CAIRO -

With social networking sites ignited with controversy over controversial issues that media professionals and others raise at all times, tweeters invoked the aphorism "kill falsehood by keeping silent about it", while others defended the need to address all controversial issues, especially those related to the constants of the Islamic religion, regardless of the motives

stirred up.

Activists said that the recent increase in criticism on the communication sites of some controversial media professionals would achieve their goals aimed mainly at attracting attention and interaction, and staying in the spotlight after the percentage of views and interest in what they presented on the communication sites, especially YouTube, decreased.

The media, close to the authority, Ibrahim Issa, returned to the top of the controversy on social media platforms in Egypt recently, when he anticipated the entry of the blessed month of Ramadan by talking about the need for Tarawih prayers in congregation because it is “an organizational tradition for the Caliph during the era of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab.” He also criticized the rise in loudspeakers of the Qur’an from mosques during Tarawih.

Controversial journalist Ibrahim Issa says on his TV program: “Taraweeh is not a Sunnah but an invention of Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, and broadcasting it on loudspeakers is not religious, and disturbing it in the streets is health and terrorism.”

what is your comment?

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— Monitor Network (@RassdNewsN) April 1, 2022

On the first day of Ramadan, Issa raised the controversy again by talking about the need to respect some peoples' reverence for cows, adding, "The eyes of cows are sad and they must be sad... they have hardness, softness and femininity."

During his radio program, Issa said that he is sad when some mock the Indians' reverence for the cow, continuing that the ancient Egyptian civilization gave it a special nature, and in this regard, he referred to the pharaohs' reverence for the Apis calf.

Issa's talk about Tarawih prayers and the sanctification of cows, angered and ridiculed many of the pioneers of the communication sites, while others demanded not to share Issa's statements because he aims to fame and permanent presence, according to their description.

"The Indians' reverence for cows is a matter of sophistication and respect. I wish humans would keep cows." #Ibrahim_Issa and Western statements about cows and their sanctification# More pic.twitter.com/1t6xLcDZ4b

— Mazid - Mazid (@MazidNews) April 3, 2022

Last February, Issa succeeded in occupying the forefront of communication platforms in Egypt for several days in a row, after talking about two controversial issues, namely questioning the Ascension of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and talking about the women of Upper Egypt wearing swimsuits in the sixties and seventies of the last century.

The objection to what Issa raised reached the point of a parliamentarian and media supporter and close to the authority, Mustafa Bakri, calling for action against him, because he was “a seditionist,” as he said, as Alaa Mubarak, son of the late President Hosni Mubarak, attacked him, and official religious institutions issued statements to confirm the validity of Al-Miraj. While the Public Prosecution and the Media Regulatory Authority decided to investigate the matter, the results of these investigations were not clear.

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— Mustafa Bakri (@BakryMP) February 19, 2022

What role for social media?

The question arises here about the role of social media in fueling exciting issues, and giving those who want to show and excitement the opportunity to achieve their goals, so that the means of communication turn into an arena that those who desire excitement invest in or that the authority exploits as a distraction, when living crises arise, and it is required to preoccupy minds with other issues.

Observers link the media’s view of old or new issues with the aim of distraction, and the high level of Egyptian anger over government decisions, or the emergence of more important and dangerous issues for the country’s future, such as government statements regarding the increase in bread prices, in addition to Addis Ababa’s declaration of readiness to generate electricity from the Renaissance Dam, which Cairo considers it the most dangerous crisis to its national security and water future.

In this context, the former Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of the Press, Qutb al-Arabi, affirms that when dealing with issues that are at the fore in the media, a distinction must be made between social media users and specialists.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Araby pointed out that Egypt needs to create awareness among ordinary users, to realize that they will be tools to promote or help divert people's attention to fake issues, and provoke interaction with them, rather than paying attention to their more serious issues.

He continued by saying that it is necessary for users - many of whom are aware and understanding - that such issues are raised with the aim of diverting public opinion from real and serious issues to marginal or controversial issues or issuing orientation and making glories and personal gains, stressing that it is better to ignore these "triggers". And not to participate in the industry of this trend.

As for the specialists, they - as Al-Arabi says - should respond in what is appropriate to the topic at hand, a specific scientific response that convinces the rest of the readers and followers of the pioneers of communication and viewers, so that thought is confronting thought, indicating that it is a long and protracted battle that requires every specialist and opinion holder to fight this battle, and respond to These journalists deserve the responses.

