White Coat Underground

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Thank you for polluting my in box with a hateful, lie-filled chain letter. It took me all of ten seconds on the internet to find the truth behind your lie and thereby discover what a tool you are. I’m sure it would have seemed natural to you that because we share an ethnic identity I would give you a pass on this one—I won’t. My wife and I are not raising our daughter in a household of hatred, but of love. She will learn to love and respect everyone, and even to reach out to those, who like you, may not at first seem deserving of such a precious gift.

My daughter is surrounded by people of many backgrounds and religions, and has learned a respect for different beliefs. She may not always feel that way, but when she feels afraid of something different she asks questions rather than lashing out at the unknown. This is the difference between compassionate intelligence and loathsome stupidity.

My daughter is a better person than I am. She would likely embrace you, loathsome correspondent, as a human being worthy of respect and love, regardless of background and beliefs.

I’m not there yet.

Comments

#1 Katharine
November 3, 2009

WTF happened here?
#2 dean
November 3, 2009

I received the same email (I’m assuming it’s the same, or at least the same message, after looking at the Snopes link you posted). I’m sad to say it was from my brother-in-law. When I called him on its falsehoods, his comment was “That doesn’t matter; we all know he believes that way and he isn’t doing anything to stop it.” I’m sure opinions like that run strong among the folks who send this crap around.
#3 Arnold T Pants
November 3, 2009

I demand that stamps be issued for my particular winter holiday, the feast of Sol Invictus. I’m old school like that.
#4 Phil
November 3, 2009

Why is it always the brother in law?
#5 mxh
November 3, 2009

The only people who would be upset by the presence of Eid stamps are bigots anyways. Even if Obama did authorize the Eid stamp… what’s wrong with it when there’s already a Christmas and Hannukah stamps.

P.S. The worst hatred comes when you’re with those of the same ethnicity/religion/skin color as you. (i.e. when they think they’re with friends). I always call them out on it.
#6 Dan
November 3, 2009

Did someone you know send this to you, Pal? Or was it a stranger?

I have managed to almost entirely dissuade my friends from sending me chain e-mails by using strong reminders to Just F**king Google It before clicking ‘Forward’, but I suppose it’s a different beast when someone actually WANTS the tripe in question to be true.

On another note, it’s sad that the entire religion of Islam has received such terrible stigma thanks to violent fringe groups, to the point where being Muslim makes you pretty much unelectable in the U.S.
#7 Katharine
November 3, 2009

I admit I fantasize, often, about engineering some sort of virus that makes it painful for people to be as stupid as these bigots.

In theory, it would be great, but unfortunately, in practice, it is impossible to engineer such a virus.

So I will just have to sit here and grumble.
#8 Katharine
November 3, 2009

And, of course, get on with my studying. I am a busy biology student.

We misanthropes are not idle.
#9 lori b
November 3, 2009

wow. just…wow.
#10 Phil H
November 4, 2009

Just looked this up on Snopes – man there’s some horrific stuff going around.

Are stamp releases really such a ‘thing’? My reading of the Snopes article tells me not but the email itself tells a different story. Here in the UK the Royal Mail produce different stamps all the time (we even had Darwin ones for his 200th anniversary), they pass by without comment.
#11 JohnV
November 4, 2009

No Phil, typically no one cares here. If any of the previous presidents had done this, no one would have cared. But since a half-white president with a scary name did it, the racist scum bags go bonkers.
#12 Mandrake
November 4, 2009

Looks like I need to stop off at the Post Office and buy some Eid stamps.
#13 DRK
November 4, 2009

“No Phil, typically no one cares here. If any of the previous presidents had done this, no one would have cared. But since a half-white president with a scary name did it, the racist scum bags go bonkers.”

Ordinarily I’d agree with you, but this is an updating of a nasty email that’s been going around since at least early 2008, which is when I first saw it. The Obama stuff has been tacked on to the original, which initially was “merely” horrible and bigoted towards Muslims, not Muslims and also Obama. The last Eid stamp was released in 2006.
#14 JohnV
November 4, 2009

I stand corrected. Actually I’m also dumb as I went to the snopes site and saw the dates.
#15 dean
November 4, 2009

“Why is it always the brother in law?”
Not sure if that was meant to question the ‘truthiness’ of my comment or not. I have one brother and one sister who would, not doubt, forward similar items, if they had computers. The sister doesn’t have one, the brother uses his only for editing the photos he takes. They choose to fill me in on these things in person.
I do have another sister with whom I exchange email: she is reasonably sane.

“Why is it always the brother in law?”
A better question would be “Why does it have to be anyone?”
#16 Diane
November 4, 2009

For the record, the post office issued Eid stamps last year, too. As they had run out of the christmas ones by the time I got around to buying them, I bought the Eid stamps because they were pretty.
#17 MonkeyPox
November 4, 2009

Diane, why do you hate America?
#18 JohnV
November 4, 2009

and children!
#19 Calli Arcale
November 4, 2009

No Phil, typically no one cares here.

Well, most people don’t care. But there are those who do — philatelists. Stamp collectors. Obviously the USPS has a certain affinity for such folks (plus, such folks make the USPS a lot of money, by purchasing stamps with no intention of mailing letters with them), and stamps like this appeal to that particular interest group. So part of it is for fun (breaking up the monotony of looking at the same flag design day after day after day) and part of it is to try to sell stamps to collectors (both serious collectors and more casual ones) for profit.

It’s just like the US Mint releasing commemorative coins in legal tender. It makes coin collectors happy, and also turns a bit of a profit because the person has taken the coin out of circulation voluntarily. According to Wikipedia, the US Mint’s state quarter series has earned about $4.6 billion in seigniorage. I’m sure commemorative stamps earn money as well, and would be interested to know at what rate. Obviously it’s successful, though, judging by the large proliferation of them.

Stamps have been issued for all sorts of things. It is one of the rare cases where a US government agency is willing to produce something with a religious theme to it, though, which does inspire a certain amount of controversy from time to time. As long as they remain popular, though, the USPS will likely keep printing such stamps.
#20 JohnV
November 4, 2009

Yeah when I said no one cares I should have been more precise and said “no one gets bent out of shape”. Keep it up, though, and I’ll have to accuse you of being a Big Philateli-shill.
#21 Diane
November 4, 2009

@17 & 18, lol!
#22 joe
November 5, 2009

obama is not at fault here, but i still think he’s a closet muslim.
#23 Jeffrey
November 5, 2009

Anyone care to bet that Joe was one of the ones grousing over Rev. Wright?
#24 joe
November 7, 2009

jeffrey, jeffrey, jeffrey. i did not know that you are a follower of rev. wright. why do you hate christians and embrace radical islam?
#25 micheleinmichigan
November 8, 2009

Well, the upside is that I read the snopes link (without reading the bad email, not in the mood tonight) and learned something about two Islamic holidays. : )

As-Salam Alaykum (peace be with you)