Do you all get as many e-petitions as I do?
You know, "add your name and forward this email to your entire distribution list to take a stand on [fill in current social issue]"

Has anyone ever heard that these petitions are actually useful tools for effecting change? I mean, will anyone in the Taliban actually change their treatment of women because they receive a petition with a thousand (unverifiable) names, protesting? (Heh, would it matter if they *could* verify the names? No. Will they, or whoever, really receive the petition? Would I be wrong if I answered no to that too?).

Do you, like me, always delete these things? (And then feel unpatriotic/jaded/like a rat because, you won't take "just three minutes of your life to do your part"?) I just don't think they really serve any practical purpose except to raise awareness of an issue, and, perhaps, to make those who "sign" and forward feel like they've helped slay some dragon of social injustice...or that they have "taken a stand" in a small way. I guess there's any harm in that. But I always wonder how many people bother to check out the facts presented in the epetitions.

Maybe someone will tell me I'm wrong about all this, and that it was an e-petition that efffected the drop in gasoline prices, or brought back the Disney Electrical Parade. I'm willing to be convinced! :-)

koala"hates spam that makes her feel cynical and conscience-stricken at the same time"mom