Comment on article

You must look up the article that we've discussed in class and explore it through the TOK lens.

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indus-calling/entry/jinnah-he-had-a-pistol

Diwali vacation K@W

Watch any one film (a recent one, if possible) and do an analysis on it. Analyse it through the TOK lens ...

Welcome !!!

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome a few new students to our blog-group. Vivek has FINALLY been added and we can start blogging together.

This year promises to be a lot of fun if you're willing to work hard and accept challenges your way. I've made a new rule this year: each student must read other students' blogs and comment. I must see at least three comments per blog. This is a brilliant opportunity for you to welcome your new batch-mates and who knows ... all this may just make you a new friend to last you a lifetime!!

K@W 1 for academic year 2009

The following is a recent article uploaded on the CNN website. You will identify and examine the knowledge issue(s) and the various implications of the knowledge claim(s). You will then analyze the differing points of view and biases inherent in the issue(s), carefully considering counter-arguments. You should use TOK terminology in thinking about and articulating this/these issue(s). In short, you should include these three elements in your writing:
• Extrapolate and clearly state the knowledge claim of the media source
(What is the person making the claim say they know?)
• Think and discuss the argument the person is making. Identify points of argument they may not have considered or that they discuss, but in the end dismiss. Articulate the bias in their argument and your own bias in analysis.
(Where is the bias? What am I/is he/is she/are they taking for granted?)
• Consider that the knowledge claim is true. What are the circumstances and implications of this claim?
(If this is true, then what? Why should anyone care? What should we give this any thought?)


SOURCES: REPORT TO DETAIL ALLEGED ABUSE INSIDE CIA SECRET PRISONS

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- CIA interrogators threatened an al Qaeda prisoner with a gun and an electric drill to try to scare him into giving up information, according to a long-concealed inspector-general's report due to be made public on Monday, sources familiar with the report confirmed to CNN.
Attorney General Eric Holder is considering appointing a prosecutor to investigate a CIA interrogation program.
The gun and drill were used in two separate interrogation sessions against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, one of the sources said. Al-Nashiri is accused of plotting the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, which left 17 U.S. sailors dead.
The sources did not want to be identified because the report, completed by the CIA's inspector general in 2004, has not yet been made public. A federal judge in New York has ordered a redacted version of the report released Monday as part of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU.
The interrogations took place in the CIA's secret prisons before 2006, when then-President George W. Bush moved all detainees from such facilities to the federal prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, both sources said.
Details of the report were first published by Newsweek magazine late Friday.
Newsweek also said that, according to its sources citing the inspector-general's report, interrogators staged mock executions to try to frighten detainees into talking. In one instance, Newsweek reported, a gun was fired in a room next to one terrorism suspect so he would think another prisoner was being killed.
A CIA spokesman would not talk about specifics of the inspector-general's report but said all the incidents described in it have been reviewed by government prosecutors.
"The CIA in no way endorsed behavior -- no matter how infrequent -- that went beyond formal guidance. This has all been looked at; professionals in the Department of Justice decided if and when to pursue prosecution. That's how the system was supposed to work, and that's how it did work," CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said.
One of the sources, a former intelligence official who is familiar with the report, said that while the report "reaffirmed" the interrogation program, it "also showed some had strayed off center."
The official said about a dozen cases of potential misconduct by interrogators were referred to the Justice Department. Of those, only one person was prosecuted, the official said, with the rest being referred to the CIA accountability board, an internal disciplinary board. Two people resigned rather than face the CIA board, the official said.
This official said that when CIA leadership found out about the drill incident, they were "angry as hell." The official called it "nickel-and-dime foolishness" that was not tolerated. The individual who used the drill was pulled from the program and "sharply reprimanded," the official said.
Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU, released a statement Sunday saying, "Leaked portions of the CIA Inspector General's report offer more proof that government officials committed serious crimes while interrogating prisoners. So-called 'enhanced interrogation techniques' like mock executions and threatening prisoners with guns and power drills are not only reprehensible but illegal."
In anticipation of the release of the report Monday, Romero added, "Releasing the report with minimal redactions is essential to knowing what crimes were committed and who was involved."
The release of the inspector-general's report comes as Attorney General Eric Holder is considering whether to appoint a prosecutor to investigate the CIA interrogation program, begun by the Bush administration after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks

Summer hols!!

My dearest TOK workers,
Your results will be mailed soon to your parents. One reason why some of you haven't done as excitingly well as you thought you would, is perhaps because your assignments were not posted on your blogs on time, rather some of them weren't posted at all!! Of 15 assignments (in all, including reflections) to be posted on your blogs for the months of March and April, some of you had barely posted 6 assignments!
Anyway, the assignments due over the summer break are:
1. Finding a copy of "The Tao of Pooh" by Benjamin Hoff and READING it before we resume classes
2. TWO K@W assignments due: May 23rd and June 13th, 2009

This isn't a lot of home-work, so make sure it is done please! Please enjoy yourselves as much as you can this vacation because the coming academic year promises to be extremely challenging.

Happy Hols!!

K@W Deadlines

Deadlines for posting K@W assignments

- April 22nd; April 29th

- May 23rd

- June 13th; June 27th

- July 8th; July 27th

The Little Prince

This month we'll be doing a tiny bit of reading along with the usual assignments


You are expected to read 'The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint Exupéry in English (or French, though reading it in French may be a tad difficult for a few!)

An online copy of the book can be found on:
http://www.angelfire.com/hi/littleprince/introduction.html

Along with the usual reflection(s) that may find their place on your respective blogs, you are also expected to put in an essay (1000 words). What you must do is reflect on any one chapter of the book that you liked and include the following elements in your essay -
- Bring out the different ways of knowing in that chapter alone
- Look for different areas of knowledge that you could link a certain knowledge issue (that you are working on) to
- Justify your choice of the chapter selected. Which personal experiences came to your mind while you were exploring a certain knowledge issue?

Let us not forget that an essay must not be written as if you are merely replying to questions. Your ideas, thoughts, examples must be inter-mingled so beautifully, that they flow and sing melodiously.

I'll be checking your blogs by April 30, 2009 for all your assignments ...
Happy TOKing! :)

Deadline closing in...

I've barely got three blogs till now that can be accessed! The others must be accessible to me by midnight today if you wish to be graded for this month, and when I say accessible, I also mean that your monthly reflection must go on your individual blogs.....

Let's start blogging!

This month's deadline is March 30, 2009.

Remember: whatever you reflect upon, must pass the test of TOK

Comments on any journal entry are welcome, though lets not attack each other on such a public forum! If you disagree with what someone says, frame your thoughts in such a way that they do not hurt the sentiments of the writer, but allow him/her to contemplate further over his/her thoughts.