Those Viral E-Mails

Someone forwarded me this viral e-mail and asked if I would respond.
It is my pleasure…..

Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University, School of Law, St. Paul , Minnesota , points out some interesting facts, concerning the Presidential election:

Number of States won by: Democrats: 19 Republicans: 29

Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000 Republicans: 2,427,000

Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127 million Republicans: 143 million

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2 Republicans: 2.1

Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare…"

Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegals and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years. If you are in favor of this, then by all means, delete this message.

If you are not, then pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.

Number 1) The statistics in the viral e-mail, some of them incorrect, are from the Bush-Gore election of 2000. Nowhere in the e-mail is the reader told that. The e-mail is designed to mislead the reader.

Number 2) The population and square miles numbers are correct, but once again, the numbers are from the 2000 election results. The number of states in the e-mail is incorrect….Bush won 30 states, Gore 20.

Number 3) Wickedness is deceptive, subtle, insidious. Though the statistics are from the year 2000, never mentioned in the e-mail…..the murder rates per 100,000 population are totally incorrect, and for a reason, I'm sure. The e-mail says:…13.2 murders per 100,000 residents in counties won by Democrats, ….2.1 murders per 100,000 residents in counties won by Republicans. The actual numbers are 6.5 for Democratic counties, 4.1 for Republican counties.

That's quite a divergence from the facts. The intent of the deception is clear. The reader is misled to believe Democratic voters are criminals by a 6-1 ratio over Republican voters. Simply made up.

Number 4) One of the intents of the e-mail is to bash Democrats as lazy wannabe socialists who live off of welfare and don't pay taxes (besides being murderers). The "Professor" in the e-mail is quoted saying this…

"In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare…"

There is no truth, at all, in those statements. Here are the facts from an Ohio State study…..

In the 2000 U.S. presidential election, George W. Bush won most of the states that are net beneficiaries of federal spending programs, while Gore won most of the states that are net contributors to federal spending. Link

Just to be clear…."net beneficiaries" means Bush states received more taxes from the federal government than they contributed…."net contributors" means Gore states contributed more tax money to the federal government than they received.

The "Professor" lied…or simply made stuff up.

This e-mail, like many, many others, is part of the ongoing culture war in America, led primarily by evangelical Christians fearful of change. Notice that this most recent version includes undocumented Latino immigrant bashing and scare tactics. May I remind my evangelical Christian friends that Jesus didn't seek to lie, mislead and misinform as he spread his message. The Christian Saviour didn't lie, mislead, and misinform in a spirit of division and hatred, either.

Finally, in summary….the viral e-mail passed to me is over eight years old and has no relationship, whatsoever, to our most recent presidential election, even though nowhere on the e-mail is that made clear. Accurate facts are mixed with falsified numbers for the sole purpose of misleading readers into believing that Democratic voters are lazy, welfare-check cashing murderers intent on destroying the fabric of America.

"We are not Blue States and Red States….we are the United States of America." President Barack Obama.

Reference link.

Tagged as: change, culture wars