I want to say schiffahrtselektrizit which is German for seclusion because of language and depressed as a result is Rechtsschutzve, or it should be. I find it
ironic that English is a more effective language of communication with my
barber who is from Iran (structurally the same mother language). lack of literacy and
connections have resulted in fragmentation of Farsi to the extent that dialects have become so distinct that even regions
within the same national border has features that are unique. The Dari I speak
is only a practical spoken language with a small group of population, written
language too is hermetic and insular. I just did a research and found out that
the total number of internet pages and the total number of commercial content (hardcopies
of instruction, guide, manual …) in Persian, *a* language of 120 million people,
is fewer than Estonian, *the* language of less than 2 million people. It’s reclusive
and lonely if your language is Dari and Pashto; when you think about it like
that you come to realise the value of mother language and its importance for nurturing confidence and purpose.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Monday, October 14, 2013
religion
A young American Scientologist walked up to me on the street, in an attempt to sell me some religion he started “god is gracious” to which I promptly responded “I have seen decapitation of children as young as 14 for pick pocketing in the name of God to teach others by example”. He said they maintain a misguided interpretation of God. Surely we don't reason the same about everything else. We don't say pedophilia is misjudged child affection on the part of an adult. hang on, the church almost says that. We don't reason a shooting rampage is an abuse of the right to bear assault rifles. Wait isn't that how its argued in your country.
Monday, September 30, 2013
I will fix you up real good
I have one day a month that I dread the most and it is the
day I receive instructions from a random member of the public or acquaintance.
I have done the maths and it comes to an average of 12 per annum which
statistically makes it once a month. Here are a few starting points for the
instructions: What does the boy want? You can’t
put your chair here. You might want to do this or that? You should not do
this or that? What do you mean it is not my business?
Why is the British so ready to instruct? Don’t take it personally,
it’s not about you. if you listen carefully you will hear the inside voice
which actually says: I feel powerless - I have little control over my life - I feel clinically depressed - I am tired of frozen
pizza, cheap bear and bad weather. It is
this inside voice if you listen to that explains for the most part the
popularity of football and its benign hooliganism as well as the pubs and male
aggression.
Complaining is the national hobby. there is a pernicious
relation with mutual impact between individual discourse on collective and
nationally formed identity on individual. The media daily complaints about how
nobody is fixing the climate or how disgusting it is that some
dude spent £36k on alcohol in a private party. The individual submersed in
this discourse mimics them and go around looking for it in the neighbourhood.
It is not a big deal and not particular to Britons, people
around the world love to complain and more those destitute. There is one thing
that makes this in particular and it’s the lack of humility. I blame pop
culture, comfortable life, alcohol and television, in that particular order. It
is not so much complaining that you should watch out for but arrogance mixed
with it, which is really obtrusiveness.
This is the fallout of national socialism in a post
industrial society. People want the state to fix things for them consequently
the state takes control away from them which in turn frustrate them. Most
issues now delegated to the state has traditionally been the domain of
individual responsibility, such as looking after the neighbourhood, personal
health and family welfare. One has to be careful not to over emphasize the role
of the state, after all in democratic Britain there are different forces and
counterbalances that will correct a misguided direction of the state.
Obtrusiveness is also the concomitant of a great British character, eccentricity. The
English admire counter cultures, desire quirky approaches, accept the strange,
cheer for the underdog and defy the mainstream. It is exactly these characters
that give rise to some great British qualities such as tolerance. eccentricity
brings you the surrealist, odd, unpretentious and quirky comedy of Milton
Jones, Phil Jupiter, Miranda, Alan Davies and the one man institution of
Stephen Fry. Ironically eccentricity is self repellent, it alters the
mainstream and in the process creates idiosyncrasy. Creating ulterior motives that
is revenging on common sense. This is not so funny and has brought to you rude
heckling particular to the English and self-loathing.
The good news - you need one - 29 days 23 hours and 30 minutes is filled with
the joy of dealing with intelligent and pleasant Britons. You just have to
brace yourself for that 30 minutes.
