spam

What do these 3 have in common?

Human Peace Depends on Civility

A few facts of interest
-Rush Limbaugh: Since 1991, Limbaugh has had the most-listened-to radio show in the United States, with 14.25 million listeners a week as of March 2009.
-Spam: As of data from April 2008, there are over 100 billion spam emails sent per day.
-Terrorism: The history of terrorist organizations suggests that they do not practice terrorism only for its political effectiveness; individual terrorists are also motivated by a desire for social solidarity with other members.

Attention they have
Well for one thing all three things exist in the reality of our world, otherwise I would not be talking about them in this post. But why? I don’t listen to Limbaugh’s radio show but he comes off as a pretty extreme guy in the far right corner of conservatism. And spam? If people hate it so much and they filter over 80% of the messages and try not to read anything to do with spam email, then why do spammers still send them? And terrorists, if it is so horrible and immoral then why are there supporters of terrorism? Nor am I saying any of the three have anything in common other than the fact that each has an audience. Each of them has a percentage of people that do listen to them, that buys something from the email and also people who gain from acts of terror.

Something we have to live with
I’m not taking any positions for or against the topics of Limbaugh’s talk show. Nor am I saying that spam emails are to be accepted even though it is unwanted. Nor am I saying that people who are “on the other side” of terrorism that support it are right. All I am saying is that we shouldn’t say “I don’t understand why he is so opinionated in his points” or “Why did they email me to buy Viagra of a Rolex watch?” or “That suicide bomber died himself, what did he have to gain from it?” Because in the end these people are speaking to those of us that don’t agree with them.

Talking to who listens
The Rush Limbaugh’s, spammers and terrorists are just speaking to those that are listening. And my point, scary as it is, is the fact that no matter how extreme something is, for good or for bad, there are people that actually care or listen. People who uphold extreme beliefs of conservatism will listen to a guy yell over AM radio. People who need something desperately will open that email and buy what is offered (not necessarily sex drugs or luxury watches…). People who don’t want to feel alone and have a desire to support their strong beliefs will join a terrorist cause.

So let’s be human about all this
Ultimately, I just hope people become more civil about things. We can all have our own beliefs, ideas or concepts but we don’t have to attack each other about it. No verbal attacks. And especially no violence. Being civil by having our own beliefs and respecting the beliefs of others. Civility, that is what makes us human.