Tok Presentation

TOK PRESENTATION

RLS • In 1988, a novel titled “The Satanic Verses” written by Salman Rushdie was published in the UK. • The book was then banned by several governments around the world, especially Muslim governments, labelling the book as “blasphemous”.

• It was offensive to Muslims as it depicted the phrases said to have been spoken by Muhammed, but were withdrawn of the grounds that they were said by the devil to deceive Muhammed into thinking that they were said by Allah. • According to Daniel Pipes, an American historian, “Muslims found it incredibly sacrilegious,” and took it to imply that the book’s author claimed that the verses of the Quran were “the work of the devil”.

KQ • To what extent is the exscinding of knowledge by certain authority justified? • This KQ explores the link between knowledge that is deemed ‘offensive’ by some groups of people and the role of authority in the censorship or limiting that knowledge. Relating the KQ to the RLS, the book ‘The Satanic Verses’ was found extremely offensive by the Muslim community worldwide, and as a result, was banned in several Muslim countries by the government.

CONNECTING WOKS AND AOKS • The WoK linked is: • Reason • The AoKs linked are: • Ethics • Religious Knowledge Systems

CLAIM AND COUNTER-CLAIM 1 • The AoK related to this claim and counter-claim is ‘Religious Knowledge Systems’. • Claim 1: By exscinding certain knowledge, authorities take away an individual’s right of freedom of speech. • Example: Banning of a documentary titled, “Ram Ke Naam”, which showcased the demolition of the Babri Mosque by different party supporters. • Counter-Claim 1: Certain knowledge that is actually incorrect can be exscinded before being passed on to the masses. • Example: The common misconception that there are 330 million Hindu Gods. (In reality, there is one God that cannot be fully understood).

CLAIM AND COUNTER-CLAIM 2 • The WoK related to this claim and counter-claim is ‘Reason’. • Claim 2: Exscinding knowledge may hinder people from gaining access to the truth.

• Example: Wikileaks by Julian Assange – Wikileaks was formed as an attempt to uncover political truths that were covered up by the US government. • Counter-Claim 2: Knowledge that is confidential and cannot be shared with the public may be exscinded. • Example: The procedure of developing an atomic bomb is not printed in Physics textbooks.

CLAIM 3 • The AoK related to this claim and is ‘Ethics’. • Claim 3: Exscinding partial knowledge creates a parity between knowledge. • Example: Governmental policies against net neutrality (an idea that supports the belief that all knowledge on the internet should be delivered to its destination without any discrimination). • Access to knowledge on the internet (e.g. educational books, videos, etc.) without any discrimination (in this sense, discrimination means the passage of data through ‘slow’ lanes on the internet) is net neutrality.

KNOWLEDGE CLAIM • While deciding to exscind certain knowledge, authorities are faced with the challenge of what exact knowledge to exscind..

CONCLUSION • Authorities are the decision makers when it comes to exscinding knowledge, and thus decide what knowledge reaches the masses. This creates ethical concerns such as violation of Free Speech laws that promote people to express themselves without any barriers (provided that they do not offend the sentiments, and Salman Rushdie, through his book, 'The Satanic Verses', has violated his right of free speech, with the use of explicit vulgar references to Quranic characters, which caused public outrage within the Muslim community).

CITATION • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_controversy • https://homegrown.co.in/article/22589/muffled-17-recent-instances-of-censorship-in-indiashow-exactly-how-the-political-agenda-has-shifted

• https://ncac.org/news/blog/top-40-threats-to-free-speech-right-now • https://www.wired.com/story/guide-net-neutrality/ • https://scroll.in/reel/912806/youtube-blocks-anand-patwardhans-documentary-ram-ke-naamfor-users-under-the-age-of-18

• https://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/03/world/believer-hinduism-nine-myths-debunked/index.html