Emails and Political Correctness

I used to be one of those guys that forwarded funny emails to everybody.

The key words here are "used to be". I've followed the rise of the Internet since it's humble beginnings, and the "thrill" is gone. The amazement, the wonder--All gone. Now the Internet has become a necessary household tool that most people look at with more focus than they did when it was new technology. I remember when Microsoft didn't even have a browser yet. When Windows versions started shipping with a web browser in it, the public was smacked in the face with the Internet and all its wonder. Even though it was terrible compared to the Netscape version at the time, it was free, and it was included with their operating system.

Then emails became the cool thing. Suddenly emails were "going to replace the post office" in everyone's mind. Add to that the ability to send attachments on your emails, and suddenly you had a whole new method of entertainment. This whole new way to entertain people usually came at the expense of productivity at offices that had networks and computers. Before too long email attachments were so rampant that software was developed to "screen" the attachments for potential harmful ingredients. With the advances in technology and computers, programs to develop these media files got better and better, and there became more of them to choose from. Nerdly creativity, marketing, and human talent and ingenuity had turned sound files, movie files, and picture files into works of art. Works of art, as you well know, have the ability to shock, please, disgust, and every other human emotion you can think of. Email attachments were no exception.

Then people started to complain about email attachments. There were stories in the news and situations in the workplace where people had plainly been offended by an email that they had received from a colleague or coworker. Most of the time, they were just one of many, many names on an email that was sent. People would, without thinking of the consequences, hit the "reply to all" button, or forward it to everyone on a particular mailing list. Why? Because up to that time there really weren't any consequences.

I've worked at Boeing in my past, and that is a prime example of a place where email attachments were rampant. I was just as guilty as the next guy--I forwarded many an email in my day. Even as selective and as thoughtful as I am, I still managed to screw up on occasion, though not seriously. Boeing and most other large companies started creating rules and policies to govern email attachments. They also started monitoring email attachments and screening out certain types of them. Hell, they just about had to just to protect themselves against liabilities and legal problems that might arise, and given the size of their company and workforce that was no small undertaking.

It hit me some time ago as well. I was offended by an email attachment. Seriously offended. I love creative movie files, songs, pictures--All those things. I'm a total nut when it comes to humor files, and I've collected quite a few over the year (yes, I save them). There is one thing that offends me greatly though, and that is when someone sends me some file that depicts someone getting hurt. I had one guy at Boeing one time actually send me a movie file of a girl getting hit by a train! Can you imagine? I was totally disgusted, and went over to his cubicle and told him in so many words that if he ever sends me any shit like that again he would be sorry. God, even thinking about it now creeps me out. It truly was a traumatic thing for me. Over the years there have been many others. Somebody breaking an arm skateboarding, hit by a car while crossing the street, all of it's his horrible and all of it offends me. I do NOT ever want to see any of it again the rest of my life. As a matter of fact, I just got another one this morning. I movie of a guy innocently pumping gas into his car and his hit by a fast rolling large tire that had obviously came off of a vehicle at speed. He was totally smacked and knocked on his ass, and had to have been seriously hurt. Evidently the sender thought it was funny and thought I should be entertained too. After all, he was... Right?

This is why I do not send out blanket emails to anyone any more. I have a long list of people in address book, and there is no way I can guarantee that everyone I send something to is going to like it. I have caught myself time and time again going through the motions of forwarding a hilarious (to me it was anyway...) email. I would take the time to clean up the text and take out all the extra crap that always ends up in emails that are forwarded, and get to the task of selecting the recipients. I start going down the list, and as I go farther down and end up thinking about it more and more, finally would get to the point where I would say, "Ah, fuck it." and delete the email without sending it. Sure, I'd save the attachment file for my own enjoyment of course, but more importantly, I saved myself from worrying about offending someone. Anyone that knows me will know how highly I place personal respect and consideration on my list of values.

It just occurred to me yesterday that I had done this far too often in recent months, and it needed to be addressed. If any of you out there wonder what happened to all the great stuff I used to send you on a regular basis, now you know. I keep it... But I'd rather not send it.

Evidently it's not just me either, because my email attachments are considerably lower than they used to be. Yep, it's a changing world out there, and face it--The novelty of the Internet and email attachments are a thing of the past. They have to be treated with the same respect that you would give any other potentially life-altering decision you might make in your life. It may not alter yours, but it might someone else's...