The need of being media literate in this age of infodemic and fifth generation warfare is being felt stupendous. We must scrutinise every bit of information before its unmonitored dissemination. But why is this use of scepticism sought only to debunk disinformation? Scepticism should be the sine qua non of our mode of thinking in every matter of life, as is also enjoined upon us time and again by the Holy Quran to employ the faculty of reasoning in observing the scheme and functioning of the universe. Reasoning is the only characteristic that makes man the paragon of all creatures. We are not wired by nature to take anything for granted.
The biting reality is that we are conditioned at home and at school not to employ our faculty of reasoning. The milieu wherein questioning is snubbed and skepticism is discouraged, how can we expect people to look askance at apocryphal information?
Our education system, especially the examination system, doesn’t require students to be sceptic. For them, exams just mean a game of obtaining marks and grades. Even our textbooks don’t stir their imagination. Let us corroborate.
As the story goes when a mother asked Einstein three times what he would suggest for the learning of her child, he prescribed only fairytales. It goes without saying that fairytales stir imagination. Contrarily, our books include moralising essays, doing moral policing. Nothing is taken with a grain of salt. Our school system reminds us of Charles Dickens’ novel ‘Hard Times’ whose character Gradgrind advocates the idea of shoving cold facts down students’ throats.
There is need for us to be sceptic against disinformation, but it must be applied at the school level to safeguard our children against becoming vectors of disinformation. Students must be made aware that unbitten sharing of posts at social media can increase electronic traffic and cause e-pollution. A single email produces enough of toxic gases in the atmosphere. Inclusion of media literacy in the curriculum which has become a basic human right in this age of digitalism will definitely activate dormant reasoning that will also branch out to other disciplines of knowledge.
M NADEEM NADIR
KASUR
