as an adult, and sadly, he's the only parent I have left. So I try to do what I can to maintain a relationship with him now. But his racism and prejudices (which, I fear, only became worse when he moved to the South) are just something I cannot tolerate without wanting to go all Mike Stivic on him. Usually we steer clear of politics when we talk, which is a good thing because if we didn't all we'd do is argue, but when he sends me this stuff I just can't in all good conscience let him pass it on to huge numbers of other people and allow them to believe it's true. I feel as if I have to take a stand.

You'd think he'd realize this, and realize it's going to put egg on his face when one of his own daughters hits "Reply All" and says, with all due politeness, "I don't believe in this crap and you shouldn't either"...but so far, it doesn't appear to be working.

Do I have no choice but to tell him so outright? I wish he'd just get the message and quit.

to identify them as "spam."

I have relatives like that, too, and if they want me to put them on spam, they can lose the chance to communicate by email on real, substantive matters about our actual family.

It's not just politics either. They sent tons of crap they found online that they think is so wonderful everyone they know just has to read it.

Just tell them that you don't have time to read all the junk and tell them to only send family-related messages. If they continue to misbehave, put them on the spam list.

...to switch to Thunderbird, and learn how to write filters.

use Incredimail, which has a handy "bounce" feature that allows you to bounce all spam back to the sender, cluttering up his inbox instead of yours.

My attitude with people who forward right wing spam, however, is to link to the appropriate Snopes page and then follow with a short note about how I would appreciate being taken off this mail list and will be forced to block them if I'm not. I then hit "send all" so the Snopes link gets out there.

I've only had to block a couple of people, who were then reduced to springing for a stamp or phone call if they wanted to contact me.

Word got around and I now no longer get right wing spam from anyone.

Threatening a person's ISP over spam mailings is a bit extreme. I'd use it only for offenders who change screen names for the sole purpose of sending it to people who have blocked them in the past.

I could stop some email I didn't want. Do tell him first. Be nice but be firm and unambiguous. Some people just have to be hit on the head with a virtual 2x4 and even then they don't sometimes get it.

they know I'd kick their f***ing ass

Thank you for the email. I am forwarding it to the White House site so they may set the record straight. Expect to hear from them.

I never see it but they must never realize it because it keeps coming. Periodically I clean out that file and that's when I see how much junk they waste their time forwarding to me.

You've already done the reply to all thing.

I guess you could try reply to all again along with the message, "Please don't send me any more of this crap." Either that, our you could copy something from liberal sites and start sending that to his list. Take care with copyright infringement. A few paragraphs with a link to the original is perfectly okay. In fact, I think the authors would thank you.

Even though I've set the record straight enough times to make my fingers bleed, they still keep coming. One relative insists they aren't spam as long as she adds her own opinion before the forwarded part starts. Now I toss them into the trash without reading them.

He told me that Snopes is run by a leftist couple from California and therefore they will never confirm anything negative about Obama...LOL.

I told him that on the contrary, I had found them to be very balanced and evenhanded and apolitical in their search for truth. However, if he didn't want to believe them, how about the US Postal Service? I then provided a link to a media release dated 8/1/01 about the stamp. Pointed out that unless he can prove this is a fake, he has to accept it. Also, that the stamp commemorates holidays other than Christmas, and I think it's great that the First Amendment protects our freedom of religion and that the Post Office sees fit to recognize this by issuing stamps of various religions' holidays. And that of course, no one at the Post Office forces you to buy any stamp--you always get to pick. How about it!!

Should be interesting to see if he replies to that. Of course, if he's a real dyed-in-the-wool freeper he doesn't even believe Obama's birth certificate is real, so...

Edited to add: I pointed out to him that on August 1, 2001, the president was George W. Bush. Just a little fact there I thought he might appreciate.

and discounts it if it doesn't agree with hers. :eyes:

and to not forward right wing stuff to me. If they persist, I click Spam in my email client. Then, when they ask why I didn't answer some normal email they sent, I explain. That usually stops the spam forwarding. If it doesn't, I just let all their emails go to the spam folder and get deleted.

If they don't respect me enough to stop sending me forwarded garbage, they won't reach me with their other emails. It's that simple, and they know it. So far, every relative has complied with my request.

