Help establish peace and justice in the world by promoting political awareness and ethics
Note: the following is a modified version of a letter addressed to university professors around the world I wrote a few days after the assassination of General Soleimani, top Iranian commander, by the United States, and published on Blogfa January 28, 2020
In the Name of God
Help establish peace and justice in the world by promoting political awareness 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 age of disinformation and biased coverage, raising political awareness and understanding and media literacy, as well as promoting spirituality and ethics would probably be the most effective solution to world's problems and the best approach to prevent war and conflict and establish peace, security and justice in the world.
This might sound obvious, but the reality is that most people are either not interested in politics, or use unreliable sources mainly because they lack the knowledge and skills required for evaluating political information. By way of example, the results of a series of unpublished surveys I conducted in 7 higher education institutes during the past decade suggest that the majority of university students (over 70 percent) tend to get their news from unreliable sources, both traditional and modern. Some are not even aware of the availability of alternative sources of political information.
At the same time, most people across the globe are indoctrinated, controlled, and exploited in different guises by the global power elite. Holding more than 50 percent of the world wealth, these super-rich and/or extremely powerful politicians own the mainstream media and influence a substantial proportion of the remaining sources of political information, thereby shaping the public opinion in accord with their interests and inhumane goals. Also, as the most wealthy and powerful individuals on the earth, these elites influence literally any important decision made by international organizations and governments. And as they derive unlimited benefit from conflicts, they are behind most wars worldwide and pose a major obstacle in the way of conflict resolution and lasting peace settlement.
This underlines the importance of raising political knowledge and understanding as well as media literacy among people throughout the world. Political awareness and understanding is generally the key to the establishment of peace, security and justice 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, media literacy gains importance because political discourse is rife with various forms of disinformation which is predominantly spread through the media as the major means of control over the public opinion. 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, promoting spirituality and ethics is of high importance because it plays a crucial role 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.
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 everybody on the grounds that the majority of ordinary people are occupied with the problems of everyday 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. This would suggest that for a significant proportion of the world population, political insight can best be gained through the use of trustworthy sources recommended by well-intentioned, socially committed and politically aware individuals.
Accordingly, all people, regardless of their nationality, race, and religion, especially those concerned about injustice and human suffering, should take all measures to foster political awareness and understating, and, in particular, inform as many people as they can about the roots of war and injustice. I believe the responsibility rests primarily with university professors and other highly educated people, as they are the most qualified, given their knowledge and academic skills.
Finally, as every instance of discourse is ideologically loaded, there is no neutral or unbiased source of political information. It helps, however, to identify relatively reliable sources and share them with as many people as possible, encouraging further sharing. It should also be noted that while writing original materials is of high value, and sometimes necessary, in this age of information explosion and disinformation, increasing the readership of available credible sources may be a more effective strategy.
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 corporate 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 such as discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, as well as reading and translating journalistic materials. Likewise, excerpts from written and oral materials (books, articles, interviews, and speeches) can be synthesized into a concise more reader friendly article or podcast to be shared with different populations. 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 the vast majority of people often use modern media to obtain information, and that some cannot afford the time or are simply unwilling to read or listen to lengthy materials.
Akbar Fijani, an Iranian university instructor
March 17, 2024
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Recommended sites:
Journal of Peace Research
https://www.globalresearch.ca/