How do we deal with chain mail emails that spread lies?

[karynnj]

Democrats currently face a hostile media environment.

- Talk radio is mostly Republican and most of that is of the right wing variety. (This is true even in places like Boston - where talk radio really pushed Brown.)

- Cable News leans to the right. FOX News is completely to the right, but other than primetime MSNBC, nothing is to the left. Newspapers are beginning, as they cut reporters, to get more and more of their news articles from the right leaning AP.

On top of that, there is the use of chain mail from the right to spread garbage attacks on candidates and issues.

Here is an interesting blog post that spoke of these email attacks - http://blogcritics.org/politics/article/alarming-new-spoofing-spam-evolves/

[DesertFlower]

1. when i get a chain e-mail from a repub.

i answer them with facts.

i think MSNBC leans left, while CNN is in the middle. forget about fox.

i don't listen to talk radio.

[MineralMan]

2. When I have time, I click Reply All to such emails and debunk

the contents. Usually, I don't have time. But, the Reply All thing tends to cut down on the number of these things I get, since it pisses off the so-called friend or relative who sent it to me. They usually take me off their email lists.

[LiberalFighter]

10. I agree. They don't like the idea that you tell their friends the facts too.

The level of integrity in the eyes of their friends goes down.


I do a twist on that when driving provided their vehicle has at least two in the vehicle. If they are driving on the interstate and using the left lane instead of the right as I pass them I shake my head. Hopefully, it embarrasses the driver as well as the passenger if a spouse.

[johnnie]

15. Did the same thing

I rarely get that shit now. I also pissed off a lot of repukes..lol.

[brooklynite]

3. Ignore them...

Seriously, the sort of person who's convinced by a chain letter isn't going to be convinced by your response.

[Warpy]

6. The idea is to make it snotty enough that they stop sending shit

Nobody sends me this rubbish any more because they know what will happen if they do.

[Whisp]

14. that would be my answer.

why take the bait and bother yourself with idiots? you Really think you can change a fucked up mind?

[Mopar151]

4. Some of us have already been down this road

And the "reply-all" feature of e-mail has been our friend. This is a shortcut to a thread I started on the subject:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=7034053

The line that really stung the dumber of my relatives who used to forward this stuff en masse? " If the best argument you can make for your side is an easily proven lie, what does that say about your position?"

[karynnj]

13. Thanks

Your last sentence is a very good response - especially if it is slightly depersonalized as "if the best argument your side can make .....

[undeterred]

5. I told a person who sent me her crap rightwing emails

to please take me off her list. I don't think she even reads the stuff she forwards and I don't think she knows what "rightwing" means.

[tabbycat31]

7. I never got any

but if I get ahold of one, I like to use my blog to debunk it. Last fall a David Horowitz one was posted here and I had fun with it.

[timeforpeace]

8. It's so easy (and satisfying) to delete unopened. Try it.

[Divine Discontent]

9. I take the 30 seconds to copy and paste one of the sentences into google, and the word snopes, and

most of the time, it's a debunked story. I think copy the link to the snopes page and write them back (one lady, over and over, and she keeps sending the lies, and I will keep letting her know they are!).

[ChicagoSuz219]

11. I tell the person to stop sending me this crap...

...then I go back & hit 'delete.'

[Vinnie From Indy]

12. In many instances, I simply reply all and rebutt the idiocy

I, for one, think it is important not to cede this ground to the whackos among us. That being said, I do not get that many. In most every case, the emails have been around a while and rebuttals are all over the place on the 'net.

[Lex]

16. If there are a lot of recipients, be sure to hit "Reply All" and

post the snopes debunking link, or whatever debunking information you have.

That's what I do anyway. Pissed a few relatives off that way, but at least they know I don't buy their BS.