This doesn't work so well with political views, even those on the fringe. As a left-wing Canadian, I can characterize it as a "hoax" when people claim that the 911 terrorists entered the US through my country and even point them to website most people deem credible to refute this as a "hoax." But it doesn't produce the same result as when you go after an urban legend "hoax" -- people react completely differently to their political views being characterized as hoaxes than they would to a chain e-mail being described as such. Generally, when dealing with people whose political views are highly disparate, such a tactic tends to increase the level of animosity rather than defusing it, transforming a situation from annoying e-mails to a raging debate about the future of American society.IronWolf said:
The Polite Way...
- Thread starter Queen_Dopplepopolis
- Start date
IronWolf
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fusangite said:
Quite true... My last response was geared more towards those "Urban Legend" email chains people like to send around than political view emails. Those are certainly a little more touchy and trying to send links to facts that speak for one side or another will just be disputed by the other party and serve to stir the fire!
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him) 🇺🇦🇵🇸🏳️⚧️
fusangite said:
Quoted for truth. At best, you might point out where the factual information in their email is incorrect. But a lot of people are of the persuasion "My mind is made up. Don't confuse me with the facts." especially when it comes ot politics. Deeply held assumptions are generally more important than reliable data.
I actually get into a few debates like this with my old college roommate. But at least we usually look at the whole exercise as one in humor and good-natured needling rather than going for the throat. It helps that we tend to agree on a lot of social issues, very serious lightning rods in political discourse, while we disagree on the wonkier elements of taxation, welfare, and the government's role in society.
Chimera
First Post
Variety of responses;
Urban Legends: Used to have some co-workers who would regularly resend these things all around the office. My response was to "reply all" with a message that it was a hoax, usually pointing at Snopes or some other site that debunked it. No hostility, no snottiness, just the facts. The main offender got so plastered as a FOOL after a half dozen of these that she stopped posting such nonsense. (I think her boss may have finally put the kibosh on it.)
Politics: Same method, but usually just to the sender. I find something that says the opposite, then send it to them in my response. I'm not a member of any political party. If they get flustered or angry about my alleged political views because of this, I point out that I don't like either side and am just showing them the alternative view. Usually they get so frustrated that they stop doing this to me.
Other: About five years ago, a male friend of mine was working in an office that was mostly women. They kept sending around very anti-male jokes and commentary pieces that he would then forward to me. After telling him straight out on several occasions that I didn't like this kind of misandronist nonsense, I simply took one of his pieces and completely reversed the gender, making it about women. His response was a very angry and hostile diatribe about how I must hate women and how he didn't want me as a friend anymore. At this, I pointed out what I had done and asked him if he hated himself and other men. I asked (again) that he not send me any of this stuff and offered not to be his friend if he really felt that way about men in general. He got the message.
Of course, my responses are not generally the "go along to get along" type.
Urban Legends: Used to have some co-workers who would regularly resend these things all around the office. My response was to "reply all" with a message that it was a hoax, usually pointing at Snopes or some other site that debunked it. No hostility, no snottiness, just the facts. The main offender got so plastered as a FOOL after a half dozen of these that she stopped posting such nonsense. (I think her boss may have finally put the kibosh on it.)
Politics: Same method, but usually just to the sender. I find something that says the opposite, then send it to them in my response. I'm not a member of any political party. If they get flustered or angry about my alleged political views because of this, I point out that I don't like either side and am just showing them the alternative view. Usually they get so frustrated that they stop doing this to me.
Other: About five years ago, a male friend of mine was working in an office that was mostly women. They kept sending around very anti-male jokes and commentary pieces that he would then forward to me. After telling him straight out on several occasions that I didn't like this kind of misandronist nonsense, I simply took one of his pieces and completely reversed the gender, making it about women. His response was a very angry and hostile diatribe about how I must hate women and how he didn't want me as a friend anymore. At this, I pointed out what I had done and asked him if he hated himself and other men. I asked (again) that he not send me any of this stuff and offered not to be his friend if he really felt that way about men in general. He got the message.
Of course, my responses are not generally the "go along to get along" type.
devilish
Explorer
Our group lost a "friend" this way -- we asked him to back down on his
politcal messages that he sent daily until he finally went too far and ticked off one person
(who's usually very sweet) into a frenzy. Lots of hate mail later, this "friend"
just went away.
