Dated e-mail forwards fan unnecessary resentment

THE GHOST of the farce revolving around the cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) in a Danish newspaper has resurfaced again, in the form of a dated forward email that is doing the rounds. Even I received one in my inbox. The forward claimed that the Holy Qur’an would be burnt 'next Saturday' in Copenhagen, Denmark, as a retaliatory measure against the boycott of Danish products in Islamic countries.

It went on to describe how the French-owned international hypermarket chain Carrefour, a common sight in the Middle-East, had not boycotted Israeli/American/Danish products to express solidarity with the 'Muslim world'.

With the millions that the Danish industries have run in losses due to the boycott of their products, the forwarded e-mail mentioned that KFC, McDonald’s, Hardees, Burger King, Pizza Hut and Starbucks were buying Danish products to obliterate the losses. It encouraged the boycott of any product that had a barcode beginning with the number 57.

While the decision to boycott Danish products as a peaceful though financially destructive measure can be justified on certain levels, the malice that converts a misunderstanding into hatred and violence has to be contained.

The issue had died down last year itself. In fact, a similar copy of the forwarded mail floating around in the Internet, was dated 2006, three years ago!

While the Internet has opened endless opportunities to promote causes, one has to ensure that honest and ethical means are used to do so. This forwarded email sitting so calmly in my inbox has the potential to create a violent ruckus as it mentions the burning of the Holy Book.

Most email users would not take the time to browse the Internet and forward the email to many others without checking its veracity. It creates a ripple effect of pent-up anger and irritation that does not bode well for any of the parties concerned.

The key to understanding the intent of those who sent these forwards even after it is no longer applicable is the ambiguous and false details. For instance, this forwarded email mentioned that the Qur’an would be burnt next Saturday.
How would one deduce which Saturday that is? After all, not all will receive the e-mail on the same day that the e-mail's original sender had emailed it across to his or her contacts.

The forward mentions that Carrefour had not boycotted the products. This is not entirely true. The Carrefour branch in Cairo, Egypt, had reportedly put up signs about certain Danish products that were not being sold. And according to the statement of the Carrefour spokesperson, the individual outlets of the chain have their individual policies without the main headquarters taking a stand on the matter.

Another fallacy is the identification through the bar code. The first three digits of the European Article Number (EAN) barcodes, known as the manufacturing code, indicates the country in which the bar codes were assigned and not the country of origin of the product as such.

Before forwarding dated e-mails containing information that is false and of such sensitive nature, it would be best if the user checks whether the information given in the e-mails are true or not through websites such as snopes.com and hoax-slayers.com.