knowledge at work - 5

I have taken an article from the newspaper to work on this time. it talks about the independent candidate Meera Sanyal from South Mumbai.
Politicians are known to use emotions widely in order to appeal to the illiterate sections of society. This is mainly observed in the Indian political system. The reason corruption has crawled to its highest peak is because the people have not been able to reason. the basic and major problem being that they have not been given the opportunity to educate themselves. Therefore the politicians are able to continue their legacy to be able to brainwash the people and take advantage of the fact that their emotions over power their abilty to be able reason out situations. An example such as providing free electricity and water supply and food supply to those who live in the slums have as a result provided the political party a benefit by acing and doubling the votes and reserving their seat in the political systems. The political system works on the basis of manipulating those minds which are uneducated and keeping them in the dark by promising their demands, playing with their emotions and thereby winning the elections.

meera sanyal on the other hand promises to refrian from such activities an thus reasons out her being an independent candidate and not a part of any such group like the congress os mns or anything of that sort. however, others percieved her being an independent candidate differently. they percieved her as a weak candidate. this as a result was a major reason as to why she failed to connect with the voter which could be the main reason as tho why she loses her seat in the elections to the other candidates who are in fact a part of some collective group or the other.

in the past, there has never been a single candidate who won the elections single handedly. there has never been such a situation in history where an independent candidate, that too a woman, has been given the seat. therefore it is less easy for the voter to trust her. the generalisation still prevails. ' a single handed lady cannot take such a big responsibility on her shoulders'

thus the way in which a certain something is shown to someone forms a part of their belief system and therefore paves way for their respective perceptions. it has such a huge impact on an individual that she or he fails to reason out anything and goes with the flow. in such cases, reason fails to defeat emotion and thus emotions over power an individuals reasoning ability in turn leading to fallacious reasoning.

Intuition: 20th April, 2009.

1.) whose intuition should you trust? Are some peoples any better than others?
In my opinion the only intuition you should trust is your own. It can also extend to those who fall within your circle of trust. but one also has to make sure that that person who he or she trust is perspective enough and is able to make correct decisions void of fallacious reasoning. he or she should be emotionally strong so that emotion does not over power his or her reasoning power. such individuals whose reasoning power is strong and who has a strong hold or control over their inner being will but naturally have intuitions better than others.
2.) If something is intuitively obvious should everyone believe it?
No. the word obvious does not guarantee anything. it is just that one feels that it is obvious due to inner gut feelings and also as a result of powerful emotions. intuition differs and changes from person to person and thus it is not practical for everyone to follow just one persons intuition. an intuition cal also be wrong and thus it is not logical enough to follow the intuition of someone that can also be wrong at the end of it.
3.) Is there anything that everybody agrees about?
No there is certainly nothing that everybody in this world agrees about. the world consists of millions and billions of people each of whom have a perception of their own which but naturally differs from one another's. it is possible for a large group of people to have the same perception as a result of being influenced by another individuals or even emotions as a result of their gullible nature. but it is practically impossible for EVERYBODY to agree about something.
4.) could you be wrong to think that something is intuitively obvious?
Yes you could most definitely be wrong to think that something is intuitively obvious. intuition is something that originates from nothing but a gut feeling from within. it is very possible for this gut feeling to be un true, false or even meaningless. intuitions are often proved wrong as well. this is where reason comes into play.
5.) Might you one day come to see that something you though was intuitively obvious is in fact a deep rooted prejudice?
yes. on the first day of 7th grade, there came this new student in our school. i had an intuition, a gut feeling that she would be a nice girl. i went up to her and tried making a conversation. she was however scared an intimidated. emotion overpowered her reasoning ability and she came across to me as someone who was rather rude. however, after the air settled, she opened up to ma and we are now bets friends. nothing less than sisters!
If something is intuitively obvious must everybody agree about it?
If something is intuitively obvious must everybody agree about it?

Wednesday April 15th, 2009.

Weekly reflection:
The rational cycle
In the movie Khuda Kay Liye, Mansoor was considered a terrorist only because he was a muslim. He was taken into custody and was tortured to such ans extent that this physical action imposed upon him changed the emotions within him. It led to the growth of fear in him. This fear was brought about as a result the external stimuli which was the American officer. He had made a firm generalisation that all Pakistanis who come to the U.S.A either work at gas stations or grocery shops and travel by subways and buses. However, Mansoor stood out as he lived in a Luxury apartment, was studying music and also drove a convertible sports car. All of this led the officer to have a biased perception. And this biased perception led to nothing but fallaciuos reasoning which made the officer further believe that Mansoor was the terrorist even though he was not and was saying the truth. This was finally let out by the officer through emotive language when he said, "All terrorists are not muslims, but all muslims are terrorisists"

knowledge at work-4

My topic for this assignment is a quote from the movie 'khuda kay liye'.

"You don't understand the pakistani perspective of this do you? a muslim man is allowed to marry a non muslim girl but not a non muslim girl!. I will be the laughing stock of the pakistani community"

It clearly shows that the man who said this, Hussain, changes his perception only for his own convenience. When he smokes, when he consumes alcohol and when he has a live - in relationship it is not wrong at all. However when his daughter does nothing but wishes to live the rest of her life with the man she loves who unfortunately does not follow Islam, she is perceived to be wrong and someone with no ethics and morals! This very quote led him to do such sinister things to his own daughter. He forced her into marring his first cousin forcefully, who in turn got her pregnant and kept her hostage in a small village at the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was a victim of emotions winning over reason and therefore did all thses cruel, inhuman things in the pursuit of God and in the name of religion. This triggers powerful emotions in her. Primary emotions such as, fear, anger and disgust along with secondary emotions like shame and embarrasment which eventually culminated into hate. She began to reason out her life in that small village and thought of innumerous ways to escape. It was the physical environment and the conditions she was kept in that brought about these changes in her emotions. This is an evident example of the Jameson Lange Theory. The main reason as to why Hussain said this was due the external factor which was a man who brought about the emotions of fear, shame and embarrasment in him. once again. He was so blinded by what that man said that he failed to reason it out and once again emotion won the war against reason. At these instances, the Quran was used as conformation baised and the source was the conditioning of the Islamic people.

Monday April 13, 2009

Weekly reflection:
In this class we spoke about different emotions and how emotions are purely a result of physical actions. However, at the same time this ideology initially given by James Lange can be challenged by presenting practical and logical counter arguments. one being that certain emotions are also created as a result of hormones and other external factors. We spoke about the various primary emotions along with the secondary emotions also know as social emotions. the main difference between the two is that primary emotions are to do with ones self. they originate independent of the surroundings. Where as secondary emotions start off or are triggered with the help of other factors as well.