Afghanistan

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Page: language-arts-science-fiction-analysis.doc

Docs Link:  http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhqnj6w2_26crgb6mgb 

DONT BE TAKEN IN BY THE RAT RACE

A minister once fell from grace. He left court and joined a group of dervishes. By virtue of their company, he achieved peace of mind and a reformed character.

The ruler soon changed his mind and decided to reinstate the disgraced minister. The man refused and said: “I prefer to live in retirement than to busy myself with politics. Whoever opts for a quiet life is free to forget the snarling calamities of rivals. I may no longer have the minister’s special pen case, I may have torn up all my papers, but at least I no longer have to put up with bad mouthing from my critics.”

The ruler replied: “I always need a competent and wise man to help run the state.”

“The sign of wisdom in a man, ” the ex-minister replied, “is precisely not to be taken in by the false attractions of politics. Why is the Human superior to other birds? Because it is content to live off dry bones and thus never oppresses any living thing. Have you heard the story of the lynx? It was asked why it chose to serve in the court of the lion and replied that at court it could live safely protected from its enemies and well fed with the leftover of the king’s meals. The lynx was also asked why it did not, like other courtiers, maneuver to get itself into the innermost circle of the lion’s most trusted companions. Whereupon it said: ‘I can not be safe from the king’s anger if I am too close to him.’ The Zoroastrian can spend his whole life tending the fire he worships; the fire will burn him up nonetheless, if ever he falls into it! Your Majesty’s companions never know whether they will make a fortune or lose their heads! It is well known that one should be aware of the ruler’s fickle moods; he takes offense at a polite greeting one moment and the next he showers rewards on someone who has just insulted him. To be a courtier, you have to be as slippery as an eel; to be a wise man, you have to aim higher. Let politicians flatter and lie and cheat their way to the top! I know my own human worth: that dignity is enough for me.”

Analysis:

The text that I chose to analyze, Don’t be Taken by the Rat Race, has a lot of information about the values and beliefs, clues about issues, but at the same time lacks information on the clues about day-to-day life, climate and geography, along with clues on language and dialect. For the clues about values & beliefs the story states “I know my own human worth: that dignity is enough for me.” This shows that the people will always want to maintain their values and beliefs even if it means getting as far away as possible. This makes sense because the people of Afghanistan are very poor and lack many resources so they end up relying on their values and beliefs for happiness. In the sentence “I prefer to live in retirement than to busy myself with politics. Whoever opts for a quiet life is free to forget the snarling calamities of rivals. I may no longer have the minister’s special pen case, I may have torn up all my papers, but at least I no longer have to put up with bad mouthing from my critics.” This shows that the people would rather be happy and have no power than to be sad and have all the power.

The part of the text which says “Have you heard the story of the lynx? It was asked why it chose to serve in the court of the lion and replied that at court it could live safely protected from its enemies and well fed with the leftover of the king’s meals. The lynx was also asked why it did not, like other courtiers, maneuver to get itself into the innermost circle of the lion’s most trusted companions. Whereupon it said: ‘I can not be safe from the king’s anger if I am too close to him.” This shows that the people are the kind who are very attached to animals because some tribes would have written this with real people but they decided to write it with animals. This also show that the people are very connected to nature and there surroundings (Afghanistan is a Deserted area with a beautiful landscape.)

The story always refers to the boss as a ruler, which shows that the “boss or ruler” isn’t a dictator but more of part of a Monarchy. In the past before Afghanistan was taken over by the Taliban and before Hamid Karzai rose to “power” a monarchy was what took care of what was Afghanistan. This is what I was able to make out from the wisdom story, Don’t be Taken in by the Rat Race.

