Tariq Batto: Modern Technology

During the last century, the technology was sophisticated through which the human being travelled to the Moon. Many approaches were pursued by researchers to achieve their goals. The two main pole countries (U.S.A and the previous U.S.S.R.) performed a lot of researches. In addition, gadgets, such as computers, cell-phone, vehicles for transportation, and other devices, are blessing, but some times they are curses. Modern technology prompts people to explore the world well, and it brings people together easily.

Modern technology has helped us to explore the world and other galaxies have taken place during the last five decades. For example, exploring the space and other planets by sending unmanned or manned space-craft or spaceships to identify the atmosphere or to be landed on the surface of planets. For instance the U.S. has a project to explore Mars. In 1960’s, the U.S.S.R sent a manned spaceship landed on the surface of the Moon and came back home safely. Other new technology was the invention of apparatuses and equipments to be used for predicting the weather which are very important to obtain information which are essential for the air and sea navigations, on the other hand, such apparatuses are also of value to predict disasters such as hurricanes, volcanoes. The sophisticated technology leads to the invention of atomic energy, which is very useful in many aspects, for instance, the production of electricity, for medical purposes in investigations and diagnosis diseases, or the treatment of certain cases such as cancer. All these uses of atomic energy are for peaceful applications.

Modern technology is also a blessing tool to bring people together, for example, people can communicate easily between them when they use the modern gadgets such as cell-phone, computers. Cell-phone is valuable, firstly, people speak between them all over the world; besides, mobiles could be used from any place not like the ordinary telephone. Secondly, the cell-phone is sort of entertainment ones can amuse himself. Thirdly, cell-phone could be used as a mini computer. Through the internet by using computers, people are chatting together instead of using the telephone. Moreover internet nowadays is very essential in out life, because people can contact the world to follow the researches and the progression in any field. The invention and manufacturing of planes, trains, cars, enabled people to be closer. These inventions were very developed during the he last hundred years. Air planes transport people form on continent to another during a numerous hours, while people before spent months in ships to reach their destinations. Trains and cars nowadays are the most vehicles used to transport people inside or outside the cities. People use trains and buses to reach their work places especially in large cities, others employ their cars to travel on vacations to spend an interesting period of time with their families. Finally, new technology evokes people to investigate the earth and other galaxies by inventing many inventions which allowed them to reach their successes, and also to facilitate people’s transportation to be closer than before.

Inventions from the first ancient human being till now were always in progress especially during the last century. Modern technology helped people to discover other planets in addition to our earth. In future, we will use a lot of new technologies to understand and explore the space. Modern technology could be blessing or curse. In my opinion it’s a mixed blessing, especially if it is used in a proper way for the humanity.

Tariq Batto: The Kite Runner

Tariq Batto – The Kite Runner.

The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini (San Francisco, Riverhead, 2003) is said to be the first novel written in English by an afghan writer. The story talks about the situation in Afghanistan from the late 1970’s to 1981, during the Soviet Union, the afghan community in Fremont, San Francisco, and finally the events, in Afghanistan during the Taliban regime. The writer describes the tragedy, sufferance in Afghanistan, and ethnic differentiation between the afghan people during the last decades. The character of Hassan reveals the pain and suffering of the Afghanistan citizens.

