I got this email just a few minutes ago.

I just received this message from a friend.  I don’t know the source of the message; I also don’t know the credibility of the content, but just be aware.
Below is the content on the message:
“Hello there. I just wanted to let you know to stay away from the beaches in the month of July 2009. There is a prediction that there will be another tsunami on July 22^nd. It is also when there will be an eclipse of the sun. It is predicted that it is going to be really bad and countries like Malaysia (Sabah & Sarawak), Singapore, Maldives, Australia, Mauritius, Si Lanka, India, Indonesia and the Philippines are going to be badly hit. Please try and stay away from the beaches in July. It is better to be safe than sorry. Please pass the word around and also pray for all beings.”
Thank you and have a nice day.
Bless you

I don’t know what to make of this.

We live in an age where it is easy to be park our brains somewhere while we hit the “forward” button. We do it with the best of intentions. We think we are doing something good. In fact when we receive something like this, it almost behoves us to hit the “forward” button lest we be accused of receiving information but failing to act.

I disagree.

It may very well be that come July the quakes do happen and the tsunamis do hit. But I could also win the lotto grand prize and Manchester United could win the lot.

Nice maps and charts accompanied that email. But so what? It wouldn’t take a 10^th grader 20 minutes to cook up a graphic illustration like that. Does the picture legitimise the content? It certainly prettied it up. Maybe it would make more people also hit the “forward” button than if there were no pictures. It doesn’t however make the content any more legitimate.

It didn’t make me want to forward it more than if it did not have any pictures. I am just as likely to delete it, and I did.

Why does someone send an email like that without trying to do anything to verify the contents? If there were attempts to verify, then why not let the recipients know? Even share the outcomes of the research? That would then really be doing the recipients a favour. To “forward” it blind is no help.

Am I withholding information or failing to act on information if I don’t “forward” such emails? Don’t be ridiculous. What am I withholding? Scuttle bug. If there were more to it, then why were the additional bits left out?