Buzkashi: 

 History of the sport activity:

           Long long time ago Buzkashi was played by the leader and by the soldiers. The military would play this game when they actually win a war and is willing to have a party. Since they couldn’t think of a ball that time they would use a goat’s head or a calf’s head. They would use the goat head to play the game and the body the meat will go to the leader of the military. They would always love to play this game because it means that they have won the war or something good had happen to them

 Factors making the sport or activity relevant to the country:

          Basically this is not only an Afghani sport this is basically a central Asia sport. This influenced Afghanistan because it was also played long time ago and second Afghanistan is located in central Asia. This sport is still continuing because so many people in Afghanistan until now are enjoying this sport so much and it carries the history of Afghanistan.

Social factors to the country :

           There are of course some professional teams in Afghanistan.  But it is possible for some ordinary men to play this game they would just need a horse and a goat head. A lot of farmers play this in Afghanistan such as they would ride their donkey and will kill one of their goats and play it with their neighbor. Or they mostly play this game when there are like big festivals in Afghanistan.

Any other information:

          Some other countries are now willing to change some things from this game such as changing it to a ball than a goat’s head. But most of the Afghan’s disagree with it because they want to keep it very cultural and also they don’t want ruin their great history. Now a days some countries are strongly against it because they would also call it a violence against innocent animals. But Afghans fight back by what about the bullfight that happens in Spain? So the people can’t really change that rule.

Kite Flying:

History of the sport activity:

          Kite flying, or as they say in Afghanistan, Gudiparan Bazi, used to be the hobby of many Afghans. In Afghanistan kite flying was so widely appreciated that it became a form of a sport. For Afghans kite became “a matter of honor.” Kites range in size from what is known as a small 10-12 inches in diameter to a large kite that would be human size or larger. Afghan Kites are made using paper or any thin light fabric some bamboo sticks and some string or metal wire. It is believed that the most important part of the kite is the wire that connects the kite and the leader (the one flying the kite). Different types of wires were used to create a good quality wire, some of which include hasht lumber, panjsad war, da lumber, and chel lumbar. When the Taliban took over Afghanistan Kite Flying was banned but luckily the Taliban was thrown out of power and kite flying was once again allowed

Factors making the sport or activity relevant to the country:

          Many people in Afghanistan used to fly kites. In Afghanistan Kite Flying was a form of sport and competition. Being the kite Flyer champion meant great honor and pride. Sadly when the Taliban took power they decided that Flying Kites was inadequate and that the people should no longer be allowed to fly there kites.

Any other information:

          The film and book Kite runner uses Kite Flying as a fly to show the way people used to live and that through kite’s people felt freedom and pleasure.

File:5-articles.doc      Page: 5-articles.doc 

When I was researching about Afghanistan’s president I saw an eye catching article and then I looked it up. This article gives clear information about what is going on with Afghanistan president and also it shows how it’s giving the country a problem. Basically this article is about United Kingdom worried about the president’s word in Afghanistan. Afghanistan president had said that the United Kingdom soldiers are making the situation worse in Afghanistan. I’m not sure about who the author is because when I opened up the article there was no author’s name written. I’m sure that the author is a professional journalist and also he is a guy who works for BBC. These journalist target audiences are the business man, the ambassador around the world and the government. He had targeted these kinds of audiences because he knows this is a serious problem and we need some organization or a governments help. Because if an ordinary teenager reads it we all know that they are going to feel bad for them and then go have their dinner. I had a quote which convinced me that this article is objective.

 It said it was “disappointed” by Mr Karzai’s comments last month that British military operations had made the situation in Afghanistan worse. A government spokesman said the UK fully supported the Afghan government. It was committed to helping bring peace and stability to the country, he said.  

We fully support the Afghan government and continue to work with it. But it criticised US aid efforts for not directing money through the Afghan government, saying it was “preventing the Afghans having ownership of the reconstruction of their country”.

As you can see these quotes make me think that this article. Such as when the Journalist says “We fully support the Afghan government and continue to work with it.” That part of the article is actually supporting the president of Afghanistan. But in the other part “It said it was disappointed by Mr. Karzai……” Now this part tells us that these people are not supporting the president of Afghanistan. And that makes this article objective. One thing really sad about this article is because this is happening now which means that Afghanistan will have a hard time to improve their country. This article was last dated on Thursday Feb 14 2008, 1:41 GMT. Everyone in the world hopes that this problem will be better soon. 