The Kit Runner is a novel of strained family relationships between a son and Baba, his father, and between two brothers Amir and Hassan (Hassan was illegitimate half brother from his mother Sanabur and Baba). How they deal with guilt, forgiveness, and redemption. Amir is the main character in the story, Hassan was his friend / servant, a Hazaras living together in the same house. Baba was a successful businessman, well known as an anti-communist. On the other hand, Amir was very jealous of Hassan, because Baba admired Hassan more. Rahim Khan, Baba’s business partner he was real friend to Baba and Amir. Kite Running, in which children attempt to cut down each others kite strings. Amir won the local tournaments, Hassan shouted: “for you a thousand time times over … (86), ran for a mile to retrieve the kite. Assef a Pashtun teenager boy with his two friends attempt to take the kite from Hassan, who refused to give them the kite, finally he was assaulted sexually by Assef. Amir searched for Hassan, and hided when he heard Assef’s voice. He witnessed the rape but he was scared to help him. After words, Hassan and Amir kept a distance from each ither for some time. Amir forced Hassan to leave the house by framing him as a thief, and Hassan falsely confesses. After the Russians invades Afghanistan, Amir and Baba escaped to Pakistan, and then to the USA. Later Baba died from lung cancer, Amir married an Afghan girl Soraya, they couldn’t have children. Amir received a call from Rahim Khan, who is dying from an illness, asking him to come to Pakistan, and told him: “come, there is a way to be good again” … (247). He also told Amir that Hassan and his wife were killed by Taliban, and their son Sohrab was put in am orphanage in Kabul. Lastly Rahim Khan told Amir that he called him to Pakistan for going to Kabul to recuperate Sohrab, and put him in a save orphanage in Pakistan. Finally, Amir went to Kabul and brought Sohrab with him to the USA. At the end of the novel, Amire flew the kite again with Sohrab, saying to Sorhab the same phrase Hassan said to Amir in the Past: “for you a thousand times over” … (476).

The Kite Runner illustrates the ethnic discrimination in Afghanistan, between Hazaras and Pashtun. The former are not educated, their children didn’t go to school; as a good example Hassan who was illitrae. While the Latter ,os of them were weel informed either by sending their children to the Mulla, or to schools as Amir when his father sent him to the Mulla, before going to school. Also there is a difference between the social status, for instance, the Hazaras were poor, the Pashtuns people called Hazaras mice-eating, flat-nosed, load carrying donkeys, and Amir heard some kids in his neighborhood those names to Hassan. From Hazaras history, the Hassan people tried to rise against the Pashtuns in the nineteenth century, but the Pashtuns quelled them with extreme violence, many people were killed or driven from their lands, burned their homes, and sold their women. Further more, the Pashtuns were the majority and were Sunni Muslims, where as the Hasara were uneducated, most of their jobs were as servants or farmers serving the Pashtun people.

The Afghan people felt pain and distress during the last decades. In July 1973, a military coup took place to dismiss the King Zahir Shah who was on vacation. It was still a frightening time for the people of Kabul who always heard about the violent public disorders, and shooting in the streets. For six years, Mohammad Daovud Khan was the president and prime minister of Afghanistan. Then on April, 1978, he was violently over thorn by the people’s democratic party of Afghanistan, which was a communist party and held close relationship with the Soviet Union. In this coup Mohammad Daoud Khan was killed with his family, the country was governed by this party, which started to change many political and social laws in Afghanistan, including abolishing religious and traditional customs. These changes incensed many of afghan who believed and adhered to the traditional and religious laws. The Mujahedins (men engaged in war in the side of Islam) challenged the government to ask the help of the Soviet Union which occupied later Afghanistan in 1979. The occupation lasted a decade, during which the Afghan people suffered vigorously from the Russian Army. For example, Baba faced an event during his escaping with Amir from Kabul to Pakistan at the boarders. He lost his temper with a Russian solder when the solder asked a women traveling in the same truck, to take off her shawl. This behavior is not accepted among the Afghan people, and it is a shame and against the Islamic culture. After the withdrawal of Soviet Union troops form Taliban (Islamic mujahedins) converted Afghanistan into extreme Islamic state. They applied the Islamic rules on the people with exaggeration. Their cruel behaviors were against the real Islam. Hassan and his wife were victims of Taliban officials when Hassan refused to quit the house of Baba, where he lived with Rahim Khan. Taliban, being Sunni massacred Shiites including the Hazara people. They enacted laws of which those banning music and dance, restricting women’s rights. The most tragic plays were the frequent execution in Ghazi Stadium Theater. The Taliban used fear and violence to control the people of Afghanistan.

