IA prompt:

7. What are the implications of having, or not having, knowledge?

Optional Theme:

Religion

One can define knowledge as facts or information provided through education or experience.

Having knowledge enhances our abilities to think diversely and broadens our perspectives.

The implications of not having knowledge can be adverse and lead to further conflicts. The

leading cause of conflicts can be religion and the ideologies people believe in. In this

exhibition, I will be exploring examples of having as well as not having knowledge in our

society and the role of religion in conflicts.

Objects:

Washington Post Article “I think Islam hates us’’: A timeline of Trump’s

comments about Islam and Muslims.

This article on the Washington Post is a timeline of former President Donald Trump’s Twitter

posts relating to Islam. It is a well known fact that he has been voicing his opinions publicly
about his prejudice against this religion and the problems that they cause. He mentions ideas

such as Syrian refugees forming a ‘’secret ISIS army’’ and that Muslims are “sick people.’’

Such statements allows us to presume that he does not have enough knowledge on the

religion and the people of Islam. Religion plays a major role here because 1.1% (3.4 million

people) of the population in America is Muslim. Essentially, hating upon such a large fraction

of your people could be termed as a notion of ignorance.

This article connects to the idea of knowledge as we can see there is a severe lack of

knowledge with one primary implication, conflict. The consequences of the lack of

knowledge could be social, political and economical. If muslims are driven away from a

globalised country such as America, social injustices would be faced and one could even term

it as ‘’social genocide.’’ This idea refers to the wiping out of a religion without violence,

rather than socially misplacing them. There would be an imbalance in the diversification of

the country and political opposition from countries in the Middle East and other Islamic

countries. These oil rich countries have much influence in the stakes of the U.S economy as

well as the global markets. Moreover, such a large population of the country would normally

contribute through employment, labor and consumption of goods and services where the

money spent adds to the general GDP (gross domestic product) of the country, increasing its

economic status in the global market.

As we can see, the lack of knowledge of a religion can lead to numerous consequences that

could topple down such a power playing country and create severe destruction.
 2. The Oslo Accords

Are all political decisions made based on the pursuit of knowledge? The second object I have

selected for this exhibition is the Oslo accords, signed in 1993, based on the United Nations

Security Council resolutions aimed at solving the Israel-Palestine religious conflict. Religion

played a major role in social treatment, accessibility to necessities and quality of life for the

citizens of both countries. Because the Israelis were known to be intellects, they were treated

with more respect and given easy access to resources. Arabs however were to live through

harsh living conditions with minimal resources. However, this is incorrect, some of the most

successful and hard working people are followers of Islam, such as, Bella Hadid (model),

Shaquille O’Neal (NBA player), Muhammad Ali (Boxer). However, because of the ill

treatment and outlook on Muslims, Israeli attacks in Palestine killed over 100 lives of

civilians.

I have included this object in my exhibition because I believe that these Accords were a

solution based on well interpreted and diversified knowledge. A gathering like the United

Nations allows a plethora of validated opinions and allows for a conclusive solution.
Although these accords did not solve the Arab-Israeli conflict completely, it brought peace

talks with knowledge from both sides of the conflict to find a favorable solution. It was an

opportunity for both sides of the conflict to bring in equal knowledge and opinions and

ensure that their voice was heard. Because of the equal distribution, a solution was made

possible and about 117 countries ratified the accords. My perspective believes that having

first hand knowledge of the conflict led to a viable solution.

3. The Rohingya Muslims Flag

We’ve discussed the implications of a government with a lack of knowledge. I have included

this object to assess the consequences for the victims at hand. This flag represents a

community known as the Rohingya Muslims. They originated in the Rakhine State of

Myanmar and were driven out in 2012 which began the conflict. Myanmar is officially a

Buddhist country and believes that the presence of any other religion would make their

country impure. And hence these Rohingya Muslim refugees were forced to flee.

These people lived in villages and were barely able to access basic necessities, education was

out of the question. When asked to leave, the Rohingyas had no information on where they

could go or the knowledge to fight back for their rights in their own country. Because of this,

they face hardships. They walked on their bare feet across Myanmar, some up north and some
down south looking for a land welcoming to them. Although many refugees are now in

Bangladesh and India, they were unaware at the time where to go, how to access resources

and if they would even be able to survive.

Because of their religion, Rohinyas were not provided the education and the means to

withstand their conditions. They battled hardships such as abuse and rapes without knowing

that there are international laws against it in the UN charter. As we can see, due to the lack of

knowledge, the journey for the Rohinyas became more and more ugle and difficult to

withstand.

All together, the 3 objects that I have chosen bring out the implications of having or not

having knowledge and show us the importance of having knowledge in today’s world. We

can also see how religion played a role in biasing the knowledge we have today.

References:

1. Jenna Johnson, Abigail Hauslohner. “'I Think Islam Hates Us': A Timeline of Trump's

Comments about Islam and Muslims.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 28 Apr.

2019,

2. “Ingia Kwenye Facebook.” Facebook,

sw-ke.facebook.com/Rohingya-Fun-Club-1859087420855141/photos/?ref=page_inter

nal.

3. Weiner, Jill Allison. “Israel, Palestine, and the Oslo Accords.” Core.ac.uk, 1999,

core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144226408.pdf.

Word Count: 947 words