FACT OR
FICTION?
it's time for you
to decide

do you believe everything
the media has to say?

Have you heard the theory that Neil Armstrong did not really land on the moon? Or the one about a group called the ‘Masons’ who apparently rule the world? Or the one about Elvis Presley still being alive? These are all theories. A theory by definition is “an assumption based on limited information or knowledge”. However, nobody is to say that these theories cannot be partly true, because nobody has evidence against these theories.

A theory may sound ridiculous, but if there is no evidence against it then one cannot oppose it because their argument is just as credible as the theory. These theories do not just appear out of thin air. If you think about where most of your information on current events come from you will find that the majority will be from television, newspapers and radio. Too many people automatically believe and trust these sources.

As a young Australian, I am amazed at the amount of trust given to the media. What makes everyone think they are telling the truth? Do you think it is out of a moral obligation? I don’t think so. This is not to say that everything the media reports is a lie; however, everything the media reports is not necessarily fact.

It is practically impossible to find primary sources of information these days. If everyone could hop on a plane and check out the latest information on the wars that are happening around the world and interview every victim’s response, the result may end up significantly different to what the media is telling us. The fact of the matter is that we are not fit enough to research the whole incident so we are going to have to put up with what we have.

We are not limited in resources for us to have to rely on only one source and base our whole perception on it. Most of the population is fortunate enough to have access to the internet whether it is in our homes or the café up the road. We do have alternatives to the mainstream media and we can use them.

The point that I am stressing is that you do not have an obligation to believe the media, despite what we have been conditioned to believe. It is ok to question what you are given and this statement does not stop with the media. It is human to question anything in life.

In Islam, Muslims are encouraged to question what their mind is not settled with, and it is discouraged to continuously turn to others for answers. Islam encourages individuals to research for themselves so that theories are not developed and conflict does not arise.
Whether it is with religion or any aspect of life. It is imperative that you have questions to ask in life and are willing to seek the answers. How can you live your life being uncertain about everything? How can you learn without asking questions? You can’t.

As children, we used to think that adults knew everything, but they only knew what they were taught and we never would have learned if the people before us did not ask questions. We need to continue this cycle from childhood to adulthood.

As the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “We need to seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave”. This applies to everyone, Muslim or non-Muslim. It is in our nature to be curious and we should act on this curiosity throughout our lives.

Take for example an assignment for school. You are told to include a bibliography in this assignment. Bibliographies are the part at the end where you report to your teacher where you got your information. The media is the most popular bibliography in life. However, after reflecting on the matter, I have come to the conclusion that the media could be feeding us absolute lies without anybody finding out. It sounds dramatic, but possible.

We have to be the teachers in the real world and check where our information is coming from. We have to carefully analyse the bibliography and look beyond the media for our information on current and past events. This does not mean we have to believe all theories and accept them as facts, but just read the paper and watch the news with an open mind. Do not be foolish and automatically believe that whoever the media dislikes means you have an obligation to dislike them too. You have only heard their part of the story, research other perspectives and then come to a conclusion of your own.

Next time the media portrays a certain group of people or a place in a negative or positive way; think, research, experience and then judge for yourself. We were not given brains just to absorb information of other people’s likings. Use your brain efficiently and do not be afraid to question the obvious things, you never know what you could end up with.

On that note I shall end with a quote by the author Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, “One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything”.

by Shadia Lozi