Note 2: This article was first published in Blogfa on January 28, 2020
In the Name of God
Promoting peace, security and justice in the world by raising political insight and ethics: a letter to university professors
Dear professors!
I have read extensively and reflected on major global issues like war and injustice since I was in high school, and arrived at the conclusion that, in this era of disinformation, unequal visibility, and biased coverage, raising political awareness and insight as well as promoting spirituality and ethics would probably be the most effective solution to world's problems and the best strategy to prevent war and conflict and establish peace and security in the world.
Political insight is the key to security and conflict resolution largely due to the fact that politics is involved in all aspects of our social and individual life, including education, business, nutrition and health and, at the same time, political discourse is rife with various forms of disinformation. It is therefore clear that having political insight makes people less vulnerable to deception and exploitation and hence can improve their social behavior and quality of life at large. Likewise, the promotion of spirituality and ethics is of high importance mainly because spiritualty and ethics play crucial roles in shaping social behavior and directing peaceful international relations, and more importantly, because knowledge without ethics can do more harm than good to human beings
This might sound obvious. However, we need to take into consideration the fact that a substantial number of people are either not interested in politics or use unreliable sources of political information, mainly because they do not have the time or opportunity most highly educated people are endowed with. The results of a series of unpublished surveys I conducted in 7 higher education institutes during the past decade suggest that the majority of university students tend to get their news from unreliable sources, both traditional and modern. Most are not even aware of the availability of alternative sources.
As you may already know, the majority of people across the world are being indoctrinated, controlled, and exploited by the global power elite. These super-rich and/or extremely powerful politicians control more than 50 percent of the world wealth and own or somehow influence the mainstream media, and as they derive unlimited benefit from conflicts, they are behind most wars worldwide and pose a major obstacle in the way of lasting peace settlement.
Accordingly, all people, regardless of their nationality, race, and religion, should take all measures to inform as many people as they can. I believe the responsibility rests primarily with university professors and other highly educated people, especially those concerned about injustice and human suffering, as they are the most qualified, given their knowledge and academic skills.
I strongly believe that exposure to opposing political views or diverse political information can generally enhance political insight and tolerance of opposing views and should be encouraged and practiced widely. This strategy, however, may not work well with most people on the grounds that the majority of ordinary people are obsessed with the difficulties of daily life or are otherwise engaged with less serious issues like sports and celebrities’ lives and hence do not have the time or opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills required for locating reliable sources and evaluating the credibility of the political information they consume. That said, for a great proportion of the world population, raising political awareness and insight can best be achieved by identifying and sharing reliable sources.
In addition, while writing original material is of high value, in this age of information explosion and disinformation, increasing the readership of reliable sources seems to be a more effective strategy.
Finally, it is obvious that it is almost impossible to find neutral or unbiased materials, especially in the area of politics. It helps, however, to identify relatively reliable sources and share them with as many people as possible, encouraging further sharing.
Materials from such sites/sources can be shared in different forms. Original articles or theses in fields such as communication science, media studies, and applied linguistics (critical discourse analysis, in particular), can be directed to incorporate the materials from these sites. For instance, the selected sites can be compared with the mainstream media in terms of the type and amount of disinformation techniques and strategies they have employed when reporting or commenting on the same events or issues. More specifically, in the case of applied linguistics, intact articles or selected parts can be assigned in graduate and undergraduate courses like discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, as well as reading and translating journalistic materials. Likewise, related parts/ideas from different articles, interviews, and speeches/lectures can be synthesized into a concise more reader friendly article. However, sharing selected ideas or quotes in the form of short paragraphs or voice clips through social media seems to be the most effective strategy, mainly due to the fact that some people cannot afford the time or are simply unwilling to read or listen to lengthy materials.
Akbar Fijani, Iranian University Instructor
January 28, 2020
Among the different sites and sources I know, I suggest the following. I have examined the content of these sites, closely taking into consideration the profile/works of the regular contributors to each. They generally publish more sophisticated, reliable and accurate information compared to similar outlets.
English key words (phrases):
New World Order, globalization, global(world) governance, the global power elite, global(world) government, who rules the world, neoliberalism, media disinformation, indoctrination, mind control, cognitive warfare, manufacturing consent, culture change, think tanks, soft war, multinational corporations, consumerism, imperialism, capitalism and war, capitalists, neocolonialism, Hollywood, Freemasonry, critical discourse analysis, state terrorism, biological war, cyber attack, Islamophobia, Iranophobia, spirituality, religious sect(cult), theosophy, genetically modified foods, Bilderberg, the Bank for International Settlements - Rothschilds - Rockefellers
English sites and sources:
Journal of peace research
Global Research.ca -
Truthout –
FAIR.org(Fairness and accuracy in reporting) -
Oxfam (International)
Galtung Institut(GI):
TRANSCEND Media Service(TMS) -
TRANSCEND Research Institute(TRI)-
Press TV
Iranian English sites and sources:
Tasnim News Agency
Mehr News Agency
Nour News
Iranian Diplomacy
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