Hidden Assumptions

1. I was surprised by my results. For the first test, it said that I have a moderate preference for light skinned people over dark skinned people. I totally disagree with that statement, for I believe that everyone in the world is equal. Even though I raised my eyebrows at this first result, the conclusion of the second test is what really shocked me. It said I had a strong preference for straight people in contrast to gay people. I strongly disagree with that statement, and I do not think that these tests are an accurate representation of who I am. Ever since I can remember, I have always believed that everyone on Earth is of equivalent value, and I do not believe that my view has changed after one computer simulation.

2. I do not feel that these tests say something about me that I should pay attention to. I know who I am as a person, and I know that I am not discriminatory against a person's race or sexuality. I do not think this test was an accurate representation of myself as a person.

3. Despite what has been mentioned above, I do believe these tests could be valid to an extent. I think the tests have some solid reasons for their results, but I believe that it makes a huge judgment that turned out to be untrue in my case. For example, when I took the skin color test, it gave me a questionaire. One of the questions was "What would you prefer your skin color to be" I chose the option in which my skin color would stay the same, and I informed the test that I was a white male. I chose this option not because I like one skin color better than another, but because I like myself just the way I am. If I were a black man, I would feel the exact same way. My suspicion is that from my answer, the test drew up a conclusion that wasn't true.
Also, I think I have another theory on why my sexuality test drew up the results that it did. I am straight, and I prefer the thought of myself bieng straight rather than bieng gay. However, that does not mean that I prefer straight people over gay people. I have friends who are gay, and I think that all individuals are equal in this universe. I believe it is wrong to discriminate against someone for bieng gay. Finally, I think a major reason I got these results is also due to the fact that my fingers sometimes act faster than I can process the data. This caused errors to be made and I suspect it had a large part in why this happened to me. Overall, the tests seem to have somewhat valid approaches to their conclusions, but since they lack the power to explore all the reasoning and depths into the human mind, they draw up results that are far off base to who the person really is.

4. One message that brings up this idea of racial dominance is the idea of segregation in America in the era of the Civil Rights Movement. Back in those days, white people treated black people unfairly, and they acted like their race was superior to that of the blacks. The only element that mattered in this message was the color of the individual's skin. It was wrong to assume such a thing. An individual's value should not be judged on the appearence of their skin.
In the town of Laramie, two people murdered a man because their victim was gay. Through this act, the killers sent out a message to the rest of society: gay people are inferior to straight people, and they must be punished for it. That statement is beyond contemptable. No one should be thought less of just because of their sexual preference.
Generalizations are known facts about certain groups of people, while steryotypes are assumptions that individuals make about those people.

5. One method we can use to combat false conclusions is to keep an open mind. If we listen to every side of the story, we can make sure our knowledge of a situation is accurate. Also, we can attempt to gain more evidence to further our hypotheses. If we have proof to back up our statements, society will be more inclined to believe our results. Those are the methods we need to use in order to gain accurate knowledge.

What is TOK? Why TOK?

WHAT IS TOK?: TOK is the study of knowledge. It examines how organisms know the things they know. It examines the working of the mind and how individuals constantly gain new knowledge every day.

WHY TOK?:  TOK is important because it gives us greater insight into the workings of the living mind and about how we know the things we know. It helps us fully expand our knowledge of the Universe and of life itself.