It's nothing short of complete disrespect -- if I tell you, "Look, speaking in
Pirate-talk on any day but Pirate-day is against my religion/politics and offends me deeply"
and you write back "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!", well, then you suck!
politcal messages that he sent daily until he finally went too far and ticked off one person
(who's usually very sweet) into a frenzy. Lots of hate mail later, this "friend"
just went away.
It's nothing short of complete disrespect -- if I tell you, "Look, speaking in
Pirate-talk on any day but Pirate-day is against my religion/politics and offends me deeply"
and you write back "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!", well, then you suck!
Torm
Explorer
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!devilish said:If I tell you, "Look, speaking in
Pirate-talk on any day but Pirate-day is against my religion/politics and offends me deeply"
and you write back "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!", well, then you suck!
One fewer 'R', and besides, it is Pirate Day.
Hypersmurf
Moderatarrrrh...
I'd be inclined to reply to each email she sends through, placing the word 'unsubscribe' in the body of the message.
Until she gets the idea
-Hyp.
Until she gets the idea
-Hyp.
Arbiter of Wyrms
First Post
TODAY is pirate day?!Torm said:ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
One fewer 'R', and besides, it is Pirate Day.
Why isn't the main news page in pirate-speak then? I've been looking forward to pirate day forever, but I didn't know it was today.
Arbiter of Wyrms
First Post
Queen D,
I really appreciate you thinking of me and sending along the emails you find, but I've been so busy lately, I just haven't had the time to give them the attention that I'd like to and they just end up piling-up in my inbox until I have to delete them. I would love to debate politics with you when I have more time, but until then, I'll just have to content myself with uninformed disagreement.
As always, of course, I look forward to any emails that you send me that are original compositions, but it's only fair to warn you that I just have to delete the fwd: emails without looking at them. I really don't want to delete your actual emails by mistake, so if you stop forwarding stuff to me, I'll know that can look forward to seeing your name in my inbox instead of just deleting your emails wholesale and worrying that I've thrown out something actually about you.
I hope all is well on your end, and if it isn't, I hope you've remembered me in your will.
I'm am hopeful that we'll have a couple of days off around thanksgiving. Maybe the four of us can make some time to get together. Let me know.
-AoW
p.s. Did that friend of yours get the drift about the political emails, or did they get all bent-out-of-shape?
I really appreciate you thinking of me and sending along the emails you find, but I've been so busy lately, I just haven't had the time to give them the attention that I'd like to and they just end up piling-up in my inbox until I have to delete them. I would love to debate politics with you when I have more time, but until then, I'll just have to content myself with uninformed disagreement.
As always, of course, I look forward to any emails that you send me that are original compositions, but it's only fair to warn you that I just have to delete the fwd: emails without looking at them. I really don't want to delete your actual emails by mistake, so if you stop forwarding stuff to me, I'll know that can look forward to seeing your name in my inbox instead of just deleting your emails wholesale and worrying that I've thrown out something actually about you.
I hope all is well on your end, and if it isn't, I hope you've remembered me in your will.
I'm am hopeful that we'll have a couple of days off around thanksgiving. Maybe the four of us can make some time to get together. Let me know.-AoW
p.s. Did that friend of yours get the drift about the political emails, or did they get all bent-out-of-shape?
Queen_Dopplepopolis
First Post
Well - I have finally gotten an email back from her... and she essentially pretended I didn't say anything. I've haven't gotten another political email, but it went a little something like this.
Liz,
Hey! Sorry about that!
How are classes... blah blah blah
And that's a perfectly fine response so far as I'm concerned. I like to think that I have intimidated her.![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
Or maybe she's just hoping to avoid confrontation in the same way I was...
Either way - she didn't blow up or call me names or swear to never speak to me. Another perfect example of how QueenD blows everything out of proportion. 
Liz,
Hey! Sorry about that!
How are classes... blah blah blah
And that's a perfectly fine response so far as I'm concerned. I like to think that I have intimidated her.
Or maybe she's just hoping to avoid confrontation in the same way I was...Either way - she didn't blow up or call me names or swear to never speak to me. Another perfect example of how QueenD blows everything out of proportion.
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