“And the poets are followed by the deceivers.” In the pre-Islamic era, the poet was the media apparatus of the Arabs because he had the melody of saying and the decoration of speech. What is meant by poets is everyone who has the melody of saying and people follow him, such as media professionals, artists and celebrities, because these say what they do not do, and in every valley they wander like Ibrahim Issa and others

— Abdullah Al-Serafy (@alsirafy_81) April 2, 2022

Ignoring is the solution

For his part, journalist Selim Azzouz called on the pioneers of the communication sites to "test the strength of determination and defeat the desire to attract likes and shares for publications that deal with controversial issues, ignoring the mention of controversies and fame seekers."

And Azzouz continued, in a video clip broadcast on YouTube - at a time when the controversy escalated about Issa - that there are media professionals who deliberately provoke people to become the talk of the communication sites, which have become a standard for the administrations of satellite channels and companies measuring public opinion to estimate the size and influence of the announcer, and thus the media achieves his goal of creating importance for himself. He realizes that it is artificial, thanks to those users on social media who make the pill a dome, meaning that they give things more importance than their weight.

Azzouz explained that the authority found in media hype-makers successful abilities in causing explosions and smoke bombs for distraction.

As for influencers on social media, their role - according to his advice - should be limited to picking up the shrapnel of bombs launched by these media professionals and redirecting them again towards their launcher, but in a professional, rational and balanced manner that puts them in their actual sizes, and exposes their true motives.

media crisis

In the context of commenting on the Egyptian media crisis in general, the professor of media at Suez University, Ali Hassan, said that he pity the state of the Egyptian media, which has become panting behind the rapid, sharp and dramatic changes in the internal and external conditions, which made it suffer confusion, superficiality and disorientation.

The Egyptian academic stressed that trust and credibility are in jeopardy, as the media itself is being severely beaten, and no one will trust him yet.

He went on, "Our media did not care about making people understand, but rather went on cursing and insulting the Egyptians and slandering them in vain plots."

And Ali considered, in successive posts on his personal Facebook page, that the team of cheering and amplification and exaggeration harmed President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi more than they think, describing them as “a team of bears, who left really huge real achievements, and they cheered for what is less than that, including huge presidential national initiatives that did not happen.” These drummers notice it with arrogance and ignorance," he said.

Anyone have any idea of ​​why he is offering us the amount of distraction that remains in the month of Ramadan by all possible and implausible means, and you will not be in other months

— Bassem (@ibassemm) April 2, 2022

Ibrahim Issa is one of the tools of media and political use at home and abroad and knows what the truth is, but it is the desire to strike religious constants https://t.co/WyUjxoIlr2

— mohomedabuzaidabuelnoor (@mohomedabuzaid5) April 2, 2022

natural scramble

On the other hand, tweeters see that what is happening is a natural matter and not necessarily with the aim of distraction, and it is a kind of scramble between people in what they are different in, and it calls for confrontation with words and as much as possible from actions, and that the weakest faith is to deny the denouncement by tongue and word, as a deterrent to those who stir up confusion and disagreement in Serious religious issues, regardless of whether the abuse was a distraction or not, especially since people have become less resourceful about the decisions issued, and the authority does not need to distract them.

Tweeters considered the means of communication to be almost the only influence on the authority in Egypt, and without it, Ibrahim Issa and others would not have been referred for investigation, and the communication sites prompted the authority to reverse some of its decisions, after the role of parliament, parties and politicians declined in expressing the interests and tendencies of the public.

They demonstrated what happened in the decision to cancel subsidies for a loaf of bread, which Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced months ago, then the government postponed it after the escalation of protests and warnings against the decision on social media, and the real estate month law that the government postponed its implementation due to the major objections that arose on the communication sites. , considering the law as an obstacle to the sale and purchase of real estate and the introduction of facilities for it.

In the same context, tweeters stressed the need to address controversies in religious issues regardless of their motives, whether a request for the month or incitement to sedition and distracting people from their living issues, considering that religion is first of living issues, and that there are organized attacks targeting Islamic constants.

Bubbles suddenly appear and disappear forever, and there are many examples from history.

# Ibrahim_Issa # Turki_Al-Hamd_yarib_the call to prayer pic.twitter.com/duLfItB8k3

— His Highness the Thinker (@SMufaker) April 4, 2022