Friday, September 27, 2013
BBC is sleep walking into Political Bias
An article published on 13 of September 2013
defines the upcoming Afghan election in regard to the politics and candidates
relation to Ahmad Shah Masood, the slain commander of Mujahidin group under
Northern Alliance umbrella. The article concludes that any delay to the
election by some is seen as catastrophic. “Masood was a proponent of fair
election” the author adds “but some would argue he was not given the
opportunity to organise an election”
In this
article a key political process is defined through Masood’s perspective which
is appropriate for Masood Heritage Foundation but not BBC. Although Masood’s legacy overshadows Afghan politics;
influence of military leaders or of political leader for that matter remains a
subject of perspective, even more so when we are talking about legacies. Some
might see one of other hundred figures as influential, some might only view
those alive as influential. BBC should not be using this major political event
to provide a platform for coverage of Masood’s legacy. The article goes further
by arguing that Masood was a proponent of election. This is inaccurate, Masood
did not organise an election when he was practically running what resembled the
national government neither his military wing established a national government
with functioning institutions that can lay down a roadmap to election. It is
not helpful to talk about a major military leader in terms of what he aspired
to do instead of what he actually did; it would be unjust to those who suffered
in the turmoil of Mujahidin military ambitions, to which Masood was a big part.
It is indecent to dismiss civilian suffering by implying that it was delusions
on their part and what actually happened was high class political discourse. I
agree that BBC might want to create content about Masood’s legacy but it has to
be balanced and accurate. It is inaccurate and unfair to set Masood’s legacy as
the standard for election and interlink the two in an article.
A bias
article reinstates the concern of a particular group consistently and
throughout without a counter opinion; little attention is paid to attribution
of controversial facts. Using that definition this article is bias because it
puts forth consistently and throughout the arguments currently made by the
successor of Northern Alliance. Given that the author of the article is a staff
member of the BBC one would expect that the article is as balanced as possible
given the time allotted to story preparation and the space available, and to
seek reliable sources. Common sense also commands to presume that such articles
are being independently fact-checked by another employee of BBC. This only
points out to the widespread domination of BBC Persian editorial by a political
fiction, spreading opinions and interests of a particular political and social
stream. I have based this argument primarily on the content of the
mentioned article, two other evidence I offer in support of the claim is the
consistency and spread of such articles across the board. The method for
proofing the former is a look at chronological run of bias articles and the
later by evaluating authoring for each articles.
A second article that was published only a
month before under the title of ‘lessons of Arab “autumn” for Afghanistan’,
also outlines the views of the political calculus of what used to be
Northern Alliance that identify themselves as former Mujhidin. The article
argues that the murders committed by the military rulers of Egypt should be
seen as atrocities of secular, while the Muslim Brotherhood is the victim. The
author draws a clear parallel line between Mujahidin and their current
political structure with that of Egypt’s Muslim brotherhood. Hence, the
argument that political Islam has been incapable of sound governance and has
committed atrocities while in power or seeking power does not hold ground. This
is while Mujahidin fictions are responsible for most of the atrocities of the
90s as well as some that took place in the 80s which eventually resulted in the
rise of Taliban. This article uses false logic by creating parallels between
events that have different political roots, causes and results. The author
attempts to deprecate the atrocities that various fiction of what he calls
Mujahidin has committed by belittling their role in the crimes. The author
attempts to downplay the responsibility Mujahidin should be taking for the crimes
they had committed by overplaying the resemblance between Egypt and Afghanistan
creating an imaginary group secular by its nature and somehow responsible for
the crimes in Afghanistan.
Another variable I use to determine
institutional bias in BBC is by identifying the authors of these articles. The
premise is that institutional bias can be established if such articles are
throughout and doctored by different authors. Link three below is another
article I consider unduly favourable to Masood, which is by another author who
is again a member of BBC Persian team.
For plurality to be implemented an entity, in
this case a nation, that represents diversity should exist. It might be the
case that sectarian and ethnic divisions in Afghanistan runs so deep that the
creation of balanced information based on Afghanistan wide perspective is
unrealistic and unappealing. As a result any broadcaster catering to a
linguistic group inclines towards the prevailing politics of that lingo-ethnic
group. This certainly holds true if you look at BBC Pashto which some claim is
similarly bias toward a Pan-Pashton politics. Many media outlets are
ideologically motivated and inclined to support groups and parties that are politically
or otherwise aligned with them. BBC Persian is intended to cater to Afghanistan
wide audience and pursuing partisan politics is contrary to the policy and a
violation of its mission. Should BBC decide to move toward catering to ethnic
groups and semi-political fictions then that should be a conscious choice, not
sleeping walking into it.
Here is
the URL for this article
another
article published under the title of lessons of Arab “autumn” for Afghanistan
is at
link number three
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