This is What I Mean. . .

. . .by the malicious stupidity of viral e-mails (and blog postings that become viral e-mails):

A Republican county clerk distributed to two employees an Internet blog posting referring to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as a "young, black Adolf Hitler....The employees, who had voted for Obama in the Democratic primary, discovered the printouts at their desks after returning from Labor Day weekend, sheriff's Deputy Doug Cox said in a police report made public this week. A surveillance video showed Jackson placing an item on one worker's desk, he said. (an AP story, printed in The Seattle Times, "GOP Clerk Passes Around Obama 'black Hitler' claim.")

Can anyone believe this county clerk's claim that "there was no motive, no intent" in passing around a copy of a blog posting full of not only lies, but obscene lies? E-mails full of such malicious disinformation are flooding people's in-boxes.

During the 2000 presidential election, John McCain was the subject of a viral e-mail a family member sent to me (and many other family members). I responded instantly, horrified that someone I knew took these lies at face value (they originated on a website). I wasn't planning to vote for John McCain, but I didn't think the rapid dissemination of these lies did anything for democracy. But today...well, today a lot of people base their "information" about the candidates (and other subjects!) on what they read in viral e-mails sent to them by friends and family who don't stop to ascertain the truth of what they are passing on before clicking "Forward." Or on e-mails passed along by people who know very well the power of paranoid fantasies on gullible people.

And now. . . with nine days left in the presidential race, with Obama ahead in the polls but people reminding us that McCain can still win. . . .I'm going to try to write on subjects other than this presidential race in which I have so much invested. Or maybe I'll just read poetry and fiction this week, watch movies, take long walks, and do needlework. Life goes on.