Straight Answers to Contemporary Concerns

I recently received several “forwarded” email attachments from well-meaning people concerning a certain Presidential candidate. I do not agree with the candidate under consideration, and I do not plan to vote for him/her should he/she become a nominee for President of the United States. But, I am very concerned about people telling the truth. I may not agree with a person’s politics, but I believe that it is immoral to purposely lie, tell an untruth, or half-truth in order to turn people against someone. Usually, there is enough clear truth, facts, and evidence to properly use to persuade people not to vote for someone, or to vote in favor of someone.

Some of the email attachments I have received claim that the website “snopes.com” has verified the truthfulness of the outrageous claims made against this candidate. The fact is that “snopes.com” has NOT verified such information, and in fact, “snopes.com” has shown such claims to be false. When people begin to simply “forward” email attachments without checking out the veracity of such claims, it may be said that such “forwarders” have perpetuated a lie, a slander, or a libel. It usually only takes a few minutes to check out a story or a claim to find whether it is true or false.

Many people receive email attachments daily. Some foolishly believe that just because someone sent them an email the contents of the email must be true. After all (they reason), it was on the internet! And, they somehow feel an obligation to carbon copy it and forward it to a few dozen other unsuspecting people. Maybe this comes as news to some people, but the internet is used for all kinds of evil, including lies. Often, the contents of emails are simply the figment of someone’s imagination. A person should always check out the truthfulness of an email before sending it to others. But, remember this, some emails are just not worth sending on to others anyway, even if they are true.

Why not be a truth-seeker and truth-teller, rather than a slanderer, or libelous, or a talebearer? Check it out before sending it on! Also ask yourself, is it really necessary to send this on? In the overall scheme of things, what good will it do?