Bogus MADD Petition

Summary:
Email petition that claims to be sponsored by MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) asks recipients to sign the message and send it to others (Full commentary below.)

Status:
False (Petition is not legitimate)

Example:(Submitted via email, November 2004)

WENT TO A PARTY, MOM. . .

* Please read all the way to the bottom and sign your name *

I went to a party,
And remembered what you said.
You told me not to drink, Mom
So I had a sprite instead.

I felt proud of myself,
The way you said I would,
That I didn't drink and drive,
Though some friends said I should.

I made a healthy choice,
And your advice to me was right,
The party finally ended,
And the kids drove out of sight.

I got into my car,
Sure to get home in one piece,
I never knew what was coming, Mom
Something I expected least.

Now I'm lying on the pavement,
And I hear the policeman say,
The kid that caused this wreck was drunk, Mom,
his voice seems far away.

My own blood's all around me,
As I try hard not to cry.
I can hear the paramedic say,
This girl is going to die.

I'm sure the guy had no idea,
While he was flying high,
Because he chose to drink and drive,
Now I would have to die.

So why do people do it, Mom
Knowing that it ruins lives?
And now the pain is cutting me,
Like a hundred stabbing knives.

Tell sister not to be afraid, Mom
Tell daddy to be brave,
And when I go to heaven,
"Daddy's Girl" is on my grave.
Someone should have taught him,
That it's wrong to drink and drive.
Maybe if his parents had,
I'd still be alive.

My breath is getting shorter, Mom
I'm getting really scared.
These are my final moments,
And I'm so unprepared.

I wish that you could hold me Mom,
As I lie here and die.
I wish that I could say, "I love you, Mom!"
So I love you and good-bye.

MADD IS HOPING TO GET 5,000 SIGNATURES ON THIS, THEN PASS IT ON TO PRESIDENT BUSH. PLEASE SIGN. When this petition has reached 5,000, please return it to:

[CONTACT INFORMATION for MADD REMOVED]

If you receive this petition and do nothing but delete it, your selfishness knows no bounds. Signing is such a small effort to make. After you have read the poem, please add your name at the bottom. And never forget, DON'T EVER DRINK AND DRIVE, not even once, thinking that it won't matter. IT DEFINITELY WILL MATTER!!!

How to set it up:

1. Copy the entire e-mail.

2. Paste it into a new e-mail.

3. SIGN YOUR NAME AT THE BOTTOM.

4. Then send it to everyone you know.

THE NAMES:

[OVER 1000 NAMES REMOVED]

Commentary:
Although the underlying message contained in this email petition is important, the petition itself is bogus. MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) is a real organization that does valuable work in the ongoing battle against drunk driving and its often horrific consequences.

However, MADD did not sponsor or endorse this petition. Signing it and sending it to everyone you know is pointless and is unlikely to achieve anything other than the consumption of bandwidth. In fact, most email-based petitions are virtually worthless because politicians or any one else in authority will not take them seriously. Often the long list of names on these petitions will never even arrive at their intended destination. Besides, a determined individual could easily falsify the "results" of an email petition by adding hundreds or thousands of names. These names might be real and used without permission or simply made up. In a typical email petition, there is no viable way of checking the validity of names on the list. Thus, the validity of an email petition is questionable even if it was actually launched by a real organization rather than a desktop activist with an axe to grind.

MADD has information about this false petition on their website

Those who sign and send this petition show that they are caring people who would like to help in the fight against drunk driving. However, signing the petition is a waste of time. A much more valuable contribution would be to become actively involved with MADD or another anti-DD organization.

Find out more about MADD

Write-up by Brett M.Christensen