RNA – Speaking during his advanced jurisprudence class at Qom’s Grand Mosque, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem-Shirazi considered psychological warfare to be one of the weapons of the enemies and said, “Sometimes, the danger of psychological warfare is greater than military warfare and it makes society pessimistic and disappointed and causes conflict.”
The revered source of emulation added, “The tool of psychological war is the media, especially the internet. In a psychological war, they make use of falsehood and slander and everyday, the media lies about individuals and institutions. Not a day goes by when lies are not spread about a person and through such actions, they want to create pessimism between people.”
He declared that the internet has been instrumental in spreading these lies, said, “Interestingly, when the falsehood of their lies become clear, some will go and repeat their actions because they are not seeking the truth.”
Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi said the purpose of lying and launching accusations toward social groups is to create pessimism and dissension and continued, “Another tool of psychological warfare is slandering wherein a country is introduced as ‘ruined.’ Introducing a country as ruined is unjust.”
Referring to the strong security that Iran enjoys and its advances in the field of defense, the teacher in the Islamic Seminary of Qom said, “Iran’s security is unmatched in the world and fortunately, our defensive strength is increasing day by day and it if didn’t exist, it wouldn’t be clear what the enemies would do with Islamic Iran. Therefore, slandering a country isn’t a source of pride and if anyone criticizes it, they must also provide a solution.”
He said, “We must not forget that Iran is facing a situation where the most powerful governments are fighting against the Islamic Revolution but we stand against them. Criticism in the form of slander and destroying a country is not correct.”
Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi added, “Presenting a country as ruined and slandering it is part of the enemies’ psychological warfare and we must not surrender to it. The enemies are slandering Iran through their media organizations from London and the United States and no one from inside Iran must help them and most of what they say are lies and insults. Thus, psychological warfare is a dangerous issue and we must be vigilant.”
In other remarks, he said that the internet must be reformed. “We must not allow anyone to use the internet to destroy other personalities and institutions and we must plan so that people benefit from the advantages of the internet but will be safe from its dangers and harms.”
Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi added, “The internet must not be a tool in the hands of the enemies and in the hands of the corrupt to engage in slander, lies and defamation. Whenever people see something online, they must not immediately believe it. They must be awake and vigilant and not surrender to the enemies’ plans so that we can continue to make progress in this world where the enemies are working hard to harm our revolution.”
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