Is anybody else getting their inboxes jammed with political jokes?

The mass-forwarded e-mail is a staple of the Internet, and has been for as long as I've been online. I certainly can't complain; much of the success of my site has come from people forwarding the "You Might Be" list and the Samhain poem to everyone in their address books.

It was inevitable that e-mail would develop like this. As much as you might not see it that way when reading the joke about Bill, Hillary, Al, and Jehovah for the millionth time (oh, come on, you know the one.... "I believe you're sitting in my chair!"), things like this had been going on with office photocopiers and fax machines forever. But with the speed, ready availability, and ease-of-use brought to us by e-mail, it's become almost epidemic and has developed the possibility for a more subtle use....propaganda.

It's not a new thing-- governments, social movements, corporations, and ad agencies have been using propaganda forever. Microsoft puts out its bulletins and warnings that selling a PC without Windows pre-installed is immoral. Phillip Morris talks about its programs to feed the elderly and prevent kids from smoking.

Propaganda can come in any form-- a tract left in a bathroom stall, a billboard advertisement, a catch phrase-- but the best propaganda is the kind that spreads itself. Jokes, slogans, rumors, innuendos.

A few years ago, I read an article (and I would cheerfully give the author credit if I remembered where it was I read it) that suggested that e-mail could be used for propaganda. Shortly after, the impeachment hearings started, and suddenly I realized that I was getting tons of e-mail with Clinton Jokes, cartoons (including a rather tasteless depiction of "The Clinton Memorial"), and "fact sheets" that were less fact and more innuendo.Then, as the vote came up, it happened again.

Coincidence? Well, possibly. After all, these matters were in the national news a lot. And these e-mails were coming from people I know (who got it from people they knew). But let's face it, somebody had to send the first e-mail. What was their motive?

Could it be that, in the cases listed above, some insightful right-winger took it upon himself to e-mail these jokes out, knowing that they would get forwarded, with each repetition placing anotherdoubt in people's minds? Could it be that somewhere in the darkest corners of the Republican Party, there was a coordinated effort to get these e-mails in circulation?

Okay, I'll admit, it sounds paranoid. And I shouldn't point fingers explicitly at the Republicans, as I've seen some rather interesting anti-Bush propaganda too. But before you start dismissing a possible motive, think about what we HAVE seen in e-mail.

In the last two years, I have received lies in my inbox that defy logic... virii that are technically impossible, plots by the post office to tax e-mail, horror stories of criminals released on loopholes that, if you actually believed the story, would be outrageous, health scares (Febreeze is fine for your pets, guys, there is not a single instance of someone waking up in a bathtub full of ice with a missing kidney, and

there are no recorded cases of someone getting AIDS from a syringe in a movie theatre), and other urban legends ranging from the ridiculous to the obscene.

These things get started somewhere. And while the twit who came up with the idea of the Good Times virus may have just been a loser who wanted to make up for his inadequate penis (as, indeed, are most of the children who create actual virii), I'm cynical and paranoid enough to ask about the motives of the original author of the e-mail that claimed TWA Flight 800 was shot down by a U.S. Navy missile. Surely this wasn't done to foster good will for the government.

So while it's probably safe to say that a lot of the junk e-mail you're getting is benign in origin, it's possible some of it is not. The upcoming election is going to be one of he closest in US History, and every little tidbit that can be put in people's heads is going to make a difference. So before you forward that e-mail to everyone in your address books, ask yourself a few questions.

That's actually my general advice with all e-mail. But with the election this close in the final weeks, I just thought I'd put out a little warning. If you do receive a piece of e-mail that could act as propaganda, make up your mind whether to send it along. You can bet I forward everything I get that slams Bush. The important part is that you don't get used as a propagandist without your consent.

Postscript: For more advice on responsible e-mail, I highly recommend reading "Thirteen Things Everyone With E-mail Should Know." It started out as-- what else-- an e-mail that got forwarded around the net. Web Cartoonist Scott Kurtz has a copy posted here as a public service.

© 2000 by Cather "Catalyst" Steincamp