We’re in the midst of a very emotionally charged political season. Folks have opinions and their candidate of choice. That’s fine — that’s the American way.
What is not the American way is to send your political opinions to those who did not ask for your views or opinions. Forwarding of political chain letters is not any different than any other chain letter. Just don’t do it! Yes, I can understand forwarding of e-mails to “like minds” knowing they will appreciate the commentary from the same point of view that you have.
But, what is increasingly becoming annoying are those trying to convince, scold or lecture those on the other side by forwarding their unasked for political commentary. Some stating it is their right to support their candidate when told to refrain sending more of the same in the future. Yes, you are correct — it is your right to support your candidate.
What is not your right, is to send your castigation to me. I didn’t ask for it; I’m not interested and I don’t appreciate you feeling that by forwarding your propaganda that you are in some way doing me a favor or showing me the light. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I am now receiving e-mails on a daily basis from onliners who do not want to receive these type of e-mails from their “friends” who are political enforcers. They ask me “what is a nice way” to tell these over zealous politicos to stop. To which I say; simply ask them to stop.
The 5 Rules of Forwarding E-mails applies to political e-mails also folks. Read them, apply them and don’t get your underwear in a bundle if someone who you send your political editorial to asks you to no longer send those type of e-mails to them. That is their right as well.
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You have good manners. and good help;
What would suggest to send to one who has receieved any email which upsets them….or causes them to send an email that is our of character for them or the sender..? Of the 200 sent this email….only one made any remark other than to say thanks for sending this.
This is the ONE and only one who seemed bothered by my email.
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From: XXXXXX Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 2:53 PM
To:XXXXXXX Subject: Re: This is one to see…listen….
“Why did you send me this garbage? You must be stupid. Smart me will not send you any of my good ones “.
He speaks the truth and no one is listening.
[URL Removed...]
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The ” ” …are the senders words.
What would you do. Ignorel delete. block… junk from this one…?
And if you thought this is worded in a way a person has never seemed to be upset…what would you send?
Would a list of subjects you might make…..be sent to that one…or all…checking yes or no by a subject….that you might not send more to that person.
Politics: Yes _____. No _____
or a template….”I appreciate your email…however…I do not like to read or discuss……____________________.”
“Please do not send me email such as this one because _______________.”
Hello, Douglas:
The solution is to not forward political commentary — period. If you must do this, only send it to those who you know for a fact agree with you. It could be this person doesn’t appreciate the message of that video (I removed the URL from you post as I don’t want the video to become the topic of discussion as this is not the forum to debate that topic.) because they have a polar opposite opinion. Did you know that and sent this to them anyway? The fact that you were surprised by their response indicates that you possibly made an error in judgment by forwarding them something they didn’t ask for on what is clearly a polarizing topic.
No survey needed! Simply refrain from forwarding anything questionable or emotional (sex, religion and politics are the three that come to mind for good reason) and you’ll never find yourself in this position. You just don’t send opinionated e-mails to those who didn’t ask you to or indicate any interest in receiving such opinions from you.
I would e-mail the person, apologize for upsetting them and state I will remove them from any future mailings. And then follow through on that…
HTH!
Judith
Thankyou– I feel the same way about overly religious forwards or ones spouting certain “values” too.
Receiving an email about how things were so much better when there were no videogames and people could hit their kids and everyone played outside aren’t just irritating– they border on condescending and offensive.
Ditto on the religious ones: just like everyone didn’t vote for one political party, not everyone’s of a particular faith and believes in the same things. Unless I’m getting information from people who want to share something with me that they think I’ll be genuinely interested in (and by this I mean people who know where I sit in terms of faith, not people who wish to convert me to their way of thinking), I don’t want to see it any more than I suspect the hardcore Christian people I work with really want a forward full of Richard Dawkins quotes. Once again: it’s incredibly rude and disrespectful– not to mention incredibly dismissive of people– to assume that we all want or *need* their faith shoved in our inboxes.
Cheers– I wish more people knew about your website, too– you offer some very good advice here–
~Jess
Hey, Jess:
Thanks for your kinds words and thoughtful commentary!
At the end of the day, while we all have our opinions and things we believe in, we should always respect the fact that others may think differently and that there is a proper forum for those views (which should be shared with discretion and those with whom we know are like minds or are interested).
Take care ~
Judith