How badly did I blunder?

[Moray]

I really feel like countering unspeakably offensive and vile racism is not 'getting upset' or 'venting'.

When these kind of views are put forward, it's up to all of us to publicly and firmly say that this is NOT ok.

I would (as I said), make my response icy and disapproving (rather than the slightly hotheaded response the OP sent), but I absolutely would make it a public response. Polite and firm condemnation of racist garbage is not rude.

This.

[Mental Magpie]

I really feel like countering unspeakably offensive and vile racism is not 'getting upset' or 'venting'.

When these kind of views are put forward, it's up to all of us to publicly and firmly say that this is NOT ok.

I would (as I said), make my response icy and disapproving (rather than the slightly hotheaded response the OP sent), but I absolutely would make it a public response. Polite and firm condemnation of racist garbage is not rude.

I'm with this.

[Audrey Quest]

I really feel like countering unspeakably offensive and vile racism is not 'getting upset' or 'venting'.

When these kind of views are put forward, it's up to all of us to publicly and firmly say that this is NOT ok.

I would (as I said), make my response icy and disapproving (rather than the slightly hotheaded response the OP sent), but I absolutely would make it a public response. Polite and firm condemnation of racist garbage is not rude.

It really doesn't matter.  What you are proposing to do is rude.
 
You can talk to the person who sent it but you have no business contacting anyone else on that list. 

[Mental Magpie]

I really feel like countering unspeakably offensive and vile racism is not 'getting upset' or 'venting'.

When these kind of views are put forward, it's up to all of us to publicly and firmly say that this is NOT ok.

I would (as I said), make my response icy and disapproving (rather than the slightly hotheaded response the OP sent), but I absolutely would make it a public response. Polite and firm condemnation of racist garbage is not rude.

It really doesn't matter.  What you are proposing to do is rude.
 
You can talk to the person who sent it but you have no business contacting anyone else on that list.

I'm having trouble understanding why it is rude.  Honestly.  I realize you're not the only one who said this, Audrey Quest, I'm quoting you only because your post was the last.

[Teenyweeny]

I absolutely disagree. If I were at a party and a person started coming out with this toxic rubbish, I would shut it down. This is no different.

[NyaChan]

I think there is an argument to be made that the scolding email being sent to all the other people makes the interesting assumption that they are part of the problem when there is a good chance that like you, they were just as offended by the article.  I would feel like I was getting lumped in with the bigots simply by virtue of some person including my email address in the To: field.  If you send the information to the sender - the person who is actually spreading the misinformation and intolerant attitude towards others - you are addressing the problem without going after the innocent bystanders too.

[bansidhe]

I really feel like countering unspeakably offensive and vile racism is not 'getting upset' or 'venting'.

When these kind of views are put forward, it's up to all of us to publicly and firmly say that this is NOT ok.

I would (as I said), make my response icy and disapproving (rather than the slightly hotheaded response the OP sent), but I absolutely would make it a public response. Polite and firm condemnation of racist garbage is not rude.

This. Exactly. And I think it's perfectly fine to include everyone else on the BCC line, too. With any luck, doing so will prevent those people from assuming the story is the gospel truth and forwarding it on to others, thus perpetuating a hateful lie. I've done the same thing myself on a couple of occasions in similar circumstances - and actually managed to squelch the temptation to lecture about the dangers of forwarding scads of people's e-mail addresses all over the place. 

And why is it always people's mothers who develop a compulsive urge to forward e-mails? My mother does it too.

[thedudeabides]

I have no problems with correcting it, but I will correct it with the person who has the problem.  I'm not going to assume that the other people on the list are incapable of speaking for themselves and handling it without a scolding.

[Mental Magpie]

I think there is an argument to be made that the scolding email being sent to all the other people makes the interesting assumption that they are part of the problem when there is a good chance that like you, they were just as offended by the article.  I would feel like I was getting lumped in with the bigots simply by virtue of some person including my email address in the To: field.  If you send the information to the sender - the person who is actually spreading the misinformation and intolerant attitude towards others - you are addressing the problem without going after the innocent bystanders too.

