Don't be gulliable

From today's National:

The more news sources, the more gullible we are getting

Ali Khaled
May 2, 2012

It was a headline worthy of the The Onion or The Daily Show.

"Egypt's women urge MPs not to pass early marriage, sex-after-death laws: report" read the now infamous headline on Al Arabiya's website on April 25.

It seemed the news that a draft law in the Islamist-dominated parliament, allowing a man to have intercourse with his deceased wife up to six hours after her death, raised the wrath of Egypt's National Council for Women (NCW).

My first reaction was that this was a joke, and not a very funny one. Although admittedly it was more an indignant incredulity than genuine disbelief. The "Farewell Intercourse" law, it soon became clear, was a hoax. But it had eagerly been accepted as news by even serious media outlets.

That the parliament initially did not, or seemed reluctant to, defend itself from such a harmful allegation added to the confusion. Indeed it was only on Monday that an Islamist MP, Mamdouh Ismail, denied the line as "indecent and nonsense". By then, the damage had been done; the world's press was already up in arms.

Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) allows for reinterpretation of long-standing rulings in Sharia law. But it is the continued obsession of Egypt's current parliament to use it to deal with moral issues, that have no bearing on the country's immediate problems, that has attracted criticism.

Three stories from last week highlight this: A Salafi cleric's objection that Egyptian currency notes display un-Islamic images; the upholding by an Egyptian court of a three-month sentence against the country's most famous actor, Adel Imam, for defaming Islam in some of his film roles; and confirmation that a law that would permit girls to get married at the age of 14 has been drafted. In such context, the grotesque "Farewell Intercourse" law was just the latest on a long list.

In reality, while the Salafi-driven agenda in Egypt may be objectionable to liberals, spreading such lies is far more dangerous down the line, as other examples show.

On the same day that Al Arabiya launched its famous headline, Israel's military chief of staff, Lt-Gen Benny Gantz, attempted to debunk a myth that his country has based a whole foreign policy idealogy on: That Iranian president Mahmoud Ahamdinejad in 2005 claimed Israel should be wiped off the map. Israel has used this claim to justify its beligerent anti-Iran stance. Now, in attempting to pull back from an unwanted, potentially catastrophic conflict with Iran, Israeli military men are willing to take the unprecedented step of claiming Mr Ahmadinejad's words were mistranslated. The lie no longer served its purpose, and suddenly Mr Ahamdinejad is not such a bad guy after all.

Increasingly, the internet is the lawless Wild West of vicious rumours, propaganda and outright lies.

Inspired by the Syrian regime's recent Monty Pythonesque allegation that Lionel Messi was sending coded message to opposition rebels on the field of play, anti-Assad activists are hitting back with nonsense of their own. Photos of the Argentinian (complete with circa-2008 long hair) holding up a T-shirt with the phrase "Free Syrian Army" have been making the rounds on Facebook. To real Assad opponents, the idea that the world's greatest footballer is supporting their struggle is attractive. Sadly, it was yet another hoax; and those spreading the doctored photos are doing their cause more harm than good.

Counterintuitively, it seems that the more sources of information we have access to, the more easily we are duped. And once a lie makes its way into the public consciousness, of retractions can undo the initial damage fully.

Next time a headline sounds too ridiculous to be true, it probably is. Don't believe the hype. And, above all else, if the world's problems are to be solved, it is vital that everyone leave poor Leo Messi alone once and for all.