How to respond to GOP fearmail.

[ColbertWatcher]

Every once in a while a DUer will post a thread asking for help from the great DU community on how best to respond to the latest GOP fearmail.

If you're not familiar with this new word that I just invented (http://www.wikiality.com/Fearmail) it's an email meant to spread fear through lies.

What I hope we can do with this thread is to make a list to help people who get these things.

Step 1: make the sender prove their claims. They're the ones sending the shit out, make them prove every last miniscule detail before you will accept their statements as valid.

Step 2: more than likely this is something that has been going around, so there it probably has been debunked by Snopes. So check Snopes for the claims. http://www.snopes.com/

Please add your own advice for people who receive fearmail from GOPher family members, friends, etc.

[KaryninMiami]

1. And don't forget the Obama sites that respond to GOP email garbage-

They are doing an amazing job of stopping these things in their tracks- and they provid you with everything you need to respond to any of the emails you receive filled wit lies from GOP family and friends.

http://www.truthfightsback.com/

http://www.fightthesmears.com/?source=sem-pm-fts-fts-search-us&gclid=CIaduNXnp5YCFQKfnAod8yB3yQ

[ColbertWatcher]

3. Yes! How could I forget Fight The Smears!? n/t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Another good source:

http://www.factcheck.org/specialreports/that_chain_e-mail_your_friend_sent_to.html

[tulsakatz]

4. if all else fails........

just enter part of the info into a search.....it will usually direct you to snopes or fightthesmears.com but it can be helpful if you don't what else to do

[sam sarrha]

5. truthorfiction often has the source...

http://www.truthorfiction.com

[ColbertWatcher]

6. Another good one, thank you! n/t

[OneGrassRoot]

7. What I keep in mind when I get these....

and word it accordingly in my response, is that most of the people who believe these fearmails (Obama is a muslim/terrorist/America-hating, blah, blah) don't WANT facts.

They really don't. If they choose to believe these things, they are simply looking for reasons to justify why they don't like him or fear him because, bottom line, it comes down to racism/bigotry yet they don't want to pass THAT around in email. So, these "pledge" and "pin" emails are created to focus their attention and anger and fear instead in a more acceptable fashion.

HOWEVER, these emails are usually sent to many people, some of whom may NOT be McCain's base and who may indeed not be aware of the many things we are hyper aware of here as readers and information seekers. It's to these people I write and debunk, and bring the bottom line issue to the front so they can in the future, hopefully, see through the attempts to smear with baseless lies.

And, hopefully, get everyone to see how very dangerous this has become with McPalin painting Obama as a terrorist and thus Obama supporters as terrorists.

You can check my blog link below to see the open letter I just posted to "Those Who Believe Obama is a Terrorist." (warning: I use the "n" word)

[ColbertWatcher]

8. Nicely done! n/t