The Daily Plunge

One of my big pet peeves is moronic chain letters. I think people are starting to catch on, but it’s still a problem. These days it’s not difficult to fact check an email via Snopes. Heck, just Google it. Ignorance really isn’t an excuse anymore. It’s just lazy.

This morning I received an email from John Smith. I knew there was a problem when I saw the email was an AOL account. My first internet experience was thanks to AOL. For $20 you could get 20 hours a month. I’m not sure that would last a week now. The fact is that was 1996. There’s a good chance if someone is still using AOL they might not be technologically inclined.

John Smith is worried that President Obama is going to take guns away. Obviously, he’s not the only one. That’s why an email like the one below is so “believable.”

Subject: WARNING….

While you were watching the oil spill, Hillary Clinton signed the small arms treaty with the UN. This is one of the things Sheriff Mack has been telling people about. OBAMA FINDS LEGAL WAY AROUND THE 2ND AMENDMENT AND USES IT.

That’s just the first three sentences of this fabricated story. Click here to read the entire email. A simple search yields this entry on Snopes. Shockingly, this rumor is false. There is no “legal” way around Constitutional amendments. Plus, the Secretary of State can’t ratify a treaty; that’s the job of Congress.

I don't think we have to worry about President Obama taking guns.

This type of political delusion ties back into my post about The Political Blame Game. There are plenty of areas to complain about the government. When people choose to believe stupid stuff like this and then forward to everyone they know via email they look like fools. It also weakens any arguments they may have against the subject being Urban Legended (I just coined a new word: “You’ve been Urban Legended, homey.”).