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| Repetition as truth aka the world of TOK“What I tell you three times is true.” (Lewis Carroll) Might this formula – or a more sophisticated version of it – actually determine what we believe to be true?
There are many ways of acquiring knowledge, and the act of repetition is a crucial way of knowing. Repetition is to penetrate ones brain, and reinforcing an idea into ones head. The human mind learns information, and this information is understood and stored into your brain, even if we do not realize it. The formula that repetition is equal to truth plays a chief role in how we gather knowledge. Although this formula to everyday man seems accurate, there are lies which often spread as truths through repetition. If we bring logic into this equation we can correctly state that the number of times a fact is repeated has nothing to do with its accuracy, especially in the instance of false statements. We can take a look into our everyday lives and see that by drilling ideas into our memory, society often accepts these notions as factual, and the consequences can be dire.
This idea of repetition taken as knowledge has been studied by some of the worlds leading philosophers and psychologists. One great philosopher who supported this was Nietzsche, in On Truth and Falsity in an Extramoral Sense, Nietzsche declares that ‘truth’ is a metaphor which is fixed by repetitive usage. Overall he states that truth comes from repetition. Many other studies have added that as human beings we have a predisposition to believe proclamations, not based on factual evidence but rather on mere repetition of the statements.
A prime example of belief through repetition is religion. Do people accept a truth because the theories have been repeated to them so many times? In Christianity, we can see in the gospels that there are four different accounts of the life of Jesus, and Christians do not doubt this. When I went to a Catholic school and performed my Hail Mary’s before class, it had been repeated to me on a daily basis that I altogether stopped questioning whether Mary actually performed a virgin birth to the son of God. The Bible repeats itself many times, an example is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, this is a reoccurring theme, and this remains the focus of many Christian’s thoughts and belief system. Saying this, are our biggest truths indeed false?
One of the most common practices of repetition is occurring in a student’s life. When we study we learn from repetition. We receive material, we write essays, we complete homework assignments, we take quizzes and tests, all on the same material until we are able to remember it and apply it. Malcolm X learned to read and write through repetition, he writes “ In my slow, painstaking, ragged handwriting, I copied into my tablet everything printed on the first page, down to the punctuation marks…I read back, to myself, everything I’d written on the tablet. Over and over, aloud, to myself, I read my own handwriting…I woke up the next morning thinking about those words…” This went on until he did this for the entire dictionary and was eventually able to accept the words meanings as truth and was able to read novels and understand them. Students often accept knowledge taught in school as true because we have no prior opinion on the topics and we repeat the information over and over again and it would seem foolish to consider it false.
Our emotions can play an important role, and influence our perception of truth. When we are first told a fact, we are skeptical. However as we continue to hear the same fact repeatedly, we come to accept it as general knowledge. It is similar to the piece of parsley on your dish at a restaurant. For the first time, seeing a small plant on top of your food may seem bizarre and you may be questioning the restaurant. However as we continue to visit restaurants we see they all put a small parsley leaf on almost every dish and we now accept this as a part of the restaurant and the meal in our culture. If a fact is repeated by an authoritative figure for the first time however, we are more likely to believe it just as we would accept it if a high class, well known restaurant were to be the first to serve parsley with a meal, we would not doubt the restaurant. Even if we disagree with the authority at hand we are still more likely to accept what they say as true.
Repetition is all around us every day, in this modern world. It comes to us in the form of media. Repetition is an obvious, tactful way for companies to entice people to buy their products. Infomercials are programs on TV which are repeatedly shown day and night. The most famous products are those for weight loss. The heating pad which can make you drop inches in hours, is one of the most famous. If we were to use logic, we would know that this is virtually impossible. The ad for this is repeated so many times by various companies that the viewers buy into it and are influenced greatly by this repetition. Another example is catchy tunes on the radio and TV; there are tunes which can be stuck in our head for days thus reminding us of the product. The consumer believes the repeated propaganda of the products to be true and leads us into believing - in many cases - false information.
In history we can see how repetition twisted our thoughts. History throughout time has repeated its cause in order to get the common people to accept a leader’s view as truth. Propaganda is usually a main tool in obtaining power of the people. We can see this in World War II, where Hitler used propaganda to create unity and a powerful Germany, which resulted in the death of millions of Jews. In a newspaper article the following quote shows how repetition is key in history, “‘Propaganda’ said Goebbels ‘means repetition, and still more repetition.’ He added ‘The truth is whatever brings victory.’” We can see the effects World War Two had on the world and how this repetition of propaganda encouraged and brainwashed the people of the era.
