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Group Email: We're in this Together


Have you ever been a recipient of a group email, one that promotes, espouses or suggests that you root for one political group, candidate, or other ideology with which you don’t agree, support or care for? 

 I have and it’s starting to bother me.  When people find a political (or religious) message they love, that they simply can’t wait to share with all of their nearest and dearest email addresses, where is the discerning thought?  Where is the, “Hmmm, who on this list of email addresses would appreciate receiving this political (or religious) message?”  

 The answer, quite frequently, is “Nowhere.”  I am repeatedly surprised, then annoyed, and in some cases angered by this insouciance. 

 There are many laws out there, on the state and federal levels that regulate unsolicited commercial email.  Why not draft an ordinance of sorts that would regulate unsolicited political (and religious) email?  Maybe that’s getting too close to stepping on First Amendment rights, but please, how is it any different from unsolicited commercial email (aka SPAM)?  

 I’m tired of sending polite notes back to people who send me political and religious email messages, asking them to “kindly take me off of your group email list.”  It’s not okay anymore for me to simply click “delete.”  I don’t want them in my inbox.  And I promise, I will never forward one to you.  

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