Forwarded Email And Emotional Blackmail !

On an entirely different note from the other celebratory blogs of this month, here's a post on a topic I've been mulling over for quite some time. I receive numerous forwarded emails from well-meaning friends, most of which I enjoy. Some of them, I must admit, elicit appreciative laughter, and some of them make me go "Wow!". I'm happy to be the recipient of such emails that put a smile on my lips or make my heart sing. The bone I have to pick with is about those emails that need to be forwarded to a required number of contacts within a said number of minutes to enjoy a blessing or whatever, or else...! Let me confess... I never forward any such email, but promptly hit the 'delete' button without any qualms whatsoever!

I do not believe in chain mail that warn me of dire consequences or bad luck if the chain gets broken, but if I'm part of the unbroken chain, then I'd reap rewards untold. That's the best nonsense of the millennium and hardly do I give credence to such b.s. even for a split second. In the whole cosmic sequence of events, one simply can't bring on good karma by sitting on one's dainty bottom (I'm being decent here!) and forwarding emails of this kind. The other kind of email that makes me fume is the one that says Bill Gates is giving away his fortune to those who forward the said email, or the one promising me a new iPod or iMac (substitute this with cash or any other popular electronic item of the day) if I did the same. As if Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have nothing else worthy going on in their lives, and as if their only mission in life is to heap said rewards on recipients unknown to them!

Some of the forwarded emails are truly brilliant in creativity and ingenuity as I keep marveling at them and keep scrolling till the very end, only to find the last few lines asking me to forward them to all the folks in my contact list. I have better things to do, and being on autopilot, I hit 'delete' without any question. Of all the kinds of such email, the ones that rile me the most are those that use religion to emotionally blackmail me into forwarding them to others. "If you truly believe in Jesus, then send this to all the people you know," or some such crap implying that I'm not a true Christian or sadly lacking in Christian values if I didn't forward it to others. I see no need to prove to anyone that I'm a believer just by forwarding emails of this kind, so again..DELETE!

As we head into the New Year 2010, let me assure all the friends on my contact list that I do value and enjoy your funny, smart, intelligent, thought-provoking forwards, but if at all you do require me to forward them to others or keep the chain unbroken, then FUGGEDABOUDIT!!!!

Here's wishing one and all happy and sensible emailing in the new year!