Ruining the World

I think email forwards, regardless of their content, have done more harm to the world than they have good.

How’s that for a thesis statement?

Today I got an email from a girl in one of my sociology classes. The subject read, “Fwd: Stay Home, Mr. President.” Apparently, if President Bush stays home from the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics, China will have no choice but to put pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the genocide in Darfur. If Bush does attend, it will send the message that we don’t care — or that we support the genocide. Is it just me, or is that a little bit of a non sequitur?

I’m sure that we could find a reason to stay home from the Olympics almost every year. I thought the point of the Olympics, though, was to celebrate skilled athletes from around the globe and (although we don’t focus on this) to bring nations together? So…boycotting the opening ceremonies doesn’t really seem like it’s the best choice in the long run. And besides, what guarantee do we have that China is going to comply with what the American president wants? Honestly…

Anyway, then there are forwards that perpetuate horribly sappy church talks (the one about the ears, the one about the room full of crosses, the one about the filing cabinets of sin, Footprints, the one about the bird, the one about the bridge, this one about the heart that almost made me puke), forwards that give misinformation (the one about the Koran), and forwards that are so blatantly offensive that I don’t even know what to do about them (this one).

I’m going to end the post now because having to look up all those links for you guys was too much to handle. I have to go dry my eyes…

(Yeah, right. Don’t you guys know me at all? Blfrurioaiorrrruerhgh, I think I’m going to be sick from all that sappiness!)