Kids These Days

My 12 year old niece kept sending me emails today. The first one was a reply to an email I sent her over a month ago congratulating her on winning some award at school. All she said was "thank you." No explanation, just a simple "thank you."

Then I got another email. According to the subject, it was "sooooo cute and funny." It contained a series of pictures of elephants kissing baby penguins and things of that nature. She was right, they were sooo cute. And funny, too. See?



But then I got an email that began like this:

"This is not sent for discussion, if you agree forward it, if you don't, fine, delete it. I don't want to know one way or the other. By me forwarding it, you know how I feel."

Well, hello to you, too. And when did you become a teenager? So aggressively, confrontationally unwilling to listen to anyone else's point of view. I don't appreciate being asked to read her (or you know, the author's) opinion without even the possibility of replying.

What's more frustrating is how much I hate these fucking emails to begin with - without the snarky intro. I hate receiving forwarded emails shoving right wing propoganda down my throat with the assumption that I'll agree. It's like being white and a white aquaintance of yours telling a racist joke with the assumption that I'll think it's funny. I don't.

I receive these emails all too often, as many of us do; from co-workers, old friends, family members, just all the time. Just a couple weeks ago I received one from my VPs admin that really burned me up. It was so inappropriately religious in a work environment that I had to bite my tongue and just delete it before I caved and "tattled." I was this close but tattling is worse then sending the stupid email in the first place.

It bothers me, too, that my first instinct is to reply and the realization that the above message was made for people like me. To cut me off at the pass. People don't like hearing my smart ass replies to their trite little emails. I know this, but I do it so they'll quit sending me their shit. But they won't quit. All they want in life is to forward weak minded bullshit and feel good about having contributed to the national discussion without thinking another moment further or actually doing anything productive.

So, I'll discuss it on my blog that no one reads a feel like at least I was able to respond in this way. I love the internet and its many venues for pent up frustration.

Oh, and by the way, of course Barack won Oregon. Duh. I wonder if Hillary feels just the tiniest bit self conscious that she's only winning the southern redneck states (I can say that as a resident of southern redneck states, even though I know it's making an assumption about people just because they're from the south).