Anti-Social

 The other day, I (like many tens of millions of other people) received this email below from the Social Security Administration tonight.  It glowingly praised the “benefits” to recipients from the new budget bill.

I was surprised that I was able to get through the whole thing, although with a clenched jaw.  It was just galling to read.  But I stuck with it to the end, because I wanted to make sure I was reading it correctly.

I immediately went to the Social Security website, found the form to contact them and, after my typing fingers uncurled enough, wrote a response.  (By the way, for those who don't spend any time on social media, the very last line in my note is how Trump is now ending many of his own tweets.) 

​This is what I sent --

This evening, I received an email from Social Security, telling what a great benefit there was to recipients as a result of the new budget bill. Please don’t send me garbage email like this.  As you know, this “relief” is very temporary -- and further, decreases for some people. And then goes away in three years. More to the point, I don’t care about how the bill affects me – it is a disaster for 17 million people who will lose Medicaid healthcare, and a disaster for the country. If you want to suck up to Trump and praise his "efforts," please do it on your own time, and don’t bother me with it. Thank you for your attention to this matter. ​

There was a lot more that I wanted to say, but I knew I was writing in response to a bulk email that would get read by a low-level employee who had absolutely nothing to do with sending the original email, and likely wouldn't forward it anywhere.  So even I have my limits and know when to occasionally keep it short.  And also, even though I was writing on the SSA contact form and not replying to a generic bulk email, I didn't expect a response.  And in some ways, I didn't precisely get one.  However, the Social Security Administration actually did write back.  If you can call it that.  This was their in-depth, thoughtful reply --

"Thank you for contacting the Social Security Administration.

"We apologize for the delay in answering your inquiry. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused."

Honestly, I'm glad that they didn't write any more than this.  If they had, then -- me being me -- I probably would have written back.  And then they'd have sent another auto-reply.  And...