Changing Truths

“That which is accepted as knowledge today is sometimes discarded tomorrow.” Consider knowledge issues raised by this statement in two areas of knowledge.

"Laws come and go but universal truths remain constant". 400 years ago it was accepted as knowledge that African Americans counted as 3/5 of a person. How can it be that society used to believe the color of one's skin dictated how human they were. Anatomically, an individual of African descent is no different then a white person; however, to our predecessors it was held evident that black people did not share the same value of a white man. This was not only allowed but embraced because it was fact back in the 1700s that whites and black were just different.

What is Knowledge?

“Knowledge is nothing more than the systematic organisation of facts.” Discuss this statement in relation to two areas of knowledge.

It seems more and more that school revolves around "how much can you cram into your brain and recite at a later date"? At this point memorization and knowledge are two of the same, the meaningless absorption of facts, dates, names, and places are what truly count in today's education system. It appears as though there's no room for creativity in today's society. We are taught widely accepted truths and as a student body told to accept and remember these truths because we will be tested on this material later on. This prescribed title question is a bit odd seeing as how this the literal definition of 'knowledge' is: the facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. In all of the areas of knowing, recitation is key to being proficient.

The thing about ethics is....

Ethical judgement limits the methods available in the production of knowledge in both the arts and the natural sciences. Discuss.
Say what you want, unethical research is responsible for a lot of valuable scientific findings. Unethical research has led to great understandings. As disgustingly vile as it was, the Nazi medical experiments in the concentration camps provided anatomical findings that the United States would come to use later on. The "Baby Albert" experiment, which was conducted on orphans, conditioned infants and toddlers to fear anything fluffy and white by pounding a gong every time a white lab rat was shown to the test subjects. Clearly unethical, this research provided a lot of introspection on the field of psychology and assisted in validating the behaviorist perspective. Ethics limit production but are necessary to retain humanity in science.

The Drug War Blunder

Throughout history what has been the biggest defeat faced by the United States? You may first think Vietnam or The War on "Terror". Technically, you may be right but in the grand scope of things the U.S. has spent more time and energy on this unyielding Drug War than any other conflict. Initiated under Richard Nixon the Drug War has quickly become a war on minorities and its symptoms include mass incarceration, perpetual poverty, and violence. The conflict has exacerbated the turbulent situations in low-income communities and tensions have led to increased citizen-government distrust. Under the Reagan administration, the pursuit of narcotics and those using/distributing them really revved up. Crack was heavily over-exaggerated by the media and the news portrayed the African American as it's key consumer. I believe the drug war as led to minority persecution and the abuse and misuse of American resources. Perhaps rehabilitation would show stronger results than incarceration.

Only a Slight a Rant..

In IB History we are currently discussing the Arab-Israeli conflict and the severe lack of ethics by both sides. I have a heavy bias on the issue being an Israeli Jew, I realize this. I believe the Jews, having been there first but were forcibly removed around 570 BCE approximately, have the right to lay claim to a homeland. Centuries of persecution should be enough to justify the Zionist ambition for an establishment of a Jewish state. We had a speaker come into the class who advocated for the Palestinians, Omar Merhi. In parts of his presentation the omission logical fallacy was present, such as when he mentioned an Israeli-only highway. This highway is intended for military vehicles only so neither Palestinian civilians or Israeli civilians are welcome to travel on it. I couldn't really identify with his accusatory tone which painted the Israelis to be the only aggressor. I can understand where some people are coming from I just don't agree. Unlike these two speakers, I won't be doing any Arab-Israeli presentations to high school students for I know my bias.

The Bland Ol' Party

The foundation of the Republican party has shifted dramatically over the last 6 years. There was a point in time where their platform was based around conservative ideals and limited government but nowadays the GOP is defined by one factor: Obama. Whatever President Barack Obama supports, says, or does the Republican party makes efforts to come out against it. Even on measures which should appeal to right-wing fundamentalists the conservative portion of congress manages to see flaws in these. Obama could have named the family dog Reagan W. O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh would still rant about his dog's socialist agenda (I don't what any of that just meant).