TOK Commentary May 2022

IA Prompt: 20
What is the relationship between
personal experience and knowledge?

Word Count: 946

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This IA prompt provides the knower with a base to examine the role personal experiences play

in the acquisition and production of knowledge, while establishing a connection between both. I

believe knowledge is defined as information and skills acquired by a knower. Similarly, personal

experiences are skills or knowledge obtained from an event of practical experiences. The

acquisition of knowledge is how we receive and develop information from a variety of different

sources. I believe personal experiences allow individuals to shape their personality, their

reactions to situations, thoughts and emotions, while also allowing for the obtainment of skills.

If a knower has experienced an area of exploration, one can say they have knowledge of the

same.

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My first object is an Indigo Airline Face Shield. As a knower, this Face Shield has allowed me to

acquire knowledge on the changes the tourism and aviation industry has undergone, creating

the ‘new normal’ when travelling for leisure due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The first

Face Shield I received was provided by the airline out of compulsion to follow COVID

regulations during this ‘new-age’ of travel. To reduce the spread of the virus during travel,

airlines provide passengers with both face shields and masks to ensure utmost safety.

During this winter break, I travelled on my first aircraft since the beginning of the pandemic.

This experience has allowed me to understand the effect the pandemic has had on the aviation

industry while obtaining knowledge on the current form of travelling. This face shield could

symbolize the drastic negative impacts that took the aviation industry by storm resulting in

nearly 5 million lost jobs and a fall in 46 million aviation-supported jobs due to the bans set on

travel. A clear evolution of the industry can be seen, from travelling panic-free without health

concerns to a time where one prioritizes health over anything as an outcome of the pandemic.

This experience also enabled me to predict future travel patterns and evaluate the experiences

of other passengers on the basis of comfort and safety.

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My second object, the song ‘Respect’ by Aretha Franklin is an R&B/Soul hit published in 1967.

When studying the Civil Rights Movement back in Grade 10, I stumbled across this song during

a project and its purpose instantly intrigued me. An anthem for the Civil Rights Movement and

Second-Wave Feminism during the 1960s and 70s, it was originally a cover of an Otis Redding

song by the same name. It featured Redding singing to his wife about wanting respect after

coming back home from a long day of work, however, Franklin changed the lyrics in her version

of the song to reflect her story and personal experiences as a Black woman in America. This

sentiment and common knowledge resonated with a lot of women, who felt like second-class

citizens due to the way that they were treated both at home and in public.

The success of this song reflected the lives and experiences of the common woman, be it a

housewife or a professional. This song, along with other feminist and pro-black art created

around this time was instrumental in not only advocating struggles of what it was like to be

black and/or a woman but helped motivate people to join the fight for equality. In other words,

art like hers, chronicled personal experiences of marginalized groups, becoming a source of

knowledge for those uninformed or unaware. Subsequently, the knower can be perceived as

the various individuals of marginalized groups fighting for their rights, using Aretha Franklin’s

personal experiences as a driving factor for the obtainment of knowledge and advocating their

social issues.

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My third object is a post on the forum ‘incels.co’. While surfing through YouTube to learn

about echo chambers during our Theory of Knowledge classes, I came across a video describing

this subculture, their origin and their significance. Incels.co is an online forum used by ‘Incels’.

Coined by Alana in the late 90s, ‘Incel’, short for ‘Involuntary Celibate’, are a group of

individuals, specifically men, belonging to an online subculture who deem themselves

unattractive and define themselves as ‘unable to find romantic partners’ while desiring for one.

Using this forum as a place to post and discuss their feelings and experiences as an ‘incel’

creates a medium where their beliefs are constantly amplified and repeated, creating an echo

chamber. Bias plays a major role in personal experiences. As knowers experience events, the

knowledge received is further developed with access to primary and secondary data, allowing

one to form opinions. Personal experiences create confirmation bias, where one would recall

information that supports their prior beliefs from experiences, the same taking place in this

subculture. While my previous chosen objects support the claim that personal experiences lead

to the beneficial and effective acquisition of knowledge, my third object may say differently.

With more than 13,000 views on this particular post, each incel is surrounded by another,

trapping them inside an echo chamber. They are willing to hear and receive knowledge that

affirms what they know. When seeking knowledge, they are forced to conform to their own

personal experiences or biases, rather than engaging with a diverse, broader set of opinions.

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This post is one example where members of the community would engage in discussions that

verify their personal biases and experiences as knowledge is constantly reinstated. Their

personal experiences have shaped their thoughts and emotions, which is visible through the

object. From the post, ‘Blackpill’ refers to one of the beliefs coined by the members of the

community that is reinforced on the forum stating that ‘Incels can never get into relationships

causing them to never find happiness’, leaving no room to seek new knowledge.

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Bibliography:

- Beauchamp, Zack. “Our Incel Problem.” Vox, Vox, 16 Apr. 2019, www.vox.com/the-
highlight/2019/4/16/18287446/incel-definition-reddit.

- Carter, Kelley L. “Aretha Franklin's 'Respect': How Sassy Song Became Anthem for an
Era.” Detroit Free Press, Detroit Free Press, 30 Aug. 2018,
www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/aretha-franklin/2018/08/30/aretha-franklin-
songs-respect/1133856002/.

- “Incel.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 July 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incel.

- North, Anna. “The Political and Cultural Impact of Aretha Franklin's ‘Respect,"
Explained.” Vox, Vox, 17 Aug. 2018, www.vox.com/2018/8/17/17699170/aretha-franklin-
2018-respect-song-otis-redding-feminism-civil-rights.