Khalid Hosseini, in this novel wanted to point the suffering of the afghan people during the last thirty years through the character of Hassan, who suffered a lot from his birth day till his murder with his wife in by in the hands of Taliban. If one reads between the lines, he/she can conclude that the novel contains a lot of melancholy moments and one can not ignore the propaganda that was injected between the story, a negative propaganda which sent through a message, to show the rape and violence in Afghanistan, which degrade the Afghan people. This message can propel people into thinking that Afghanistan is a country of wretchedness and filthiness. In my opinion there is a great exaggeration in describing the events in Afghanistan and the discrimination between the Hazaras and Pashtun. The propaganda which was infused in the novel might reveal the pro-American personality of writer to justify the invasion of the US to Afghanistan in September 2002.

Peggy Chen: Communication

Why do women always complain that men don’t talk or listen to them? Why do men always complain that they’re puzzled about women’s talking? There is not only a difference of appearance between a man and a woman, but there is also a difference in communication rituals between them. Making talk between women and men is just like cross-cultural communication says D.Tannen. Women regard communication as the cornerstone of relationship; they care about the sense of closeness “of a like shared”. However, men don’t treat communication as the cement that binds a relationship, they think that relationship is based more on doing things together. According to Deborah Tannen, these communication woes that resulte in communication between men and women are different in many ways, such as interpretation and response, listening to body language.

The communication between men and women are different in the way of interpretation and response. Men and women can walk away from the same conversation with totally different interpretation because women literalize the subject differently from men. For example, Susan felt dreadful that she had put on some weight after the vacation; Brain tried to cheer her up by saying, “It is good because you will not feel cold anymore during the winter time, and you can always have the leather clothes on.” She was freaked out. She just wanted him to tell her that she didn’t look fat. For women, they usually take a tease too literally. They don’t have enough sense of humor sometimes, and they are always too sensitive about teasing. In contrast, men feel that flint teasing is a way they show affection. They would not talk that way to someone they didn’t feel close to. In addition, men and women are also confused by “trouble talk”. For women, talking about troubles is simply trying to establish a kind of intimacy. They are not looking for man to give them advice or fix their problems; all they wanted were men understanding how they feel and show their empathy. Women feel that a man offers advice as if he is trying to reduce her problem or cut her off. However, men treat “trouble talk” as a request for advice, so they consider give response with a solution as being supportive, because men do not talk to each other about their troubles unless they really want a solution.

The way of listening to body language is also quite different between men and women. The linguist Lynette Hirschmand found that women make more listener noise than men. When women talk to each other, they are used to making listener noise, such as “mhm,” “uhuh,” and “yeah,” to show “I am with you.” They also overlap, repeat each other’s sentences and expect what the other is about to say. On the other hand, men often give silent attention. They feel the listener noise an overreaction and impatience as well as lack of attention. Furthermore, the impression of not listening results from the difference of physical position “eye contact” between men and women. Girls in all ages face each other directly when they talk. The direct gaze cues are a sign of the amount of attention and respect. But for men, the process is different from women. Men tend to sit at angles or parallel and look at anything except each other. The direct gaze signal aggression, and they are likely to stare their opponents down. It feels just like a challenge.

In short, men use “agonistic” format to do almost anything; thus they view a conversation as a kind of competitive sport. In contrast, women see conversation as a ritual means of establishing rapport. However, communication is needed for both genders to be able to understand each other well. Having a deeper awareness of how differently men and women communicate is essential to prevent arguments and misunderstanding. Always think about the way you communicate to others and pay attention to your body language with will help you communicate better.

Ardeshir Nowzari: Communicatio

According to psychologist research, children’s development is most influenced by social structure of peer interaction. Communication between girls and boys takes place differently. Girls build and maintain friendship by exchanging secrets, but boys are interested in doing tasks together instead of verbal interaction. That is why men do not know what kind of talk women want and misunderstand them. While in term of mechanism of conversation there are another opposite trends. For example men prefer to sit in angels to each other and look else while they talking, but women try to face each other and look directly into the eyes of speaker. So in communications between men and women, the female side doesn’t receive the needed feedback from the male side and find herself unimportant.

