The fact that you're reading this may say something about your superstition (or about your friends; see below.)
By viewing the picture of Mary on the left, you will receive good luck... but only if you send a link to this post to 20 people (or link to it from your own website.) Otherwise, bad things will happen. I'm so sorry to have ambushed you like this. I'm only passing along what was given to me. Actually, what I received was an email, with that image accompanied by the following information:
"The President of Argentina received this picture and called it 'junk mail', 8 days later his son died. A man received this picture and immediately sent out copies...his surprise was winning the lottery. Alberto Martinez received this picture, gave it to his secretary to make copies but they forgot to distribute: she lost her job and he lost his family. This picture is miraculous and sacred, don't forget to forward this within 13 days to at least 20 people, ignoring the one who has mailed you. Do Not Forget to forward and you will receive a huge surprise!!"
My friend appended the missive with "Don't want to tempt fate...sorry."
Judging by the "sorry," she knew she was doing something many people would find annoying but felt compelled to do it anyway. But should people really be upset at her? Any more than if she had sent out a random piece of spam that wasted 10 seconds of our lives? It's a weird situation, because if we are upset, we want to blame her, but we should really blame ourselves. She's not forcing my hand and making me spam 20 of my friends. Neither is she forcing me to stress out about NOT spamming 20 of my friends. If I were to be upset I should really be upset at my own silly superstitious suspicions.
Or not. I'm programmed to be superstitious. (See my recent article on magical thinking.) People have evolved to do things that don't make much sense JUST IN CASE they work, as long as the cost of doing them (crossing our fingers, spamming our friends) is much smaller than the potential upside (avoiding death, receiving a huge surprise!!). So I can't be too angry at myself. And I'm allowed to be a little angry at my friend for selfishly putting a burden on 20 other people instead of bearing it herself. She's like a potentially infected zombie who breaks out of the quarantine zone to put a whole new population at risk.
Now, if you're mad at me, you've got good company in the Yankees fans who want the head of Gino Castignoli, the construction worker who buried a David Ortiz Red Sox jersey in the cement of the new Yankee Stadium, "forcing" other workers to jackhammer it out when he spread word of his deed. The Yankees even approached the DA about legal action against Castignoli, who retained his own attorney. Here's the thing. If he'd left a random shirt in there, no one would have cared: There's no compromise to the structural integrity of the building. He didn't force anyone to do any extra work, or to feel cursed for leaving the jersey in place. So can he actually be charged purely on the basis of other people's superstitions? Is there legal precedent?
In one sense, that's totally crazy. Separation of church and state, etc. But then, let's view it in the context of hate speech, which is illegal in many countries. If I call you a bad name, I'm not forcing you to be hurt. I'm not throwing sticks and stones. Speech is just arbitrary words that humans attach meaning to. But it's hard, or impossible, to avoid reacting negatively. In some ways, hate speech has all the power of a magical spell. Additionally, courts often use judicial alchemy to convert emotional damages into monetary settlements, and what is breaking the heart of an innocent (if misguided--GO SOX!) young Yankees fan if not emotionally damaging?
So hate me all you want. I've now hexed you AND wasted several minutes of your life. Just don't forget about poor Alberto Martinez and his secretary, and, for your own good, forward this post.
