Public apology on disinformation
When my grandmother of 86 years tells me about sun rising from the west on Mars and warning about the same happening on Earth I knew the unchecked and unmonitored religious propaganda machine was on a serious rampage and out of control and inflicting mental anguish on the public. How did this bullshit get to her, I wondered?
It is my belief that the following organisations must issue official apologies to the public for the recent dissemination of pseudo-scientific garbage about Mars retrograde motion claiming and associating this optical phenomenon as a sign of impending doomsday.
- Mathee Majlis of Islam for gross incompetence and ignorance
- Adaalathu Party for abusing the collective psyche and playing with people's beliefs and using pseudo-science as religious propaganda to spread fear and panic
- Haveeru Daily for careless fact-checking, gross incompetence of the editorial team, abusing public misunderstanding of science to sell newspapers
These organisations have a moral obligation to tell the truth and not lie - especially on matters concerning religious beliefs.
In a country where the public understanding of science is in a sorry state and where the dependence on religious dogma has been the norm, this kind of disinformation will (and it has) spread like a lethal virus. These organisations must be held accountable for or must accept their failure as entities serving the public for what is blatant lying, fear mongering and spreading confusion on a massive scale.
aharen | February 3, 2008 10:47 AM
You remind me of Salman Rushdi
Stop this crappy propaganda to promote christianity
nass | February 3, 2008 11:00 AM
Perhaps you should apologise to the bloggers as well, for misleading us with that title :p
thadu | February 3, 2008 11:02 AM
totally agree. mentioned people will certainly have to make a public apology. it was a pure dispersion of a big lie in the name of religion inflicting fear on the society, deviating people from the truth and not to forget supporting and increasing the expectations and spirit of extremist groups who are, for reasons based on no fact, disrupting the 'little peace' left in the country.
Simon | February 3, 2008 12:48 PM
Aharen,
Have you read Rushdie's work? And Christian propaganda, you say? Hohoh!
Nass,
Yep. That title was intentional. Did you rush in to find out what I was apologising for? Sorry to have burst your bubble. :P
Dr.Freex | February 3, 2008 1:52 PM
I agree, in this case.
nass | February 3, 2008 3:25 PM
Nope, actually I came in to see what you grandma had to say. That's all.
Dhivehi Resistance | February 3, 2008 7:21 PM
..Christian missionaries scare the Hell out of Maldivians with stories of the sun rising from the west...no wait a minute..
the three parties you mention are:-
The Emme Mathee Islamic organ of the state
The Islamic political party
Newspaper(?) owned by graduate of Azhar madarusa and Doctor of Theology from a Malaysian muslim university.
there is no connection to Islam? Its a coincidence that they are top authorities on Islam? Maybe these Muslim leaders just happened to sadly misunderstand Islam in their noble effort to make Maldivians a good muslim people. After all if you can save even one person from the fire of Jahannama, its worth telling a lie. Allah will not call you to account for thoughtlessness in your oaths, but for the intention in your.
Nass, please, in your response, don't post your junk on Simons blog. I'll visit MV Muslims to read what the bible has to say about the sun rising from the east.
counter-knowledge | February 3, 2008 11:15 PM
funny how the actual science is on a blog and the pseudoscience crap is on national television n stuff. its normally the other way around. dont think a public apology is gonna happen man.
faleel | February 4, 2008 12:00 AM
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Simon & his retarded gang of Islam haters... Didn't you notice that adhaalathu party has already apologised?
http://www.adhaalathu.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=750&Itemid=1
Simon, were you too "fear mongered & confused on a massive scale" to notice that?
Faleel,
Thank you for pointing me to the article with the footnote apology. I had not noticed it.
It looks like Adhaalat panicked when 700 over visitors witnessed their idiocy and now is trying to cover it all up. Still, they cannot admit that the entire article, except the hadith (which has nothing to do with the retrograde motion of Mars), was a big mistake. Now they are covering up...sort of trying to beautify the whole debacle saying there were some "mistakes" (as in olhunthakeh) when in reality the whole article was a mistake!
I have a better suggestion: why don't they embed the apology in the HTML source code? That way no one can say they didn't apologise.
Oh and I hate to be the one telling you this, but who are the retards that published the article in question?
Kutb | February 4, 2008 12:06 AM
Hmm..
m | February 4, 2008 12:26 AM
faleel,
Is that an apology for the recent dissemination of pseudo-scientific garbage or are they apologizing the garbage was written in a way that confused the public!
IBU | February 4, 2008 9:14 AM
Faleel i guess ur one of the retarded guyz who publish stuff in adhalath website.
These ppl will cross the lines to prove what they believe is true. is this a faith or a fear factory???
faleel | February 5, 2008 1:02 AM
IBU,
Don't assume that everything you "guess" is true. Sheesh... The extents some people go to prove what they believe is true...
I admit it was extremely dumb on their part to publish that article.
Simon,
You're the pathetic, retarded one who doesn't even recognize his own Creator. Even animals recognize & obey their master (or the one who feeds it). But you are even more inferior than those animals. You are even more astray.
Faleel,
I have deleted the verses and the hadith you copy pasted in your comment because, frankly, this blog is no place for them unless I put them - such is my power over this. You can copy-paste entire books anywhere else but here, on this blog, there is space for sound opinions only.
As for the bit about calling me a retard, I've left that paragraph of your comment as it is, even though I can see how you've tried very hard to form some kind of constructive criticism and failed. For the world to see, my friend, for the world to see. No, no need to thank me.
nomiS | February 5, 2008 5:51 AM
Simon says:"How did this bullshit get to her, I wondered?".
Wow. guess the rest of us has human shit inside and your grandmother has got bullshit inside..Simon go and do a checkup. You probably got monkey shit inside you. And in the meantime get treatment for your egocentric attitude.
nomiS,
Dude, unless my grandmother is yours too please mind your own business or stay to the topic.
Also, why make a fool of yourself when you do not understand the concept of a "figure of speech"?
Some people!
ticktock | February 5, 2008 9:01 AM
... this is about the time i should blindfold myself and jump off the edge of the earth!!! (wat? they said the world is flat too?)
i cannot for the life of me understand how some people gets upset abt simon's and jaa's posting highlighting the incompetencies of .....?
- the TOP GOVERNMENT authority on islam?
- the LEADING newspaper in the country?
- and of coz lets not forget the religious political party...
what a sad state of affairs!!! really, the people who i should be able to depend on for sound religious informataion are complete morons!!! and more so are not willing to admit their mistakes??? sez a lot about them doesn't it?
so when did misinformation for any cause become acceptable? right!! if its ok for religious unity, Is it such a big deal for political, social and all other reasons?
fx | February 5, 2008 9:48 AM
Was happy to see that at least some people think about their elders.
If | February 6, 2008 11:09 AM
Whats with the 'retarded' business in so many comments for this post? This is very unlike Simon's blog to encourage conversation about a 'retarded' bunch. What exactly do you mean by that faleel? And I really cant understand the point of a translation that says 'deaf, dumb, and blind' in the same sentence to make some people feel lesser than others. Or does this translation highlight the literal meaning too much? Or am i taking this too literally? Whichever way, all this sounds really lame.
No faleel, i am not interested on your further advice and counter arguments on my comment!
If,
You are right. I need to do a bit of house cleaning. I apologize for not attending to it, especially since it was directed at me.
al | February 11, 2008 11:34 AM
I think a bit of respect despite a difference in ideology and belief would be beneficial to all parties.
I agree with Simon in this instance. We should look both ways before crossing the road.