Another aspect of communication differences between men and women is body language, men usually show a different habit toward their female counterparts. They are often among them men switching the topic toward themselves which offends the women. In other hand boys dismiss problems which reflecting another obstacle for the girls as they are in favor of sharing and finding a common understand of them. women receive lack of attention in term of linguist Lynette as the men do not eager to have a lot of listener-noise, such as “mhm,” “uhuh,” and “yeah” which show being with speaker. Men are more often giving silent attention and get upset to receive a stream of female listener noise. In term of conversational hobbits, women talk to each other in a close, comfortable setting and overlap each other’s speeches, but men expect silent attention and interpret a listener noise as impatience or overreaction.

There are many differences between men and women in their communicational style, but The most important terms of communicational differences are linguistic and body language. The very best way to improve the communication obstacles is helping both sexes to get familiar with each other’s interpretation of a good communication style.

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini (New York: Riverhead books, 2003) is a unique novel written in English as second language of the author. The author’s experience may be one of the most important motives of this story. It is set against a background of events, from communist coup d’état and Russian military occupation to the escape of refugees to Pakistan and America and the Taliban regime. In this story, there are many themes, such as conflicts among family, refracted friendship, love and jealousy, secret and betrayal, guilt and redemption, and even ethnic, religion and sex discriminations. In my opinion, this is a beautiful story because it has lots of good points, even if there are some criticizable weaknesses in the construction of fiction.

The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a well-to-do boy from Kabul, who is troubled by the remorse of betraying Hassan, his devoted childhood friend who is the son of Ali, a servant. On the day of kite fighting, Amir witnesses Hassan be raped but not helps him cowardly. He goes so far as to drive his servants out of house. When the Russians invade Afghanistan, Amir and Baba, his father, escape to Pakistan and then to America. In America, Amir gets married to Soraya, Baba dies of cancer, and Amir becomes a successful writer. After many long years, Rahim Khan, Baba’s business partner and his confidant, asks Amir to go to Pakistan, for "there is a way to be good again."(1) Amir agree to go to Pakistan to redeem his sin, and returns to Taliban-controlled Kabul, rescues Hassan's son, Sohrab, and adopts and takes him back to America. In the vortex of adoption, the Sohrap commits suicide, that’s why he is emotionally hurt and only keeps silence. In the end, Sohrab begins to interact with Amir again through the kite. Amir runs the kite for Sohrab, saying, "For you, a thousand times over,"(417) like Hassan said him.

The Kite Runner, first of all, is a piece of successful work because of some literal merits. In general, an outstanding literary work needs the writer’s power of description. For instance, for me, the expressions such as “The sky is seamless and blue, the snow so white my eyes burn.”(45) sound like a poem. Another characteristic in booming works is the originality or specialty of writing ideas. The author illustrated the particular life of Afghan including the kite tournament, racism to Hazara, and even traditional wedding clothes vividly. I could comparatively improve my comprehension of Afghanistan through this novel. In addition to, a good novel means the pleasure of reading. The writer realistically showed the passing history and actual state of the strange land to me. That is why this novel is worthy of my notice. Before I read this story, I did not know about the tragedy of Afghan and Afghanistan. Fortunately, reading the Kite Runner was a wonderful experience for me.

The Kite Runner, however, has some defects of its qualities in the fictitious construction. These plots are too artificial due to a curious coincidence. For example, as a teenager, Assef, a Nazi sympathizer, rapes Hassan, and as an adult he sexually assaults Sohrab, after he becomes a Talib-executioner. I cannot believe a father and a son, both of them can be violated by one person. Besides, Sohrab severely damages one of Assef's eyes by a slingshot. This action scene is not a real situation like James Bond style movies. Likewise, Sohrab’s suicide also is not a rational scene. Usually, children around that age would not even think of suicide at all. Moreover, the author tends to forcibly tell his story through a logical leap. Especially, it is hard for me to approve the story flow a typical coward can become a brave fighter abruptly. It may be not necessary to configure the plot to reveal suddenly the secret of Hassan’s birth, even though it is to lay writer’s intention to show Baba’s lie and make Amir decide to rescue Hassan’s son. Accordingly, I felt the flows of this story were too common and unprofessional.