The article that I have chosen to analyze is from BBC and is called Afghanistan’s neglected drought. The article was written by a man named Gordon Farquhar. Gordon Farquhar worked as a news journalist for BBC. He is from outside the country of Afghanistan. This affects the article because if someone from Afghanistan wrote the article, they would make it sound a lot more negative. They would try to persuade you to do something about it and not just inform you. I think that the article was intended to be read by educated adults around the age of 30, and young educated students who are interested in current events. I think that the text was written to inform the audience and let them know what is happening in Afghanistan. It was written to show others what people in Afghanistan have to go through every day. I think that the writer is trying to be objective because he doesn’t talk about his opinion and he gives a lot of facts. I think that the writer has some strong feelings but not too much because he does not talk about the way he feels, he uses others to make his writing seem more emotional. In the article Gordon puts a comment by a farmer which days: “People in Afghanistan are only thinking about what they can find to eat, not about fighting.” The article was written on Wednesday, 22 November 2006. I think that there really is no difference that the date was written recently because the article was written while he event was happening and it was not a man made event. 

The name of the article that I chose is “Food Shortages Cause Grass Eating, Displacement”. The format of this piece is News article because it speaks about the news in places in Afghanistan. The name of the writer of this article is not given but the article was distributed through a business called Irwin News. The position of the writer is most likely a news journalist. The author implies that they are from the inside from the country in the text that is shown in the article because there are many instances where the pronouns “we and “us” are used. This makes the writer able to have more knowledge of what they are talking about through first hand experiences, therefore a better, more accurate article. The people that the article is intended for are for people that are looking for learning about the current affairs in Afghanistan. This article is also intended for the readers that are simply interested in Afghanistan. This article was probably written to inform the readers about what’s going on with the people in Afghanistan. It was probably also written to show the intensity of the drought that had just happened in the homes that the people live in. Based on the article, “Food Shortages Cause Grass Eating, Displacement”, I can say that the author is trying to be objective towards the people that are starving in Afghanistan because the author uses quotes from the famished people and explains their dilemma in great detail. It probably saddens the author to know about the great number of people starving and being forced to eat Alfalfa, a grass that the local cattle eat that could lead to malnutrition. With having that said, the author also seems to be bias towards the starving people because the author has quoted statements that suggest that “There are staggering: 60,000 children in Afghanistan are addicted to drugs, and another 100,000 are disabled and other wise severely affected physically due to prolonged conflicts in the country.” I think the author has a strong opinion about the people in need because it is stated that “Our children will die if we do not receive enough assistance”. This article was written on the tenth of March this year.

Analyzing an informational text about a countryThe information text I chose to analyze “Afghan president survives assasination bid” is a news article published in the onlinenews site msnbc. Declan Walsh who is a reporter/journalist from outside the country wrote this. He is telling the whole world that president Karzai was able to escape the assasination bid.The audience is probably the whole world or anyone who checks the news everyday for current events. The purpose of this article was to let people know that there was an attack in Afghanistan and who got attacked and didn’t survive. I feel that there is only one positive part about the article that is President Karzai was able to survive and the negative part about it is there was a young 10-year old boy who died in the attack.Walsh is trying to be objective because there are two sides of the issue that are stated. He has some strong emotions such as this quote “It was coming to the end of the 21-gun salute. I saw an explosion and a puff of dust to the left of the parade and then heard the cracle of small arms fire from all directions. After some hesitation, my bodyguard frog-marched me away”This article was written in April 2008. So it talks about whats currently happenning. The publication date is important because it lets us know that the country had war for many years.

Kamikaze strikes again, as a suicide blast kills 18 officials and civilians, and injured 15 others. ”I know that 18 people have been killed, but do not know whether the bomber was a man or woman or was wearing burqa or not,” said Juman Khan, a police officer from Del Aram.    For More Information Click Here