One of my Mom's hobbies is to send her children alarmist emails about the hidden dangers of the world. These emails share three qualities:
1. They are about a danger that I have never heard about, and never would have if she had not sent me this email.
2. The danger affects about 1 in a million people, if that.
3. There is absolutely nothing reasonable one can do to defend against the danger. The defensive action suggest in the email, almost always forwarded through a long chain of people before it reaches her and she broadcasts it to us, is drastic and involves making a major behavior change that is completely overblown considering the negligible risk of the actual danger. In the past, this has included "Don't go swimming in the ocean" (Summer of the Shark), "Don't answer the door at night" and "Always check under your bed for Black Widow spiders before going to sleep."
The title of the latest one, sent today? "FW: New Trick for Rapists, Please Read!"
A few years ago, I used to wonder why I'm so anxious that I need to take medication.
1 comment:
Finally someone who understands how irritating those alarmist e-mails are! Hate the e-mails, love the people who send them:)!!
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