When I get emails on the health care bill, I reply with a challenge - Read the Bill! I say that I don't trust any commentator to tell me what's in the bill, so I read it myself. I give a brief explanation on how to read bills, and attach a copy of my notes, with a request that they read the bill and do the same. So far, I've gotten one to respond--and in a positive, thoughtful way!

When I get emails about Christianity or dissing Islam, I gently remind the sender that I am Muslim, and explain a bit about Sufis and our way of thinking, sometimes providing links. After that, I get silence--and at least the anti-Muslim emails stop.

But still refuse to buy into his point of view. I was encouraged recently since rather than blindly forwarding an email, he emailed me for help in finding the information about it on Snopes.

When I do debunk stuff he sends me, I "Reply All" and I have gotten responses from some of his friends thanking me for sending out factual information. Since he lives in the middle of one of the reddest areas of Florida, it means a lot if any of his friends actually get a clue that what they are being fed is not true.

One of the emails he sent me was all right wing nut opinion and could not be debunked. So I responded with my opinions and I hope that made a difference to Dad. I made it clear that I don't believe the crap opinions in that email and said why - that I think Obama is restoring the US standing in the world and hopefully will restore the freedoms that our ancestors fought to secure. That last bit might get through to my parents since they are DAR supporters and proud of what their ancestors did to form this country.

I love my parents, but hate how conservative they are. Mom at least broke out of that a little while last fall - she was so pissed at the selection of Palin, she voted for Obama. But she is back to "being afraid" of Obama, mostly because she worries that he will raise taxes. I need to send them some information on the truth about the health care reform bills and how little their taxes will go up with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts.

My brother in law is a hopeless freep. I generally don't have anything to do with him. If we end up in the same room we argue. A lot. Everyone else leaves. I refuse to play nice. Not after what has gone down.

I 'reply to all' and say "This is false. See this link'.

Lather, rinse and repeat a few times, and I end up getting snipped from the cc list.

:silly:

I have family with conservative views, but they seem to know me well enough to keep them to themselves when I'm concerned.

Your God will never forgive you for doing this. You may think what you're doing is right, but you will have to pay a heavy price for it later on - from God. You are doing to have to answer for this to your God at the moment of your death. What you are doing is evil, and God knows every single thing you do. All I can do is pray for your soul that God will show some mercy on you and forgive you. Don't bother to apologize or ask my forgivness for this, because my forgiveness is not the one you will need."

You can word it in your own terms but make sure to be highly judgemental and frame it in a religious context. It's futile to try to argue the facts about anything with them. Instead, make it a wholesale condemnation of them as a person. And mean it. Condemn them as a person. That is the only way to deal with them. You may lose contact with them for a long time, possibly even forever, but you will be much better off without them.

and, if I do, whether the third time will be the charm.

I would like to maintain a civil relationship with my father, putting aside the past resentments and simply getting to know him as a person...but this stuff seriously gets in the way. Maybe that's what I have to point out if push comes to shove.

I think that living in a small town in the South the way he has for decades now, he's just really comfortable living in a world in which his view of things never gets seriously challenged, nor does he question this stuff when he comes across it. Yet it takes only a tiny bit of work...

Really, I have a low level of patience for anyone forwarding stuff to me, even stuff in the form of a "benign chain letter"...you know, the stuff where it makes some sweet powerful glurgey statement about people or women or whatever and then says "If you like this send it on to 20 other people you love to make their day"...I just delete that stuff and don't pass it on. If it says bad things will happen to me if I don't, I may even point out to the sender that chain mail is illegal. And the stuff where they say that forwarding it will create a donation to a good cause or cause you to win a free something-or-other? I hit Reply All to that and point out the inevitable Snopes link that says it's bogus. Usually for those I get at least one "Thanks--it sounded too good to be true." But boy, when it comes to the political stuff, people will just believe what they want to, even with the facts so easy to find. *sigh*

The stupid, it runs deep in many people.

to remove me from their mailing list. If they persist I get rude, because frankly I don't want to associate with fucking idiots, even if they are relatives.

mark all their political emails to get bounced back to them as "undeliverable" (keep and read the decent ones though).

when they ask why, tell them sorry, but your email program does that sort of thing to political emails...

maybe they'll get the picture and stop sending that stuff altogether


:7