TOK Journal #13, Date of Writing: 04/12/10, Topic: Reflection on TOK Presentation

I know I have not been the most active when it comes to writing my TOK journals, but now that school is out for the year and I have some time it could be a good oppertunity for me to catch up on jounal entries a little. The best time to start, I think, is right now - thus, following is my TOK presentation and a reflection on my performance.

PRESENTATION CONTENT – JUSTIN AND BRAD, THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
TOPIC: “How do we decide to what extent we are ethically obliged to help those in a situation of extreme poverty?”

CONTEXT - Justin: Every year, in this world, more than 6 million children die from malnutrition before the age of five. Approximately 300-500 million people are infected with malaria, and more than 40% of the world’s population live without even the most basic sanitation. Good day, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Justin and this is Bradley, and today, with your help, we ask this question: “How do we decide to what extent we are ethically obliged to help those in a situation of extreme poverty?”

DEFINITIONS - Bradley: First, we shall introduce a few definitions for the purposes of the investigation of this knowledge issue.

Extreme Poverty: Extreme poverty is the most serious state of poverty. Those that come under its influence fail to meet the basic fundamental needs for food, water, shelter and health care. As a means to determine the amount of people affected the World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than $1.25 US a day. Poverty is also defined as having to walk more than 1 mile each day to retrieve fresh water, and being at risk from diseases that were eliminated from economically developed countries decades ago.

Ethics: Motivation based on ideas of right and wrong.

PREFACE – Justin: Now we shall discuss a number of different factors that help us decide on the extent to which we are ethically obliged to help those in a situation of extreme poverty. These factors shall include The Media, Authority Figures, Personal Experiences, Culture, Religion and Emotion.

The Media - Bradley

Perhaps one of the most common ways one comes to learn about poverty is through language. Large companies utilize this method by running advertisement campaigns through the media. This is no different for organizations such as World Vision and Child Fund. Their heartfelt ads can be seen on the television and heard on the radio. This brings me to what I am talking about today. Discussed will be how the media influences our decision to give aid to impoverished communities.

SHOW ADVERTISEMENT:
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Take this advert for example. How does it help us to decide whether or not to give aid to those in need? For a start it relies heavily on language. Through language we are told why we should sponsor a child and what will happen with the money we spend. Through language we also hear about the harsh realities the children of Northern Zambia face. “Life here for everyone in this community is desperately hard, but especially the children.” This line is designed to provoke an emotional response in us to give aid. Also, for those that were paying attention during the ad, you would have noticed that it incorporated background music. This technique, although relying on sensory perception, plays on ones emotions. It creates a sad tone that goes to further enhance ones desire to give help. By using children in their adverts they are appealing to parents for help; it is they that have the money and they are also most likely to give. The advert also states what they plan to do with the money that is donated. This is for the sake of reason. By including their intentions they are giving assurance that all the money they receive will be well spent. I can reason that my money will not go to waste; this reasoning makes it all the more likely that I will give money.

Another question to ask could be; how are Mac Donald’s ads any different in their manipulation? It would appear that the only difference is ethical for both companies are trying to make a profit. So why are we more inclined to be swayed by an ad trying to source money to help impoverished communities? Is it that we tend to believe that ads for a good cause can tell only truths and that advertisement’s for a company like Mac Donald’s are less truthful? Or does it stem for the way each advert plays on ones emotion? Another question this advertisement raises is; how can we then be sure that advertising for a good cause can be ethical? And how do we identify a good cause?

Regardless of whether donating to poverty is a good or bad cause, the media does play a significant role in helping us to make our decision. It presents a strong emotional case backed up with some reason for giving charitably to impoverished communities. It would be untruthful for me to say that these ads have not affected me.

Authority Figures - Justin

There are many authority figures in our lives - our parents, siblings, extended family, teachers and friends being among them. How much, though, do these authority figures affect our decisions about the extent to which we are ethically responsible for helping people in an extreme poverty situation? Here is an example from my own life.

In 2007 and 2008, a man called Troy was the pastor at the church I belonged to back then. Every Saturday he would come and pick me up we would go out for coffee, and we would discuss what had happened in the week gone past with each other. Troy was a good man. He was generous, kind, selfless and he always wanted to get involved in what was going on in the community. What I am trying to say is that Troy was a role model for me – he was an authority figure. Because he was a good man, and a role model to me, I wanted to be a good man, and this inspired me to raise almost $3000.00 for the 40 Hour Famine in 2008. His actions helped me to decide the extent to which I felt I was ethically responsible for helping those in a situation of extreme poverty.

Now we can expand and try to apply this type of situation to people other than myself. Raise your hand if you have authority figures in your life. ... Now raise your hands if they have some influence over the decisions you make. ... These authority figures can have an influence over me, and can have an influence over you, and others, and therefore authority figures are one of the factors that can help us make a decision on the poverty situation.

Personal Experience – Bradley

Another factor that could help one decide whether or not to provide aid for these impoverished communities is personal experience. For those lucky enough to travel it is likely that they will come face to face with poverty. This experience can be often more compelling than a TV commercial because of the extra weight a personal experience carries. However were you to decide to help this would still be a decision that relies heavily on emotion. Discussed will be my personal experience of poverty and how that has helped me decide whether or not I am obliged to give my aid.

