I received a hoax email today that I thought I would mention. First, a tip: If you receive an email that opens and/or closes by asking you to forward it to everyone in your address book, it’s more than likely a hoax. By ‘more than likely’, I mean there’s a 99.9% chance it’s a hoax.

So this email is about what a bad person Jane Fonda is, and how she shouldn’t be regarded as one of the 100 women of the century. There are a couple of problems with this. First of all, the ‘honor’ came either in a Barbara Walters book or from the Lady’s Home Journal depending on which debunking you read. Second, the ‘honor’ was bestowed on Fonda in 1999, so there’s not much anyone can do about it now. Finally, the email doesn’t mention who’s honoring Fonda or where you can write/call to express you opinion about her, whatever that may be.

Personally, I feel that Fonda acted a little carelessly in her protests of the Vietnam conflict. She made the same mistake many others did, and one we try hard not to make today: she protested everything about the conflict rather than the people waging it – namely, the U.S. Government. Today, we protest the Government and its leaders while we support the troops as people serving their country whether or not they agree with its motives. Yes, it is possible to be against this conflict, but still support the troops. She has since apologized for many of her actions, but still maintains her opinion that the conflict was wrong and she had a right to protest it. While I disagree with many of her actions, I agree with her rights to carry them out. I also hold a little bit of respect for her ability to apologize for some of her more inflammatory actions while holding to her beliefs that the conflict and her rights.

Anyway, I got this email from a cousin of mine. First of all, I hate chain emails if only for the reason that most people put everyone’s address in the ‘To:’ line rather than the ‘Bcc:’ line. I don’t know everyone to whom the message was sent, and I don’t want strangers having my email address. Sorry if I sound paranoid, but I get very little spam, I’ve not been a victim of identity theft and I would very much like to keep it that way. If you still think it’s paranoid, how do you think email-based viruses, trojans and worms spread? Second, look at the first paragraph about email hoaxes, and do a little research before blindly forwarding something just because someone else sent it to you (I too was once guilty of this, but email hoaxes are nothing new and the stuff I get is from people who aren’t new to the Intarnetweb). It took me less time to find out this was fake than it took me to read the email itself; Google is a wonderful thing. While I was finding links to various sites exposing the hoax, I came across a post:

Buying the Cow: On Hanoi Jane

The post is basically a copy of the email which I won’t reprint here (there are links below to sites reproducing the various forms of the hoax), but one of the comments struck my eye:

" The people who claim that Bush has divided the country take note: it
began in the sixties with the anti-war movement. This
not-particularly-American crowd claim loyalty and love of country while
at the same time turning their backs on America through words and
deeds. (Ms Fonda could be the poster girl)"

I thought this was particularly startling. People forget that this country was founded by people who questioned their leaders. By changing a few words from the above statement, you get the following sentiment:

"The people who claim that King George has divided the colonies take note: it began in the fifties with the revolutionary movement. This not-particularly-English crowd claim loyalty and love of country while at the same time turning their backs on England through words and deeds. (Mr. Revere/Washington/Henry/Franklin could be the poster boy(s))"

Let’s not forget where we come from when we roll our eyes at protesters, especially when we disagree with them.

Info about the hoax:
About.com’s Urban Legends
Truthorfiction.com
Conservative commentary on the hoax
BreakTheChain.org
TruthMiners.com

technorati tags: hoax, rant, email, BS, Jane Fonda, Hanoi Jane, urban legends