One of the challenges in the current information age is the challenge of disinformation, not lack of information.
Over the years, the gulf has widened in the Muslim world between the elite and the street. While the elite has become pliant, the street has become more defiant. One reason may be that the elite tends to look at its own polity and society through the prism of West and western lenses.
In the United States, a revealing report found that educated people were more biased against the Palestinians than those less educated. A Middle East Journal survey of several years ago corroborated it. And a recent study of American movie-goers suggests that, while most are educated, many received little formal education on the Middle East, making them susceptible to how Arabs and Muslims are portrayed in films and the media: “Audiences integrate these [negative] stereotypes into their thinking, even if they are unaware they are doing so, allowing a massive spread of a political agenda through a medium that is considered nothing more than harmless entertainment.”
Thus, in the post-9/11 era, the US public unquestioningly supported the jingoism of George Bush.
Ideally, education should encourage one to think, to reflect, to question and not to uncritically accept assumptions. But it is not always so, whether in the West or the East.
Education is not always a confidence-builder. According to Ayatulah Khomeni, education sometimes enhances existing insecurities, complexes and anxieties.
Neuro-science research shows that our emotions tend to drive our thinking and not the other way around. For example, the educated Indian middle class is not averse to the Hindutva policies of BJP. The June 2003 issue of National Geographic reveals how the 160 million untouchable Dalit population continues to be treated in India.
Yet, the lesson should not be that education be avoided. Countering disinformation requires an educated and informed public.
No religion has emphasized learning so much as Islam; yet, few communities have suffered so much from illiteracy as Muslims. Why is there such a gap between policy and practice?
One is an issue of duality. Lip service is given to learning, but learned people are not given importance. The role models are men of means and genes and not men of achievement and learning.
Islam and Muslim causes bear the principal brunt of disinformation. To date there is no effective riposte. There is a huge space waiting to be filled. If the space is not filled by the pen then, out of frustration, it may be taken up by the gun.
Over 100 years ago, Islamic scholar Muhammad Abduh of Al-Azhar traveled to Europe. He spent a few years there. Upon his return he was asked what were his impressions. He said, “In Europe I saw Islam all-around, but I found no Muslims. In Cairo I found Muslims all over, but I found no Islam.”
The challenge of disinformation has to be met forcefully if the West and the rest are to rediscover Islamic élan.
