Just to be clear (and I know you didn’t say me in particular 
), I don’t disagree with blocking him at all. I think his refusal to leave you off his email list was poor behavior on his part. I disagreed with those who were advising you to escalate it.
I have no idea why he didn’t stop sending the emails. The best I can come up with is that he is old and dumb with computers and thinks he took you off the list when he really didn’t. Whatever the case he should have at least told you he was sorry and he would try to stop.
But, that’s besides the point. I don’t disagree with you for being pissed off. Or for blocking his emails. Just for ignoring him at such a low time in his life.
** sniff **
That’s … that’s beautiful, man. (I am SO stealing that line!) 
I should hope not! Sorry; bad paraphrasing caught up in revision. I meant that you were being over-sensitive.
Leaving aside the significantly younger part–I’m only 27, so that would be, like, a kid or something–yeah, I would totally stop. The thing is, I also spend a ton of time on the internet, and am therefore well-versed in internet manners and culture. But for someone who isn’t–either because they don’t use the internet much, or are set in their ways and not able to grok the new culture, or whatever–things like emails and annoying forwards might not seem like a big deal. Or he might just be like the family member who won’t shut up at family gatherings about homeopathy or whatever. Point is. . .I don’t think it’s enough to cut someone off for. S’all.
I’ve never seen it, but I’ve watched plenty of youtubes of people watching it. Apparently once it gets going you can’t NOT watch it, even if you start gagging at some point.
Hey, sometimes some people only hear you when you speak to them on their level. It’s not about holding some moral high ground, it’s about effectively conveying a message in a manner which Cousin Eddie will be capable of understanding, because clearly he seems to believe he is the one in a position of moral authority; he does not understand how anyone could disagree with him. Anyone who disagrees with him is just “naive” and the only way to cure that is to send them more emails!
I have some surprising news: Some liberals are guilty of this too. Human beings in general are pretty hateful and disrespectful to people who don’t share their particular blend of political/religious views.
I don’t get it either. I think it’s rude and disrespectful.
I also don’t get you reading them, complaining, not dealing with it until you lost it and had to use profanity.
I don’t get you not sending a sympathy card to a relative who lost his wife.
You can’t control his actions but you ought to control and take responsibility for your own. If you had some strange compulsion to read them and get all pissed off at how crazy they were , that’s your fault not his. You can’t justify your bad behavior with his. Don 't turn it into a family fight about who was more wrong. That would only make it worse for everybody. He made bad calls, you also made some bad calls. Try to forgive each other and move on.
He may very possibly not know how to delete you from his forwarding list if he is computer illiterate like a lot of old people are.
I think you’re taking this way too seriously. I have an older relative who does the same kind of thing and I don’t even read the emails. It has never made me angry because that’s just how old people are. Not acknowledging the death of someone’s wife because you’re receiving some annoying emails from them is a pretty serious overreaction.
She is a beautiful person other than her political views. I know she is sincere in her beliefs so I was completely serious. People ought to give a dam about what is true and what isn’t before they start spreading it around.
Realistically, even if he really didn’t know how after the first request, he could have , and should have told her so, and asked for help in fulfilling her request. The fact that she asked him several times sorta indicates he just ignored her wishes. That’s disrespectful. You don’t get extra license to treat people with disrespect because you’re older than they are.
True dat; I participate in the comments section of an online news and political commentary site. Plenty of disrespectful ignorant insult flinging on both sides.
Eddie is only about 65, and he knows very well how to use computers and email. I’m pretty sure he was deliberately antagonizing me. I think in his mind, I am a naive Democrat who is way too sensitive and can’t take a joke (like, his super funny racist emails - he’s one of those people who doesn’t really think he’s racist, because he can joke about it), and his continuing to send me the unwanted emails was his way of telling me that. It’s a cruel, taunting, bullying thing to do, and I don’t want to associate with people like that, be they family or not.
I doubt this whole thing will cause any family ripples, because most of my family would side with Eddie. But again, it’s not necessarily the content of the emails that really set me off - it was the fact that he wouldn’t stop harassing me with them. He knew what he was doing, and that’s the part that hurts. I always thought he liked me. I would never do to someone I liked what he has done to me.
I can’t really defend myself about not sending him a condolence note about his wife. She’d been dying for years, a slow death from emphysema. But if there was a person out there who you felt was bullying you and being deliberately mean just to get a rise out of you, would you feel very sympathetic towards them if something bad happened to them? Even something as horrible as the death of a spouse…
If I found pleasure in tormenting a person, I wouldn’t be surprised if that person didn’t sympathize with me when bad things happened to me.
OK, I get that. However, at some point, personal responsibility comes into play. Yeah, it was a dick move to email it and I would be furious at anyone who sent it to me without warning, but that’s like claiming that a restaurant forced you to eat a bad meal. After the first bite, the responsibility to push the plate away is all yours.
I understand. I hope you understand what’s been said to you. You could have blocked him much sooner but you chose not to. That’s your own fault.
Or maybe she might have expected that a reasonable person would accede to her wishes.
Why are you defending the guy? Because it’s “just” email? What if he was doing that over the phone or by snail mail? It’s no different. Whether or not she read the emails matters not.
I stopped it as soon as I realized what was going on - “Two girls making out? Okay, not my usual cup of tea, but…AGGGGHHHHHH! MY EYES!” What is seen cannot be unseen.
I think it’s the “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” kind of thing here - after Cousin Eddie had made it clear he wasn’t going to stop, it was up to the OP to block him, not just rage about him continuing to do something it was in her power to stop. Yes, he should have stopped the first time he asked, but we don’t live in a perfect world - you still have to do what you can, not just expect others to do the right thing.
Yes, I see your point. But it’s a pit rant and I think this guy is deserving, especially since he wrecked a family relationship out of arrogance.
I don’t think I’ve ever blocked anyone from a personal email account. Does the sender receive a “delivery failed” notice?
I had a guy sending me the worst of the worst right-wing, psuedo-Christian, racist, xenophobic glurge. I saved them all, even the ones that came after I asked him to take me off his list. I hope I have them in 20 years, they’ll be hilarious then.
What would compel me to keep sending them? The desire to annoy and antagonize you. The desire to express decades of annoyance at you. The desire to eliminate you from my family circle while appearing the victim.
If those were Eddie’s goals, he won.
I have some sympathy that you did not want to cut Eddie out of your life, but you really should have acted like a grown up, blocked his emails, and asked your mother to keep you informed about Mrs. Eddie.
However, I, like you, do not see Eddie as some harmless old coot who just doens’t know how to use his new toy. He was rude and unkind and manipulative - oh, I bet he told your whole family you just up and blew up at him for sending you an email, didn’t he?