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WAYS OF KNOWING ORAL PRESENTATION

WAYS OF KNOWING ORAL PRESENTATION. NUS orders Christian Group to stop all activities on campus. NUS ordered a student Christian group to cease all campus activities after complaints of insensitive remarks to B uddhists and Muslims

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WAYS OF KNOWING ORAL PRESENTATION

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  1. WAYS OF KNOWING ORAL PRESENTATION

  2. NUS orders Christian Group to stop all activities on campus • NUS ordered a student Christian group to cease all campus activities after complaints of insensitive remarks to Buddhists and Muslims • Religious fervour came at the expense inter-religious tolerance and common spaces, seen in comments on posters and website • Suspension of activities until internal investigation is completed

  3. Language as a Way of Knowing • Language as means of communicating information to a critical mass of student population • Language containing undertones of religious insensitivity when used inappropriately • Insensitive diction being employed • Thailand: ‘a place of little true joy’ • Turkey: ‘much of the population is M’ (Muslim) • Connotations of these words – implies Buddhism and Islam as inferior religions • Weasel words – ambiguity in language as a tool for aggressive evangelism, fails to mask religious insensitivity • Turkey: ‘much prayer and work’

  4. Making Connections • Incidents raised in Sec 3 Assembly • Christian couple giving out pamphlets, offended Muslim population • Racially insensitive blogging incidents • Perception of religious intolerance • Seen to be a move to stopping such religious intolerance, but what about the mission of the Christian group? • Censorship of their publicity for the sake of religious sensitivity but what about infringing on their mission?

  5. Making Connections • Perception of religious intolerance • Censorship employed: where do we draw the line? • Repercussions on artistic expressions and creative industries • Political critique on nanny state, greatly restricts freedom of expression • Discretion of the government to determine what constitutes “religious/racial intolerance” – ambiguous • Exacerbated by law (ISA) – parallels to Operation ColdStore (for the sake of “social stability”) • Implications on religious segregation • Halal canteen, Hindu swimming pool, Christian bus stop

  6. Weaknesses of using Language as a Way of Knowing • Value-laden means of communication, might have unintended consequences • Ambiguous and open to interpretation, allows for willful misrepresentation • Not an objective way of knowing, cannot attain perfect knowledge of “real world” (intention of NUS Christian group) • Negative portrayal of group’s intentions and values in their mission

  7. Benefits of using Language as a Way of Knowing • Notwithstanding connotations of religious insensitivity, it can be an objective form of transmitting knowledge • Cultural agreed meanings of nouns and verbs • Rapid means of transmitting knowledge: common agreement in language enables those with literacy to understand knowledge • Possesses great potential to be used positively if thought and discernment went into crafting the advertisements

  8. Discussion! • Can language truly transmit information without bias or values embedded within it? • If language is open to interpretation, then whose fault is it? The Christian group or those will willfully misinterpret? • Is “racial intolerance” sufficient justification for censorship? • How does language defuse or exacerbate religious tension?

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