Hating Spam

There seems to be a flavour of person insisting on nonsense; be it tagging posts of irrelevance, emails to all, vacant prayer requests (there is plenty of inappropriate prayer-talk getting around) and the like. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say it; I really do hate being spammed.

Begs the question: just why is it that I hate it so much?

Well, it’s devoid of love. The intent is dreamy and without purpose and the people who enter into it haven’t a heart for the individuals on the receiving end; their heart is selfishly placed.

This I regard as spam:

ü Bulk emails — unless they’re used in a working or family environment to communicate broad-based information — that have addresses showing in the “to” or “cc” fields so everyone can ‘enjoy’ the pleasure of knowing your contact information. These can be the perfect route of entry for telemarketers who pay for this information.

ü Bulk emails on Facebook, no matter the subject, unless the sender actually knows everyone receiving it well enough to talk to them, and each in receipt know each other, and it’s relevant to all. Double the hurt is ‘replies to all’, and many are they who flippantly use it.

ü Tags – any tags that are placed onto a wall or into photograph areas without prior consent. (Some consent is reasonably implied — for instance, close friends and family.) Name tags are different. They show consideration for the person tagged; they say, “I like what you’re doing so much I wanted to share it, and to acknowledge you as the source,” for all sources should be identified and credited.

Spam is unsolicited, bulk in nature, and indiscriminate.

Anything that we do that fills that quota is just that — despicable use of a communication tool for the promotion of self and for the wasting of other people’s time, effort and resources, and their resultant frustration.

Spam comes into the inbox, and is marked: “without love” or “accept my selfishness without apology”.

Living in the Anonymous Age

With spam there’s a dire lack of consideration in an anonymous age.

Emails are a poignant example. Just how often do people get away with their ‘electronic actions’ because they fan their emotion via the written word only to feign it later? Call them and you get a different person... “Oh, sorry, you shouldn’t have taken it that way.” Rubbish is what that is.

Cowards thrive in this age where it’s easier to remain unidentified emotionally. It’s easier to pretend we’re not offended when in reality we are. The real person doesn’t enter into a volley of hasty, regrettable emails; instead, they get up from their desk and visit the person.

Whilst this phenomenon is not spamming, it reveals the same route.

Spam is the outcome of the converse of love; it’s life without care and concern for others.

Let us — in this environment of Christian love — desist from the practice of spamming. Let’s act in accord with how we, ourselves, would like to be treated.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.

Graphic Credit: 3dinteractive.