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Phantom Limbs

I am in love with the idea of alternate realities, like old Twilight Zone episodes. I might see a Gremlin on the plane, but no one else would.

I believe myself to be schizophrenic (that does NOT mean I have multiple personalities, it means I see and hear things that others do not experience), but of course it is not something that comes at will. It’s not always a “trick” of the eye, either, for if I believe something is there, then it certainly is there, at least according to my mind. I’ve felt icy breath and heard a voice coming from a wall that had nothing there, but then again, I was the only one around to hear him. He certainly exists in my mind, the blue-skinned man with six arms, but nobody else seems to believe me :C

You know, they always say artists are insane…

If something lies outside our realm of perception, then how can we know it?

Every human culture uses language.

I would imagine every culture would use language, as without language I highly doubt one could survive on his own. Sitting silently all of your life, you couldn’t do much, and you might encounter the need for social contact. It is impossible to engage in social contact without language, otherwise that would be staring at eachother in an attempt to read another’s mind, and that would be pretty awkward!

A culture or civilisation without language would cease to exist, or perhaps not exist at all. How could it carry on, anyway, if a man and woman would not communicate their need to reproduce?  Even ancient civilisations used language, so the lack of any communication can be ruled out in regards to the Mayans’ mysterious disappearance.

Propaganda

For some, if not most, visual art is the easiest form of propaganda to produce; however, some people are more talented with jigs, jingles, and things like that (which still would fall under the category of the Arts). The senses of perception can… sense… each form of art, such as seeing a visual or performance art, smelling or tasting a delicious propaganda-ey cake, listening to a national anthem, and touching the spokes-bunny of a twisted yet beloved corporation; these examples are all symbols, and these symbols, like most, are art.

Besides, how could you do something regarding History without using Literature as an art? Or perhaps mathematics, which isn’t very artsy, but the only example of propaganda regarding numbers I can think of is that 2 + 2 = 5, from 1984. I guess people would simply rather paint or sing than do math! Sorry, Gully :C

Knowledge Issue Associated with North Korea

A Knowledge Issue could be something used for History, such as the limitations of knowing something. For example, if North Korea is concidered a Secret State, how can others know anything about them, and how can they know anything about anyone else?

As for TOK, however: To what extent is North Korea a “secret state”? would be an appropriate question. If they have a heavy security on what resources go in or out of their country, yet there are videos leaked and such propaganda, then perhaps their security is not as heavy as they thought!

History

I do not believe what we are taught in class is “fake”, although I believe some may not entirely be true. Each side in a war would have a different opinion on the outcome; although one side loses, they may feel that the winning side were the evil bullies to instigate the war in the first place. However, these “bullies” may feel that the losing side deserved to taste defeat, as they might have felt like the losing side had started the war.

Down south, they are Civil War reenactments that depict the Confederate Army as the victor, which does not hold true to history textbooks. I believe that the textbooks are a suitable source for children learning in school, although an historian may find them to be biased or untruthful. In my opinion, the closer the source comes after the the event happens, the more believable it may be, depending on if Crazy Joe is telling his stories again. However, sometimes, the truth is lost to time, and only the lies are told on for generations.

Language

It would be nifty to magically transport myself onto Christopher Columbus’ ship a la Sherman and Mr. Peabody, and I would have my hand at trying to convince him about the world’s sphericity whichever way I can, as I do not speak Spanish. Jeremy or Matt might not have as difficult a time as I would, so to make things easier on my behalf, I would use body language and spit out whatever words I know that would help in the matter.

“El Mundo es”, I would say, while holding an imaginary ball in my hands. “No es” flat, I’d continue, as the ball would turn into a two-dimensional intangible map. That is enough to convince a Spaniard, isn’t it?

Of course, though, he might just throw me overboard as women are concidered bad luck on ships, and he might have gone mad with scurvy. In that case, I would bring a bag of oranges, which might even help in describing the shape of our planet. What a delicious little assistant!

Art

I fully believe that art cannot be “graded”, like in an elementary art class. It is humiliating to the artist, who pours their heart out onto their canvas; it is a slap in the face, or a slap to their heart! It is like saying “you shouldn’t have felt so passionate towards this subject, but instead you should have felt more like you were trapped in a little black box to conform to these rules and elements of composition.”
I did the “practise test” for IB art last year, although it wasn’t exactly assessed (I was running back and forth between Trep and Ms. Holmes who were telling me the different rules I had to follow, and whether I had broken them or not). But I still followed through with the exam, and the trippy lady did not much care for my art, which came straight from my heart, and that was a very harsh insult to me!

Emily did the actual exam and only got a 4– although she had passed, she was upset, because she says, and I KNOW that her art is worth more if it comes from her heart, and she was denied the proper acknowledgment and praise. Now, this makes me terrified for testing this year, if my heart is denied just once more.

Mathematics

I simply adore mathematics; it is another one of my many skills. But I’ve never really questioned it before. Sometimes I believe the whole concept of numbering was created by man, although there are natural quantities to the objects around us. The world was very different before we humans had gotten our noses into everything, throwing names around and “finding” things that already existed.

However, I know that mathematicians are honoured to name constants after themselves or stray letters of the Greek alphabet, but I do not believe that these constants are found in nature; the constants themselves are man-made. Certainly there is something more to circles than a round shape, although pi has nothing to do with it within nature; it is only a term used for geometry and nothing more.

Human Science

Although I do not associate myself with an organised or established religion, I understand the definition of Human Science: the outside which is the who and what and where; and the inside which is the why and how. Religion realises the outside picture, of who and what is where (i.e., God’s children on Earth), and it reveals its inside contents to the faithful, the why and how (His meaning of life, and Creationism for its Higher purpose).

However, I myself do not know the inside of Religion, so I will have to find that out on my own, in some other class called T.O.R.