This is one I've seen before, it's about a brave woman called Irena Sendler, who saved Jewish children in Nazi-occupied Poland and paid a high price when she was caught.
And I checked it on Snopes and it's true. A true story about a brave woman - what's not to like?
So why was I feeling uneasy? I read the Snopes entry and pondered a bit. The one thing that Snopes say they can't verify is whether or not it's true that she was nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, because that information is not actually publicly available. So this claim is possibly true but we can't know for sure.
And I checked it on Snopes and it's true. A true story about a brave woman - what's not to like?
So why was I feeling uneasy? I read the Snopes entry and pondered a bit. The one thing that Snopes say they can't verify is whether or not it's true that she was nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, because that information is not actually publicly available. So this claim is possibly true but we can't know for sure.
Snopes also quote a statement from the International Federation of Social Workers, who expressed disappointment that she didn't get this prize. With that I have no problem - anyone is entitled to express disappointment with a result that they're not happy with.
Here's what I'm not comfortable with in the email that's being circulated:
Here's what I'm not comfortable with in the email that's being circulated:
Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize.
She was not selected.
Al Gore won --- for a slide show on Global Warming.
The implication being: aren't those people terrible, to award the prize to that man for such a piddly thing instead of giving it to this wonderful brave woman.
Now, I'm not particularly an Al Gore fan, and I'm not quite convinced about the Global Warming theory, but I don't like the way his efforts are made fun of by calling his movie "a slide show", and more importantly, I don't like the way this value judgement is being tied in with the whole thing, so that people will feel like they really ought to forward this email because Irena Sendler was such an amazing woman, and thus they're being manipulated into signing up for this value judgement about Al Gore at the same time - if you want to honour this woman, can't you do it without rubbishing another human being who is, whether you agree with him or not, trying to do something for stuff he believes is important?
It's this mixing of different issues that I don't like, bringing the Al Gore issue in through the back door so you don't notice because your eyes are too moist from thinking of this brave woman's sacrifice - I don't think that's actually honouring to her memory.
(and being a nitpicker I can't fail to notice that it says this Nobel prize thing happened "last year" - which means this story has been circulating on the email since 2008.) (lesson no.37: don't believe everything you read on the email, but most importantly do not trust what they say about how long ago stuff happened.)
Now, I'm not particularly an Al Gore fan, and I'm not quite convinced about the Global Warming theory, but I don't like the way his efforts are made fun of by calling his movie "a slide show", and more importantly, I don't like the way this value judgement is being tied in with the whole thing, so that people will feel like they really ought to forward this email because Irena Sendler was such an amazing woman, and thus they're being manipulated into signing up for this value judgement about Al Gore at the same time - if you want to honour this woman, can't you do it without rubbishing another human being who is, whether you agree with him or not, trying to do something for stuff he believes is important?
It's this mixing of different issues that I don't like, bringing the Al Gore issue in through the back door so you don't notice because your eyes are too moist from thinking of this brave woman's sacrifice - I don't think that's actually honouring to her memory.
(and being a nitpicker I can't fail to notice that it says this Nobel prize thing happened "last year" - which means this story has been circulating on the email since 2008.) (lesson no.37: don't believe everything you read on the email, but most importantly do not trust what they say about how long ago stuff happened.)
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