Jennifer Foster: Political e-mail—Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

If you’re a regular reader of this space, you know that I frequently lament the phenomenon that is politics-by-e-mail.

I can’t tell you how many times I have received things – even the same thing multiple times – from people, and there is hardly a shred of truth to what is being said.

You know how this works: These e-mails circulate from the same group of people. You probably can identify a handful of folks who are responsible for most of the political e-mail you receive. I call them The Forwarders. They don’t often have anything original to say in their e-mails; they just want you to know what other people have said, even if it isn’t true.

I have all but begged folks I know, and even readers in this space, to take personal responsibility for the accuracy and content of messages they send.

I haven’t had a lot of success.

Unfortunately, the consequence of receiving erroneous e-mails all the time is that good information can get lost in the shuffle. Folks who send out information that plays fast and loose with the facts run the risk of desensitizing their recipients for the times when they really should “read and forward” … sort of like the little boy who cried wolf.

I saw that problem illustrated once again in two e-mails I received this week.

First, a Christian friend sent me a video. I noticed that the e-mail had been forwarded several times, and I know that this person frequently forwards e-mails that are critical of President Obama, Democrats and their policies.

The video was entitled, “Did Jesus give us the name of the Anti Christ?”

It cites a Bible verse comparing Satan to “lightning falling from the heavens.” The producer then reports that Strong’s Dictionary defines the Hebrew word for lightning as “baraq.”

Oh, there’s a little disclaimer at the end, where the producer says he isn’t saying President Obama is the antichrist. He’s just informing you of the parallels, don’t you see.

I forwarded this video to someone I know and trust as a great scholar of the Bible, and I asked him what he thought – not only about the video, but also about the proliferation of Christians who believe these kinds of things about Barack Obama.

He pointed out that the producer of that video was using Hebrew to translate what was written in Greek; not only that, but he was confusing the subject of the verse – Satan – for the antichrist.

“This kind of video makes us look foolish,” he said.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Also this week, I got an e-mail from a friend saying that, despite the denials of the White House and feminist groups, a major change in federal abortion policy has been written in to the health care reform bills under consideration in Congress.

For 30 years, it has been federal policy that taxpayer money not be used for abortion services. But that will change if the current variation of the public option becomes law. Abortion will be covered in public option services; citizens and employers, who will fund the public option in part through taxes on their private policies, will foot the bill.

A group of 40 moderate and conservative Democrats is ready to block the bill from coming to a vote if that language is not removed from the legislation.

But as Speaker Nancy Pelosi rolled out the bill in a news conference Thursday morning, the issue remained unresolved.

So, check your e-mail – not just for its arrival, but for its accuracy, too.

Jennifer Foster is a political enthusiast who lives in Auburn and writes a column for the Opelika-Auburn News. She can be reached at