Why do we have this forward complex?
Why am I subjected to a daily barrage of forwards?
Especially, why do I get so many forwards (no one knows where they originate!) when there is
to check if something is true or false, before forwarding stuff? Why do we seem to thrive so much on forwards?
The most popular are the fear-provoking ones.Coca-cola will strip my insides, water in bottles left in the car will give me cancer, water heated in the microwave will explode in my face, I’ll be given a knockout pill at a party and my kidneys will be harvested….
The other thing we thrive on is what I call false sympathy. From the cancer patient for whom Microsoft will allegedly give a dollar for every email sent (how they are going to track this, I don’t know) to the wonderful couple who were turned away by some great college….we seem to think that forwarding some email makes us better people, because we are sympathizing with the situation described in the email.
It’s…mostly…just a waste of time, and clogs up people’s inboxes. Compared to this, forwards of “bridges with water flowing over them” and “greatest hotels of the world” and “Dubai royal family’s houses” are quite good things to get!
Today I got the SAME forward from SEVEN people…..! I “snoped” it and it was false…