With invitations, wording is everything

Last Friday an email was sent out to the Chicago Friends of Israel mailing list, urging people to attend the "Saturday Night Israeli Movie Night 7 p.m." The movie my friends were planning on going to was one I'd already seen, so I thought, why not go to the Israeli film instead and perhaps meet up with them later? But then I opened the email, and it began, "Still do not have saturday night plans? How about the Saturday Night Israeli Movie Night..." Geez, if you're trying to get people to go to an event, there's no need to imply that the only reason anyone would go is that they are a loser with nothing to do on a Saturday night. And I began to imagine what sort of people would read this email and think, "I still do not have Saturday night plans. This, and this alone, will get me out of my room, where I've been studying/chainsmoking/rocking back and forth for the past week." Or perhaps, "S/he left me for that creep/skank, and now I have no life! What will I do? Aha! Israeli movie night, the answer to my problems!"

The prospect was just too depressing, so although the event itself was probably fine, I could not get myself to attend.