In 1997, Nathan Zohner, a 14-year-old boy was presenting his science fair project to his ninth-grade classmates in Idaho, seeking to ban a highly toxic chemical, *dihydrogen monoxide* .
He convinced his audience by giving scientifically correct evidence that dihydrogen monoxide in its gaseous form causes severe burns, causes urination, corrodes and rusts metals, is found in tumours, acid rain etc. and every year it also takes the lives of many people.
Ultimately 86% of classmates voted to ban this apparently toxic chemical. And the chemical is just H2O, which is nothing but water.
It was just an experiment as to how gullible people can be led to a false conclusion. All the points given by Zohner were factually correct, but he simply skewed those points in his favour by omitting certain facts.
In recognition of his experiment, an American journalist, James K. Glassman coined the term "Zohnerism", that means using selective facts to mislead people.
Although the concept of Zohnerism may not be very old, its methodology of manipulating people's minds for vested interests has been in existence for centuries. Politicians, journalists or opinion makers were using convincing facts to persuade people into believing false claims.
Politicians now often use Zohnerism to present a biased view of their opponent's policies by making them appear worse than they really are.
Everyday advertisements in print and electronic media try to mislead people by hitting emotional chords with the help of celebrities to sell their products, false hopes. It is being used brazenly by all kinds of unscrupulous elements through various platforms.
It is really unfortunate that the fourth pillar of democracy is mostly spreading misinformation and biased views.
There was a time when I used to watch a lot of TV news, views and debates. I can't stand now more than the news headlines. I don't know much about other countries, but in India, you just name the channel, and you know what's in store for you.
If something happens at one place, the media will pick up a photo from somewhere else to prove their point that whatever happened at that place is the worst, but genuine. Fake news items with fake photos are one of the main reason for shutting down the internet in disturbed areas.
Coming back to Zohner's experiment, I presume that the remaining 14% of Zohner's classmates who voted against it were aware of the scientific facts. The same thing applies in our daily life as well.
So the fact is that knowledge is power. If we know even a little bit about the issue, that can be applied with a little common sense to arrive at the right conclusions.
One way to avoid falling prey to Zohnerism is to base our research on facts from as many sources as possible. We should also be mindful of our biases based on our beliefs and opinions. We must also keep our mind and eyes open to consider viewpoints that do not match ours.
Ignorance is certainly not bliss, but judicious silence or inaction is, especially in this era of Artificial Intelligence (AI), when cloning of voice and picture has become so easy with the click of a button.
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--Kaushal Kishore
images: pinterest
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