It's an interesting relationship. Personally, I'd prefer not to have unsolicited advice on my political choices from my church. That said, it's difficult to avoid.
I received an email from a fellow member of my church that was attempting to recruit volunteers for a McCain event in conjunction with the debate that will be here in Nashville next month. It was sent to a large mailing list whose purpose is to easily reach all the members of the "Singles Group" of my church. This bothered me and I attempted to passive-aggressively let her know that. My response to her (not to the list): "I would be interested in volunteering for a Barack Obama event. Could you send out information for that?"
Either she didn't receive the message I intended or simply chose to keep everything on the high road: "unfortunately I don't have that info - but I do encourage you to get involved!!"
Now, I can become what made me angry in the first place and send out a message to elicit Obama supporters. Or I just let her use the church's email list to garner political support for a presidential candidate. I will most likely choose the latter, but it still bugs me.
I know that Tennessee is pretty much in the bag for McCain - but that's not really the point. Am I getting hot-headed over nothing? Probably. Please tell me I'm not, though.
4 comments:
Regardless of whether you agreed with the email that was sent, you could have chosen to simply delete it, as I did, without making a big deal of it. Sending a snarky email and then blogging about it, without giving this person the opportunity to defend themselves, is a bit unfair.
Wow, I really didn't think anyone was reading these things!
Katie, simply ignoring someone you disagree with I think is a HUGE problem - regardless of the issue.
Further, I didn't mention her name: only persons who received the email would have any clue as to who this was.
Finally, I gave her an opportunity to defend herself by emailing her (not the whole list) after the initial email. I think she gave an appropriate response, but not (in my opinion) a satisfactory one.
(Haven't read blogs in a while, so forgive the way-late response.)
I got that email, too. That person actually works for the Republican party. Has for her entire career. I viewed it less as a recruiting-for-her-side thing than a wanting-to-share-an-opportunity-she-could-provide-for-those-who-wanted-it thing.
That said, I deleted it.
(ps my word verification is "felacto".)
Because we just got reconnected after several years this comment may seem WAAAAY late:
That being said... I totally agree that ignoring someone with whom you disagree is totally WRONG. If we all continue to just ignore and never share our ideas, only the ones with the guts to send out mass emails will be heard and that's how the purely charismatic people get in office, rather than those who can really stand up and make a change. My opinion (even though no one asked - some things never change :) No candidate is perfect and anyone who wants the job can have it because I'd just have to fire way to many people to fix what really needs fixing.
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