In which I write something relevant

To you, my friends,

Yes, I’m still sick.

But I have an exciting announcement: today, the blog returns to its original purpose! I’m officially writing about something relevant to the Parliament! It’s shocking. If you need to go lie down, I understand.

So yesterday, I managed to make it to two sessions, both of which were relevant to said project. The first was entitled The Role of Media in Conflict Resolution, and it was a panel discussion led by Ahmed Rehab, Dr. Paul Wee, Hussein Rashid, and Karen Hernandez Andrews.

This panel contained far, far too many interesting concepts to explore here (I’ve been agonizing for an hour over which to choose), so I will whittle it down to one.

Karen Hernandez-Anderson is a Christian woman who writes for Muslim websites and works very closely with Christian-Muslim dialogue. She had some interesting insights on the availability of information through the internet. With social media, anyone can make their voice heard. Anyone can state their opinion. As a result, there is quite a multitude of opinions out there.

This means a few things. Firstly, it is difficult to get accurate information. There is no such thing as a fact-checker for the internet. Wikipedia? Maybe. The world wide web in its infinite entirety? Not so much. You must be very, very careful with what you read as fact and what you read as fabrication. “Do your research!” Karen said.

On the other hand, it is actually quite useful for people like Karen. Karen writes to facilitate healthy dialogue between Muslim and Christian people and communities. Because she has access to so many different opinions, she can actually respond to them in a more thorough way. She knows the arguments and complaints of those who oppose her pro-dialogue actions and can write more effectively against them. In opening their mouths, Karen’s “adversaries” place mediation tools directly into her hands, through social media.

I wish I could write more, but this is a blog, not a dissertation, and so I move on.

The second session was titled Blogistan: Muslims Dialogue through New Media. It was a panel session led by three young, exceedingly handsome, and fabulously funny Muslim men named Haroon Moghul, Hussein Rashid, and Wajahat Ali. You simply could not help but to be drawn to them. All three men are academics and bloggers who address political and interfaith issues in a healthy way, and each addressed their tendency to act as a three-headed unit. And if they find this and read about my admiration, so be it. Free ego boost for them. Anyway my boyfriend's still better looking.

As the Muslim hotties on this panel discussed social media, they gave some terminology to Karen's ideas. They used a term called “democratization of the media.” To reiterate: everyone can get their voice heard through social media. They also mentioned that social media also gave “a voice to the stupid.” To reiterate: anyone can get their voice heard through social media.

I found this difficult to digest (you know, because digestion is coming so easily to me at the moment) even though I heard the same idea addressed twice, and so I ask you, my readers, to answer a question that I asked in both sessions:

Social media gives a megaphone to anyone who wants one, allowing the meek to speak as well as the perverse to converse. In terms of interreligious dialogue, it both fosters communication as well as abets negative comments. Overall, is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Discuss.

Much love, Maggie