The Kite Runner, absolutely, is a remarkable and extraordinary story. That’s why this novel had not only become a New York Times bestseller, but also translated in many languages. In addition, it even adapted into the movie of the same name. In spite of the fame, this story might be a patronizing Afghan-American hero’s epic at the slightest slip. This pro-American book, personally I think, timely justified the America’s attack against Afghanistan under the rule of Taliban. To conclude, this novel will be a great book just as long as we disregard some weak points in the flows and watch carefully the hidden propaganda.

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini (New York: Riverhead books, 2003) is a unique novel written in English as second language of the author. The author’s experience may be one of the most important motives of this story. It is set against a background of events, from communist coup d’état and Russian military occupation to the escape of refugees to Pakistan and America and the Taliban regime. In this story, there are many themes, such as conflicts among family, refracted friendship, love and jealousy, secret and betrayal, guilt and redemption, and even ethnic, religion and sex discriminations. In my opinion, this is a beautiful story because it has lots of good points, even if there are some criticizable weaknesses in the construction of fiction.

The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a well-to-do boy from Kabul, who is troubled by the remorse of betraying Hassan, his devoted childhood friend who is the son of Ali, a servant. On the day of kite fighting, Amir witnesses Hassan be raped but not helps him cowardly. He goes so far as to drive his servants out of house. When the Russians invade Afghanistan, Amir and Baba, his father, escape to Pakistan and then to America. In America, Amir gets married to Soraya, Baba dies of cancer, and Amir becomes a successful writer. After many long years, Rahim Khan, Baba’s business partner and his confidant, asks Amir to go to Pakistan, for "there is a way to be good again."(1) Amir agree to go to Pakistan to redeem his sin, and returns to Taliban-controlled Kabul, rescues Hassan's son, Sohrab, and adopts and takes him back to America. In the vortex of adoption, the Sohrap commits suicide, that’s why he is emotionally hurt and only keeps silence. In the end, Sohrab begins to interact with Amir again through the kite. Amir runs the kite for Sohrab, saying, "For you, a thousand times over,"(417) like Hassan said him.

The Kite Runner, first of all, is a piece of successful work because of some literal merits. In general, an outstanding literary work needs the writer’s power of description. For instance, for me, the expressions such as “The sky is seamless and blue, the snow so white my eyes burn.”(45) sound like a poem. Another characteristic in booming works is the originality or specialty of writing ideas. The author illustrated the particular life of Afghan including the kite tournament, racism to Hazara, and even traditional wedding clothes vividly. I could comparatively improve my comprehension of Afghanistan through this novel. In addition to, a good novel means the pleasure of reading. The writer realistically showed the passing history and actual state of the strange land to me. That is why this novel is worthy of my notice. Before I read this story, I did not know about the tragedy of Afghan and Afghanistan. Fortunately, reading the Kite Runner was a wonderful experience for me.

The Kite Runner, however, has some defects of its qualities in the fictitious construction. These plots are too artificial due to a curious coincidence. For example, as a teenager, Assef, a Nazi sympathizer, rapes Hassan, and as an adult he sexually assaults Sohrab, after he becomes a Talib-executioner. I cannot believe a father and a son, both of them can be violated by one person. Besides, Sohrab severely damages one of Assef's eyes by a slingshot. This action scene is not a real situation like James Bond style movies. Likewise, Sohrab’s suicide also is not a rational scene. Usually, children around that age would not even think of suicide at all. Moreover, the author tends to forcibly tell his story through a logical leap. Especially, it is hard for me to approve the story flow a typical coward can become a brave fighter abruptly. It may be not necessary to configure the plot to reveal suddenly the secret of Hassan’s birth, even though it is to lay writer’s intention to show Baba’s lie and make Amir decide to rescue Hassan’s son. Accordingly, I felt the flows of this story were too common and unprofessional.

The Kite Runner, absolutely, is a remarkable and extraordinary story. That’s why this novel had not only become a New York Times bestseller, but also translated in many languages. In addition, it even adapted into the movie of the same name. In spite of the fame, this story might be a patronizing Afghan-American hero’s epic at the slightest slip. This pro-American book, personally I think, timely justified the America’s attack against Afghanistan under the rule of Taliban. To conclude, this novel will be a great book just as long as we disregard some weak points in the flows and watch carefully the hidden propaganda.

