Blackmoor Vituperative

One of my sisters sent me (and about a hundred other people) an email entitled “Help this little Boy – Tsunami Victim”. It was a forwarded message written by someone she’d never met, and she had no idea if either the author or the little boy actually existed. But she forwarded it anyway, just like millions of people do, clogging up the mail servers of the world with yet more junk mail. As if we do not already get enough garbage in our mailboxes.

I spent the ten seconds it takes to research this sort of thing, and discovered that a) surprisingly, the little boy does exist, and b) that he was identified and rescued by his family months ago. So why are people still forwarding this junk mail to dozens of people who wouldn’t know this little boy if he walked in the room? Because they don’t think.

I replied (to all) with a very polite response, saying that one should investigate email from strangers before forwarding it, and that the little boy in the eponymous email had, in fact, already been helped back in December. She was offended, naturally.

What makes me really sad is that my family is brighter than most. I weep for my species.