Student 17

This book, written after the events of the Civil Rights movement, documents the life, and the beliefs of a well known movement leader of this time, Martin Luther King Jr.. Throughout history, the events which have left big impacts on our society, were seen and retold from different perspectives and biases lead them to do so. The Civil Rights movement is an example of an event in history that included many perspectives and biases, which would lead to the production of retelling these stories though with these biases still present today.

Growing up, my mother would always teach myself as well as my sisters the truth of what she believed the past to be, one being the Civil Rights movement, for this event had majorly impacted our family in that time. To give us multiple perspectives ofthis event, we would often watch documentaries, and read books such as biographies of influential leaders of that time, one book in particular being, I May Not Get There With You, The True Martin Luther King Jr. By Michael Eric Dyson. This book captures the biography of Martin Luther King Jr., but also states his own perspectives in what he believes Martin Luther King to have believed in as well. The events of history are very similar to a book, though in each chapter, there is a different point of view. I believe that the continuation of personal biases that stem from the creation of knowledge, are due to the fact that every person believes that they are in the right. And throughout time preceding these times, come people who have the same beliefs and support and continue those biases as they also support the idea they believe to be truthful. With this in mind, I do not believe that biases in the creation of knowledge are inevitable, but they come naturally and unintentionally.

Furthermore, history textbooks, such as the textbook, Causes and Effects of 20th-Century Wars created by the Oxford IB Diploma Programme explain the influence of bias through the production of knowledge. Throughout history, the wars that took place have also affected how society acts and reacts today. This is due to the fact that there were many perspectives as to what happened, in the events that took place before, during and after. These perspectives also never include all details, only those that support their own perspective, which is the direct representation of bias, more specifically, the use of confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is defined as “the tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with one’s existing beliefs”.

With this in mind, many historians writing material in which is used in school’s to be taught about the past, consists of information that only proves what they already know, and not information that considers all details. In this specific textbook, the same biases are present in the presentation of information. Moreover, when it comes to events that have major impacts such as war, neither side wants to be seen as the reason for such cause of pain and destruction, so in return, either side writes out their perspective to only benefit them. So with textbooks, it is very difficult to decipher the truth and to also learn from multiple viewpoints due to the use of bias in these writings. Same as with personal biases I have experienced growing up applies to what is being taught through the use of history textbooks. Through the influences of these biases, it has become more difficult with understanding what is the truth and how these influences affect how I build my own perspectives. With such pieces of writing, the use of bias is inevitable as it is used to create conformity to overall provide reassurance and validation.

Lastly, a camera lens is also used to express how bias is inevitable in the production of knowledge. A camera, and more specifically can be used to capture important moments in one’s life, good or bad. Most frequently, it is to capture the good moments, and uses the features of the lens to only focus on the good things, and not the reality in which it is bad. This is due to the fact that our biases lead us to follow standards we set for ourselves, and receive validation through certain events to overall prove the importance of these standards.Throughout my childhood, I would often find pictures of my family before I was born,which without context, looks like a happy memory, but now as I am older and having more context as to what was behind these events made me realize that they was much more important details that did not reflect happiness.

The specificity is expressed as there is no certain knowledge as to what happened before or after the event that occurred in the photo. Therefore, pictures taken from an event in history can be easily manipulated to reflect the same idea of a certain point of view instead of the truth that is held in the reality of the situation as a whole. Subsequently, with the use of manipulation and biases in the production of knowledge, there are limits in the acquisition of information and as well as the question of the validity of this information because the information that is being presented under the circumstances in which the writer wrote them to benefit their own beliefs.