Uncles, Aunties, and the Internet

I am sure if you are a Pakistani American and you know Pakistani uncles and aunties in your local community who use the internet and email that you have eventually received an email from them telling you about how Starbucks is funneling money to support the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories (the IDF has a never ending supply of lattes), or how Apple was building a replica of the Kabah in downtown Manhattan (this chain letter apparently began in 2006 or so, and I receieved it again just a few months ago).

Us younger more sophisticated and savvy internet users know better than to believe everything we get in our inbox. We know that the emails we receive are full of crap sometimes. Soemtimes it's some dude in Nigeria or Ghana telling us that we were selected to inherit $758,434,334,547,494.98. Just send over your social security number and it's all good. Alas, the elders in our community are not so wise.

A respected uncle/relative told me the other day that Australia has banned jummah prayers.

I was like, "wha?" With one eyebrow raised.

Well, he told me that and told me something even crazier... the person leading the prayer at the mosque that night, someone I know, was in tears and recited prayers condemning Australia for banning jummah prayers. The people at the mosque that night, the uncle told me, were distraught at how a Western country could ban the Friday congregational prayers, fearing America might be next.

I was shocked, too. At how lacking in common sense these uncles were.

Frankly, I have seen this same issue occur in my local Muslim community before. That's the sad part. But what's worrisome is that our elders are vulnerable to chain emails. This is similar to what occurred in the Jewish community in South Florida with the "Barack Obama is a secret Muslim" chain letter that went out before last November's election. Many elder people in South Florida still believe that Obama is a secret Muslim.

Well, I grabbed a laptop and did a Google search of the claim. I typed in "Australia and jummah prayer."

What came up?

Nothing telling me that jummah prayer was banned in Australia. So I then went to Al-Jazeera because I figured if any news media web site would be discussing this, it would be the folks over at Al-Jazeera.

Nada. Nothing.

Of course Austalia had not banned jummah prayers! What the hell is wrong with these people!?!

I told the uncle that this was completely bogus and he should warn others that they should not be spreading such misinformation because one, it makes people sound crazy, and two, it's spreading a lie.

Anyone heard of that verse in the Qur'an telling believers to verify the truth of an accusation before they spread it to others?

The result was that some people in the community were spreading a rumor that Australia has banned jummah prayers. Apparently there is some jerkoff out there who has nothing better to do than write bogus emails trying to get Muslims to hate certain Western countries and corporations.

There's the one about Starbucks, Coca-Cola, the Netherlands, and now... Australia.

I checked Snopes.com, the information clearinghouse for chain emails, and they didn't even have this crazy chain email listed. Instead, they had an email alleging that Australia wanted to kick Muslims out entirely. I guess it's better to just have jummah banned, at least you can still live and work in the country.

The moral of the story: if you have parents or some other elder relative who uses the internet and uses email, warn them to use common sense. Because if they don't, and they tell others about these ridiculous stories, it makes our entire community seem like paranoid conspiracy mongers. I mean, we're already considered paranoid conspiracy mongers by many Westerners, so let's not exploit ourselves for the benefit of people who already don't like Muslims.

And if your parent or relative insists on spreading these chain emails, please report their account to their service provider and have them banned. I'm kidding. Sort of. But please, let's stop the retardation of our uncles and aunties by giving them good advice. It's an easy way of preventing the embarassment of community leaders who are clueless and believe that whatever they recieve in their inbox is as sound as Sahih Bukhari (there are no "daef" emails, I guess).

The internet is a great tool. But left in the hands of uncles and aunties, it can be a dangerous device if not used with caution and care. Let's all do our part and become filters for our parents and relatives. Lest the Australians suffer a worldwide Muslim protest for no reason.