See, I, on the other hand, would hurrah somebody for stepping up to shame misinformation.  I wouldn't feel like I was getting lumped in but rather that the sender (the OP in this case) was making sure she got everyone just in case.  I can see, though, that I may be alone in feeling this way.  I can also see where some people would feel offended (and thus the actions would be rude) and where others wouldn't be (and why the actions are not rude).  I really think is one of those in the eye of the beholder things; it really just depends on the perception of the person receiving it.

[kareng57]

I will have to agree that your blunder was in sending the reply to all the cc'd people, along with the sender.

They were likely as outraged as you - and for all you know, might have replied to the sender themselves without copying everyone else.

[yokozbornak]

I really feel like countering unspeakably offensive and vile racism is not 'getting upset' or 'venting'.

When these kind of views are put forward, it's up to all of us to publicly and firmly say that this is NOT ok.

I would (as I said), make my response icy and disapproving (rather than the slightly hotheaded response the OP sent), but I absolutely would make it a public response. Polite and firm condemnation of racist garbage is not rude.

It really doesn't matter.  What you are proposing to do is rude.
 
You can talk to the person who sent it but you have no business contacting anyone else on that list.

I agree.  They don't have a dog in the fight and don't need to be put in the middle. 

[Queen of Clubs]

I agree.  They don't have a dog in the fight and don't need to be put in the middle.

I sort of agree with this.  If you don't know the other people at all, then you shouldn't have emailed them.  Your mom also needs to learn about BCCing people instead of letting everyone's email address be visible.

Having said that, one time I tried to handle a similar situation in the same way, by only emailing the sender with a correction about a racist story that was untrue.  All the people copied on that email know each other.  And, after I'd sent the correction, someone else replied all basically saying how awful the people in the (untrue) story were and she'd emailed everyone she knew to pass it on to them.  So I replied to that person too, telling her the facts.  Then someone else emailed everyone agreeing how racist the horrible people in the email were. 

At that point, I replied to all and included links to two different sites debunking the story and showing how it was totally untrue.  A few people replied to all and thanked me for correcting the issue.  At least, at that point, no one was sending it on, but I wonder if anyone bothered to contact those they'd emailed to say the racist story was untrue.

[Teenyweeny]

I agree.  They don't have a dog in the fight and don't need to be put in the middle.

I sort of agree with this.  If you don't know the other people at all, then you shouldn't have emailed them.  Your mom also needs to learn about BCCing people instead of letting everyone's email address be visible.

Having said that, one time I tried to handle a similar situation in the same way, by only emailing the sender with a correction about a racist story that was untrue.  All the people copied on that email know each other.  And, after I'd sent the correction, someone else replied all basically saying how awful the people in the (untrue) story were and she'd emailed everyone she knew to pass it on to them.  So I replied to that person too, telling her the facts.  Then someone else emailed everyone agreeing how racist the horrible people in the email were. 

At that point, I replied to all and included links to two different sites debunking the story and showing how it was totally untrue.  A few people replied to all and thanked me for correcting the issue.  At least, at that point, no one was sending it on, but I wonder if anyone bothered to contact those they'd emailed to say the racist story was untrue.

Exactly. I also don't really see it as being put in the middle. They either agree with the content of the email, or they don't. As a person who didn't agree, I'd feel glad that somebody was challenging this garbage. If I did agree, well, those views deserve to be challenged!

Especially if, as in this case, it is easily proven that the incident as related did not happen at all, so anybody looking to have their hateful views bolstered by this filth would have the rug pulled from under them, and would not send this email on.

If I was at a dinner party, and somebody started mouthing off in a similarly offensive fashion, I would pull them up on it. I didn't create the embarrassing situation, they did, when they started sharing their bigotry with the group. I'm just putting an end to it.

[bopper]

There are some people who you have to take a harsh tone with for them to "get it" that just because it is written down, it may not be true.

[Allyson]

Had I received your reply, I wouldn't be put off or feel like I was being accused. I think it'd be a little self-centered to assume you were directing it at me personally at all, rather than 'everyone who got this email'. I would probably be a bit annoyed if it started off an email war with everyone getting FWDs a few times a day. So if your mother blasted back at you, including everyone. Then someone else said 'take me off this list!' and so on.

So, I think it was sort of rude but understandable, too.