Why FWDs Suck

Getting e-mail is fun. Getting FWDs isn't. I hate them. I usually delete them reflexively.

There are two main types of forwards: the political FWD and the FWD-this-on-for-good-luck or FWD-this-so-Timmy-can-live or some other bullshit. The political ones usually contain inane, inaccurate or downright incorrect information, and serve mainly to spread stupidity. The second type are no better, but are probably more prevalent.

(I do acknowledge a third type of FWD--the Joke FWD--but because of the associative property, they are ignored as quickly as possible).

I'm feeling all atwitter about this because I received one such political FWD from a person in my extended family. It was about illegal immigration, and I couldn't help but respond. I will reprint the letter here in full, along with my response. Keep in mind, the audience for my response is mostly unknown to me.

Here is the FWD:

> What costs more per year than the Iraq War?
>
> I hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again
> until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of
> reading them. I have included the URL's for verification of the
> following facts:
>
> 1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each
> year. http://tinyurl.com/zob77
>
> 2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such
> as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
> http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
>
> 3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
> http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
>
> 4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school
> education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of
> English ! http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html
>
> 5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the
> American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
> http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
>
> 6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
> http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
>
> 7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
> http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt..01.html
>
> 8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare and
> Social Services by the American taxpayers.
> http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html
>
> 9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused
> by the illegal aliens.
> http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
>
> 10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's
> two-and-a-half times that of white non-illegal aliens.. In particular,
> their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the
> US http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html
>
> 11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens
> that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens
> from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth,
> heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border.
> Homeland Security Report. http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
>
> 12. The National Policy Institute, 'estimated that the total cost of
> mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average
> cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.'
> http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf
>
> 13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to
> their countries of origin. http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm
>
> 14. 'The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes
> Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States ' http://www.drdsk
> .com/articleshtml
> Total cost is a whooping ... $338.3 BILLION A YEAR!!!
> If this doesn't bother you then just delete the message, but on the other
> hand, if it does raise the hair on the back of your neck, then forward
> it.
>
> Snopes is provided for doubters:
> http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/bankofamerica.asp

>
> Social Security Change For 2008
>
> The United States Senate voted to extend Social Security Benefits to
> Illegal Aliens beginning in 2008. The following are the senators who
> voted to give illegal aliens Social Security benefits. They are grouped
> by home state. If a state is not listed, there was no voting
> representative.
>
> Alaska : Stevens (R)
> Arizona : McCain (R)
> Arkansas : Lincoln (D) Pryor (D)
> Califo rnia : Boxer (D) Feinstein (D)
> Colorado : Salazar (D)
> Connecticut : Dodd (D) Lieberman (D)
> Delaware : Biden (D) Carper (D)
> Florida : Martinez (R)
> Hawaii : Akaka (D) Inouye (D)
> Illinois : Durbin (D) Obama (D)
> Indiana : Bayh (D) Lugar (R)
> Iowa : Harkin (D)
> Kansas : Brownback (R)
> Louisiana : Landrieu (D)
> Maryland : Mikulski (D) Sarbanes (D)
> Massachusetts : Kennedy (D) Kerry (D)
> Montana : Baucus (D)
> Nebraska : Hagel (R)
> Nevada : Reid (D)
> New Jersey : Lautenberg (D) Menendez (D)
> New Mexico : Bingaman (D)
> New York : Clinton (D) Schumer (D)
> North Dakota : Dorgan (D)
> Ohio : DeWine (R) Voinovich(R)
> Oregon : Wyden (D)
> Pennsylvania : Specter (R)
> Rhode Island : Chafee (R) Reed (D)
> South Carolina : Graham (R)
> South Dakota : Johnson (D)
> Vermont : Jeffords (I) Leahy (D)
> Washington : Cantwell (D) Murray (D)
> West Virginia : Rockefeller (D), by Not Voting
> Wisconsin : Feingold (D) Kohl (D)
>
>
> SEND THIS TO ALL YOU KNOW. THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES
> NEEDS TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION, UNLESS THEY DON'T MIND SHARING THEIR
> SOCIAL SECURITY WITH FOREIGN WORKERS who didn't pay in a dime into the
> fund.
>
> LET US SHOW OUR LEADERS IN WASHINGTON 'PEOPLE POWER' AND THE POWER OF THE
> INTERNET. IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU ARE REPUBLICAN, DEMOCRAT OR
> INDEPENDENT! KEEP IT GOING!!

And here is my response:

I don't get it. Is this supposed to make me feel bad that we are spending so much on illegal aliens, or that we're spending so much on the Iraq War?

I'm actually writing a paper right now on Illegal Immigration, and Lou Dobbs (who is cited often in this e-mail) represents only one side of the argument (and in fact some of the links in the e-mail don't even work). Of all the citations listed here, www.cis.org is a probably the most in depth and non-partisan. I would recommend that site for further reading on this issue. As for the Congress, there are plenty of options available to them; a primary roadblock to passing any sort of reform is the ideologues who refuse to acknowledge any form of compromise.

I don't want to bore everybody with my opinions on what should or shouldn't be done, I'm merely pointing out this is only ONE side of the argument.

Additionally, comparing the illegal immigration issue to the War in Iraq is like comparing apples to oranges. Admittedly, it all boils down to dollars and cents, but the e-mail could make the argument better by contrasting it to the monumental amount of pork-barrel spending appropriated by Congress, which goes into the actual budget. How is this different than the money Congress appropriates for the Iraq War? Simply put, funding for the war has largely been in the form of Emergency Supplemental Appropriations, which don't count against budget caps. Take a look at figure two (on page 12 of the .pdf) on this website:

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/89xx/doc8971/02-11-WarCosts_Letter.pdf

You'll notice these figures come from the Congressional Budget Office, who's mandate is to provide:

• Objective, nonpartisan, and timely analyses to aid in economic and budgetary decisions on the wide array of programs covered by the federal budget and
  
  
• The information and estimates required for the Congressional budget process.

[ quoted from http://cbo.gov/aboutcbo/ ]

Something to chew on..

Jon McLaughlin

If you're still with me here, let me ask you, the reader: how are these FWDs increasing our understanding of the issues?

Let me take this to another level: When the television was first introduced, it was hailed as a potentially great teaching instrument. Can the internet not be the fulfillment of that goal? I probably am asking too much of people, but hopefully the internet will be able to provide both sides of any given issue much better than TV has done.

Anyway, I've gotten off track.

The point is, don't send me FWD's. If you do, expect either an argument or total silence in response.

Jon

PS Happy Birthday to Me!