My first exposure to poverty was in South Africa. Through the things I have experienced I can verify, to a certain extent, the facts and scenes displayed on the TV. Before I go on I would like to stress that my experience of poverty is by no means extensive and almost exclusively confined to urban areas. However from my experience I have come to treat poverty with suspicion rather than pity. To me it comes across as if the majority of those who are poor would sooner steal from you than anything else. So the question to ask is; have they brought poverty upon themselves through their actions? And regardless of the answer what are they doing about it? I would reason that it would be a bad idea to give money to people like these for they would just squander it. Perhaps that is why it is common practice to give food rather than money. Also I do not believe that people like this would be at all grateful for the help, this for me acts as an emotional deterrent for giving help. So for me my experience of poverty actually act as a deterrent for giving aid. However the communities they show on TV are mostly rural. Although I have not had any experience of poverty in rural areas I would much rather give aid to those areas. I am not saying that I would not help someone in the city if they were struggling with poverty but I would be reluctant if they were not deserving. This raises a question. Is it ethically acceptable to aid only those who are deserving?
To conclude this argument I will say that my personal experiences have affected the extent to which I am willing to give aid to those in need. They have not undermined my willingness to give nor have they undermined my charity, they have just put in place a criteria of sorts or guideline for who I would give too and what I would give.

Culture - Justin

When it comes to making a decision about the question in discussion, our culture is a very important factor. For the purposes of this presentation, I shall be discussing New Zealand culture. In general, it can be said that New Zealand is a country of people with a love of sport, the outdoors and cultural diversity. It could be said that a “New Zealander” is essentially a post-modern mix and match of many different cultures – Maori, Pacific Islander, European and Asian being amongst them – and this is what makes a New Zealander. Because of our secular society, NZ’ers are generally known to be fundamentally fair people. We are great belivers in cultural tolerence. Because most of us are raised with this NZ culture (and if we are not we learn it from others), the NZ culture is therefore one of those things that influences us when it comes to making a decision on the extent to which we are ethically responsible for helping with extreme poverty. In other words, our culture has an effect on the decisions we make.
But, it is not just the NZ culture that has an influence on people – culture in general is in fact a factor that can be taken into account when helping us decide. Different cultures will most probably have different effects on the decisions of different people, but it is safe to say that these cultures do have some effect and thus are an important factor.

Emotion - Justin

It can be said that emotions are one of the few things all humans have in common. The nature of these emotions is not similar, but every one of us has emotions and has some kind of emotional response to things. The question we are trying to answer today, though, is how we decide the extent to which we are ethically responsible for helping those in a situation of extreme poverty, and I will proceed to explain the part that out emotions play in this.

The World Vision advertisment that Bradley showed you when he was talking about media will serve as an example. The language used in that video, espically the repetition used to enforce the “we need your help” and “save the children” ideas, invoked in me and I think us some level of emotion – sympathy and pity were probably prevelent amongst these emotions. For some, myself amongst them, these emotions lead to a desire to help those who need it – they make me feel personally responsible for their poverty, even though I am not. Thus, emotions have helped me to make a decision.

Another example from previously in the presentation that can be used to show how emotion helps us decide is the authortity figure I discussed. Troy invoked emotions in me, through what he said and what he did, that made me want to help others. He was a major influence, not just over my thoughts, but also my emotions.
From these two things, we can conclude that emotions are in fact one of the factors that can help us make a decision on the issue in discussion.

Religion – Bradley

Religion must also be incorporated into our decision over whether or not to give aid to an impoverished community. Do certain religions lend us towards giving money to the poor?

Let’s take Christianity for example. In Luke chapter 3 verse 11 it states; “John told them ‘If you have two coats give one to someone who doesn’t have any. If you have food, share it with someone else.” This line is one of many that directly concern those living in poverty. In this specific line it directly states that one should share with the poor. For those that believe the Christian message they might reason that by giving to the poor they are pleasing God. This reasoning could play a significant role in helping one decide whether or not to give aid to impoverished communities. However, if one follows this reasoning, are they giving to the poor for self gain, or do they really want to help others? And if they are doing it for personal gain can this be ethical?

Let’s look at another religion. In the Islamic religion they have 5 principle guidelines, these are known as the five pillars of Islam. One of the 5 pillars is known as Zakat. This pillar requires that if possible every Muslim should give a small percentage of their possessions to charity. In most cases this means the poor. However they are only required to give to other Muslims. Although the different sects of this faith have different ways of fulfilling this pillar the Sunni branch is required to give away 2.5% of their wealth at the end of each year. Again like in the Christian faith participants of this pillar may reason that by fulfilling it they are pleasing Allah. A question to ask here is; is it ethically reasonable to discriminate against those who do not belong to your religion by excluding them from your charity?

For me, religion has played a huge role in governing how I make my decision regarding the extent to which I am obliged to help those in situations of extreme poverty. For those that do not know I will state now that I am Christian. And because of this belief I am genuinely inclined towards giving help when someone asks me for it. Although this rule can be applied generally it does have a huge influence over the extent to which I feel obliged to give aid to those in impoverished communities.

Conclusion – Justin

In this presentation the question “How do we decide to what extent we are ethically obliged to help those in a situation of extreme poverty?” has been discussed. Brad and I have talked about The Media, Authority Figures, Personal Experiences, Culture, Religion and Emotion, all as ways of helping us decide.
When it comes to it, we cannot make the decision on the extent to which you, you, or any other individual is ethically responsible for helping those in a situation of extreme poverty – that is up to the individuals themselves. We can only point out and discuss some of the probably prominent factors in the decisions that people make, and we hope, ladies and gentlemen, that that is what we have done today. Thank you.


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All in all, I think not a bad effort from Brad and I. Here are some pro's and con's of the presentation, from my perspective.

PRO'S: Ran smoothly - no hiccups or awkward pauses. Timing - although we went a little over, I feel we maximised our use of time. Shared load - Brad and I worked together to do an equal amount of work and create a truely joint presentation. Presentation was enhanced by slideshow outlining the structure.

CON'S: Perhaps a little waffly in places, maybe did not identify as many knowledge issues as I could?

Overall, though, I was happy with the performance of Brad and I in the presentation.

Not to worry Mr Hall - I have not forgotten about the presentation form!