Forwarded Emails

I'm sure some of you out there will feel the same way I feel about this, but I hate forwarded emails. Let me clarify, I hate stupid forwarded emails. There are a few kinds, but I am only going to list the ones that I find particularly heinous, and they are (in order of increasing annoyance):

1. Surveys: Not particularly offensive, but heinous because of the time I actually waste on these every once in awhile.
2. Chain letters: Ãœberlame. How anyone could believe that the outcome of their lives could be changed by sending or not sending it on is beyond me.
3. Voting/Petitions: These are getting to the point of really bugging me. When people say, "Here's a link to vote for <insert name here> as Person of the Year/Decade/Century in <insert name of magazine/tv program/website here>" I get really steamed. Most of the ones that I get are an attempt at getting religious figures at the top and are accompanied by a paragraph indicating to me that if I don't vote early and vote often, I am not a true Christian/Mormon/Human Being. I hate to break it to you all, but the best way to show your beliefs is not to vote your leaders to the top, but to listen to and live their teachings.
4. Misquotes: These are the worst. At one time I taught a class on how to teach Sunday School. When we got to the section about keeping the doctrine that we teach pure, I let them know that the biggest error that a religious teacher can make is to misquote or incorrectly paraphrase a scripture or the teachings of Church leaders. I hate the phrase, "A General Authority once said..." Most people don't intend on passing faulty information or half-truths to others, but that is often what they do after uttering those words. My rule of thumb is, if you don't know who said it, don't say it. If you think someone said it, find out, and share it next time. Too often I get emails that contain misquotes, or completely false statements attributed to some famous person. I got one today from a friend (the reason for my rant). It was a quote from Ben Stein about Christmas, and I liked the first half, but then the second half changed tone and became a bit more accusatory. I usually regard all forwards of this type as being fabrications, but since I like Ben Stein and I liked the first half of what he supposedly said, I looked in to this one. I found that the first half was indeed something he said. The second half, however, was something that had been added by someone or a group of someones somewhere, sometime. Are you seeing the holes in quality control here? People, when are you going to learn that just because something is on the internet or in an email doesn't make it the truth! I know it is easier to just click "forward" than to check the facts, but don't do it! Be educated! Learn to say things for yourself, and you will have something of your own to send to people! I am using too many exclamation points! Well, since I am using too many exclamation points, I had better get off the soapbox...