The philosopher Francis Bacon said that there are two different mechanisms to truth; recognition and familiarity. In conclusion the formula Lewis Carroll has stated does establish what we believe to be the truth. As a modern sophist we must realize that repeating a fact does not make it true. Through logic, emotions, and reasoning we must conclude what is really thought of as the truth. Many problems can come about when false information is passed down. We must remember repetition is only strengthening a point, we must try to put an end to this distribution of false data. 
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| Pluto...Not a Planet?So I was watching the news the other night when this abominable story of our solar system came up; Pluto has been demoted to a "dwarf planet" - meaning we now only have eight regular planets instead of nine. I'm tempted to say wtf? but instead I'l just ask: Why? Why? Why? According to the International Astronomical Union, Pluto is automatically disqualified because its "oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's." Where is the proof that the space around Neptune's planet even belongs to Neptune? Who is to say that Pluto isn't renting its orbit out to Neptune? Maybe Pluto was just prying in on its own space to see if it was being taken care of. Neptune should be the planet disqualified from the universe. I have a feeling we havn't heard the end of this either. I mean we already named the most incoherent Disney character after the - in my heart- regular planet. Pluto will find its revenge. Did anyone even think that just because the 'people' of Pluto arn't visible to us maybe they could be inside their planet? But on a more serious note what morons just wake up and have a vote on whether a planet isn't a planet anymore? Okay everyone, Earth isn't a planet anymore...so get the Hell out! Now I'm bottled with rage I have to state it: WTFlying Saucers?!
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| Pleasantville...Pleasant? The suburbs make me want to hurl. No, wait - the mothers in the suburbs make me want
to hurl. It's funny how they think they are all - as what my infantile generation labels as
"MILF" or Trophy Wives - however they seemed to have forgotten the fact that in order
to be a Trophy Wife, you must be attractive as welll as in tip top form - or skinny with
big boobs. You also must be 20 something and read Hello or In Touch on a weekly basis
while making passes at the pool boy.
My favorite part of biking along the perfectly cemented sidewalks of the residential area
where I live, is when I see these unitellectual women performing their daily workout. ha!
For one, the fat ones don't seem to know what a sports bra is and the old ones don't even
break a sweat. What kind of exercise is this? It seems easy - however it doesn't look like
it will make the cut for the latest infommercial, considering there are no results to go on.
And for the last time, your next door neighbors daughter who babysits for you maybe
twice a season, when you are out spying to see who your husband is cheating on you with
is not considered a 'nanny'. They are just considered the typical suburban teenager
who needs the five bucks an hour you pay them, to buy some pot so they can become
just like you when they grow up! The suburban dropout rate has been increasing every
year, I'm thinking it's the lack of appreciation for good literature.I will be more than
pleased when I grow up and say one final goodbye to Pleasantville. I hope to end up in
some busy city where I will never have to pass a spurious housewife ever again. When
biking I will get to see tons of cracks in the road...oh how I miss the uneven streets of the
city.
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| Trees...Masterminds? As I was traveling around space the other night, and looking down on the planet Earth, I came to a crucial conclusion. Trees (literally) rule the world. Until settlers reached the mid-west, the Native American tribes made a habit of purposefully and meticulously destroying every tree they could find. I think these Native Americans were on to something.
Think about it, if all the trees were to die, all the people in the world would also drop down dead. I can even put a price on it; in fifty years, one tree recycles $37,000 worth of oxygen. Also, trees are the longest living organisms on Earth, this means they have seen it all, from the dinosaurs, to the Native Americans onerously chopping them down to their death, to the robots. If there were aliens on the planet Earth, they would unquestionably live in trees. Not only do trees produce food, shelter and sound barriers (therefore the mortals cannot hear the recondite conversations going on between these methodical organisms), but they also provides $31,000 worth of erosion control. And get this! Hospital patients heal faster, require shorter stays and fewer painkillers if their room windows face trees. These trees are crazy. “Modern-day chickens may instinctively seek out trees.” No kidding, the trees and chickens are out to run the world. What are we going to do? I guess I’ll be making a pledge to ‘Green Planet International’ in order to help save the rain forest. There is no way I’m getting on the trees bad side…no way! I’m far too aberrant to die.
The forest scares the hell out of me.
There are ghosts in there that tell you ferocious things.
And old ladies with toads for pets
who mumble incantations that make you scream.
And I miss the city, the buildings,
where the brick is the only thing that's exposed.
ANd as long as you don't fall into the cracks in the road,
you'll make it home.
The trees here might be green
but their hearts are black as black can ever be.
And birds circle above you waiting for the night to fall,
so you can't see.
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