Hoo S. Pai: Kite Runner

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini (New York: Riverhead books, 2003) is a unique novel written in English as second language of the author. The author’s experience may be one of the most important motives of this story. It is set against a background of events, from communist coup d’état and Russian military occupation to the escape of refugees to Pakistan and America and the Taliban regime. In this story, there are many themes, such as conflicts among family, refracted friendship, love and jealousy, secret and betrayal, guilt and redemption, and even ethnic, religion and sex discriminations. In my opinion, this is a beautiful story because it has lots of good points, even if there are some criticizable weaknesses in the construction of fiction.

The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a well-to-do boy from Kabul, who is troubled by the remorse of betraying Hassan, his devoted childhood friend who is the son of Ali, a servant. On the day of kite fighting, Amir witnesses Hassan be raped but not helps him cowardly. He goes so far as to drive his servants out of house. When the Russians invade Afghanistan, Amir and Baba, his father, escape to Pakistan and then to America. In America, Amir gets married to Soraya, Baba dies of cancer, and Amir becomes a successful writer. After many long years, Rahim Khan, Baba’s business partner and his confidant, asks Amir to go to Pakistan, for "there is a way to be good again."(1) Amir agree to go to Pakistan to redeem his sin, and returns to Taliban-controlled Kabul, rescues Hassan's son, Sohrab, and adopts and takes him back to America. In the vortex of adoption, the Sohrap commits suicide, that’s why he is emotionally hurt and only keeps silence. In the end, Sohrab begins to interact with Amir again through the kite. Amir runs the kite for Sohrab, saying, "For you, a thousand times over,"(417) like Hassan said him.

The Kite Runner, first of all, is a piece of successful work because of some literal merits. In general, an outstanding literary work needs the writer’s power of description. For instance, for me, the expressions such as “The sky is seamless and blue, the snow so white my eyes burn.”(45) sound like a poem. Another characteristic in booming works is the originality or specialty of writing ideas. The author illustrated the particular life of Afghan including the kite tournament, racism to Hazara, and even traditional wedding clothes vividly. I could comparatively improve my comprehension of Afghanistan through this novel. In addition to, a good novel means the pleasure of reading. The writer realistically showed the passing history and actual state of the strange land to me. That is why this novel is worthy of my notice. Before I read this story, I did not know about the tragedy of Afghan and Afghanistan. Fortunately, reading the Kite Runner was a wonderful experience for me.

The Kite Runner, however, has some defects of its qualities in the fictitious construction. These plots are too artificial due to a curious coincidence. For example, as a teenager, Assef, a Nazi sympathizer, rapes Hassan, and as an adult he sexually assaults Sohrab, after he becomes a Talib-executioner. I cannot believe a father and a son, both of them can be violated by one person. Besides, Sohrab severely damages one of Assef's eyes by a slingshot. This action scene is not a real situation like James Bond style movies. Likewise, Sohrab’s suicide also is not a rational scene. Usually, children around that age would not even think of suicide at all. Moreover, the author tends to forcibly tell his story through a logical leap. Especially, it is hard for me to approve the story flow a typical coward can become a brave fighter abruptly. It may be not necessary to configure the plot to reveal suddenly the secret of Hassan’s birth, even though it is to lay writer’s intention to show Baba’s lie and make Amir decide to rescue Hassan’s son. Accordingly, I felt the flows of this story were too common and unprofessional.

The Kite Runner, absolutely, is a remarkable and extraordinary story. That’s why this novel had not only become a New York Times bestseller, but also translated in many languages. In addition, it even adapted into the movie of the same name. In spite of the fame, this story might be a patronizing Afghan-American hero’s epic at the slightest slip. This pro-American book, personally I think, timely justified the America’s attack against Afghanistan under the rule of Taliban. To conclude, this novel will be a great book just as long as we disregard some weak points in the flows and watch carefully the hidden propaganda.