Sadullah Khan – 20th Post Witr Talk Ramadaan 1444 2023
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the importance of framing facts in media to create a unique perspective without conveying the whole truth. The speaker uses examples such as Nathan's presentation of di polymer monoxide as a dangerous substance and the lack of evidence that it causes severe burns. The speaker emphasizes the need to be truthful in how one states the truth while being truthful in how one states the truth.
AI: Summary ©
We continue our theme,
moral guidance from everyday experiences.
Allah advises us in the holy Quran in
the verse,
Speak words that are true,
correct
and your actions will be rectified
and your sins will be forgiven.
Allah says that in Surah Hazab.
Now, this verse
exhorts
us to speak the truth,
to be truthful also in how we say
what we say. This is very important
because sometimes speaking the truth can be half
a truth and not the whole truth.
So here, the verse actually doesn't say speak
the truth only. It also implies
speak the truth and be truthful
in how you say what you are saying.
Keep that in mind.
Because you could convey what is false
in a seemingly truthful way.
And
we can do that by framing the facts
in a specific context,
creating a particular perspective
without conveying the whole truth. This is very
masterfully
done by the media.
And this occurs
more than you think. Politicians do it.
Conspiracy theorists do it. And of course, the
media,
much of the media, they've mastered this.
They use proven facts
to persuade people
in believing
false claims.
I want to refer to an incident that
occurred in 1997.
A 14 year old boy by the name
of Nathan Zona,
What he did was he presented
a project for the science,
a science project for his school
and
he was seeking through this project
to ban a particular substance
which he said was very, very dangerous
and he said,
this
substance is
DHMO,
dihydrogen
monoxide.
Dihydrogen
monoxide.
And throughout his presentation,
Sohne provided his audience,
the teachers and the principal and classmates,
scientifically
correct evidence
as to why this substance,
which is found everywhere in the world, in
every water pipe,
in sometimes the sky, wherever,
all over the world is found and he
explained
that dihydrogen
monoxide
causes severe burns.
When it is in gas form, it can
cause severe burns.
It's so destructive
that it can corrode
rust.
Forget the human body. It can corrode rust
metal.
It's commonly found in human tumors
as well
as in acid rain and
causes excessive
damage
to your urinary tract if if it's consumed
too much
and he said, It's fatal if you inhale
it too much. If you inhale it, it
can kill you.
And annually,
dihydrogen monoxide
worldwide
kills
320,000
people.
Di hydrogen monoxide kills annually
320,000
people.
And he said
to his classmates and to the people around
there,
I want to ban this substance and I
want your vote.
How many of you feel that dihydrogen monoxide
should be banned?
And 43 out of 50 students, in other
words, 86%
of the students and those present,
voted to ban this obviously clearly dangerous
substance.
However,
what he did not tell them, you see,
he didn't say a single word of a
lie.
All the facts he gave were facts.
What he did not tell them is that
dihydrogen
monoxide
is simply an
unconventional name for water.
But not a single one of his facts
were false.
And
his experiment was called what?
Not water.
It was called, how gullible are we?
The topic was, how gullible
are we? You see,
all the points that he used to convey
were 100% factually correct
but he skewed the information.
He skewed the information
in his favor
by omitting certain realities.
It does kill
320,000
people
when they drown
in the sea or by flood. It's not
dangerous by itself but the impression he gave
was it kills 320,000
people. I mean 20,000 would have been enough
for me to vote, get my vote.
So 320,000,
he didn't say but they die by drowning
or by floods,
which also means by drowning
and the fact that if you inhale it,
any liquid, if you inhale 2 handfuls, you'll
die. But it's true. If you do inhale
water too much,
it can kill you.
So what we are saying, what we learned
from this
is to realize
that people could convey
what is
false
in a seemingly
truthful way. This is very, very important
especially when we view the news. We have
200 channels of news
and you look at what they say about
Palestine and parts of the world and it's
completely non factual but they're using facts. 10
people died, 4 people died and there was
a skirmish and both sides must cool off.
They don't say who's eating who. They They
don't say who killed who. They don't say
who started first but and both must calm
down. So you say, well, it's a very
balanced news.
So what we are saying is, we learn
from this that people could convey what is
false
in a seemingly truthful way by framing these
facts
in a specific manner
by manipulation of information
and by stating part of the truth,
creating a particular perspective
without conveying the whole truth.
That is well. That says,
Speak the truth
but be truthful in how you convey the
truth.
The truth and the whole truth.
Please drink water.