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TOK Exhibition
In what ways do our values affect our acquisition of knowledge?
Object #1:
The first object I have chosen is a now deleted tweet from the former president Donald Trump.
It reads, “He”, with the ‘he’ being current president Joe Biden, “only won in the eyes of the
FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED
ELECTION!”, and was posted amidst the result of the 2020 election coming out to the public. In
this tweet, we see former president Trump putting out a statement to his millions of followers,
not just literally on Twitter but also as a general statement to his diehard supporters, something
that, despite what the former president would want people to believe, has been officially disputed
by Twitter. This relates to my chosen knowledge question for a couple of reasons. Trump’s
supporters are, as previously stated, generally diehard supporters of him. As a whole, a lot of his
supporters tended to, and still tend to believe most of not all of what he said, and if he
condemned something they would as well. Their specifically political values, which have aligned
themselves with Donald Trump’s, heavily impacted their acquisition of knowledge. Because of
the fact that their political values skew right and align with Donald Trump, and due to the fact
that many of his supporters have a die-hard devotion to the former president, many had decided
to get their knowledge and news from Donald Trump and Donald Trump only, along with the
sources that he has deemed as not “fake news”. A lot of his supporters had cut off any other
sources of news or knowledge, heavily highlighting how their own values impacted their
acquisition of knowledge.
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Object #2:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/29/both-republicans-and-democrats-cite-masks-a
s-a-negative-effect-of-covid-19-but-for-very-different-reasons/
My second chosen object is this article from Pew Research, titled “Both Republicans and
Democrats cite masks as a negative effect of COVID-19, but for very different reasons”, written
by Patrick Van Kessel and Dennis Quinn. The article details how the majority of Republicans
cited masks as a negative effect of COVID-19 in regards to their own personal comfort, with
many saying that the masks are uncomfortable and that they personally don’t want to wear them.
However Democrats, when asked about COVID-19 and the negative impacts that it has had on
their lives, the majority cited family as a negative impact, with masks being the second to last
word on the list. And even then, when masks were brought up in conversations with left-leaning
people, they mentioned it only to chastise and express anger with those who were not wearing
masks during this time, a heavy juxtaposition to the way that Republicans responded, especially
regarding masks. This article relates to the chosen knowledge question for a couple of reasons.
This article directly highlights discrepancies between the two major political parties and their
response to the COVID-19 pandemic, showing trends within the two parties. This can most
likely be attributed to the ways that these people surveyed have acquired knowledge surrounding
the pandemic. Because of the similarities in responses within both parties, it can be assumed that
their values, specifically their political values, impacted how they acquired knowledge; with
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most republicans most likely acquiring knowledge that tells them that masks are not necessary,
and with democrats most likely acquiring knowledge from sources that say the opposite.
Object #3
My third and final chosen object is my own “Proof of Vaccination” card that I got when I got my
COVID-19 vaccine. To me, this object is something that is both incredibly important to me and
also to society as a whole. To me, it represents a few things. For one, it represents how quickly
the world can evolve and adapt to the insanity that may be thrown at us. It also represents, for
me, my own belief and trust in science. This connects directly to the chosen knowledge question.
This is because my own values, the values that pushed me to get the vaccine as fast as I could,
directly impacted the knowledge and facts that I acquired in regards to the COVID-19 vaccine. I
personally was more trustworthy of scientists and the information that they would put out
regarding the vaccine and anything related to it. On a wider scale, in regards to this vaccine as a
whole and the general population’s reaction to it, it definitely seems that political values seem to
play a part in how knowledge about the vaccine is acquired. I personally have done some
research into this, and what I have found is that the majority of those who are wary of the
vaccine tend to skew right/Republican, and that those who are more willing to take the
vaccine/are more trustworthy of it tend to skew left/Democrat. Research, done by both experts
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and myself, has shown that one’s political values are directly impacting how people are acquiring
knowledge in relation to the COVID-19 vaccine.
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Works Cited
Kessel, Patrick van, and Dennis Quinn. “Both Republicans and Democrats Cite Masks as a
Negative Effect of COVID-19, but for Very Different Reasons.” Pew Research Center,
Pew Research Center, 2 Nov. 2020,
www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/29/both-republicans-and-democrats-cite-masks-as-a-ne
gative-effect-of-covid-19-but-for-very-different-reasons/.
@realDonaldTrump. “He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede
NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!” Twitter, 15
November 2020