"The Last Voice of a Dying Tongue"

The fact that the author is a linguist and has years of experience and knowledge entices the reader, let alone an attention-grabbing title “Where Have All the languages Gone?”As the author mentioned that he himself has worked to “save” extinct languages from vanishing encourages the reader to further find out and research more about the issue tackled. Using metaphors was amongst the many techniques in which the author used to engage a reader. For example: “the last voice of a dying tongue”, language murder...language suicide” and “when languages lose their speakers, they die.” In the previous example depicted from the text, the author clearly compared language to a human and perhaps personified language. Moreover, comparing the end of languages to endangered animals that ought to reach extinction gives the reader a clear idea of how important this issue is.
The author wrote in an objective manner, as he provided facts and statistics. He uses plenty of statistics enough to support his argument. Statistics are facts that provide evidence and support, and are an important aspect that give the reader assurance and the validity of the article. Further, the statistics used grabs the attention of the reader as they aim to fascinate the reader. For example, “of an estimated 300 languages spoken in the area of the present-day US when Columbus arrived in 1492, only 175 are spoken today.” The previous statistic depicted from the text shows the aim of the author which is to influence the reader by providing interesting facts.

A Strong Connection

How culture is connected to language and how one is dependent on the other?

The strongest aspect that defines one’s culture is his/her language. There are, with no doubt, other prominent aspects that also define culture but have nominal effect on culture compared to language. Culture is a broad category and language goes under that category and stands as a vital aspect of it. The language one speaks defines who he/she is in a society. As well, it shapes other peoples’ perspective towards that person. For instance, if a teenager of Kuwaiti descent is seen by elders, of Kuwaiti descent as well, speak in a language other than Arabic; they will immediately think that this teenager certainly has strong western influences and think of him/her as a bad image to pure Kuwaiti culture. It is extremely important in my point view for one to be proud of his/her culture and language. Nonetheless, language evolves and adds on “modern” phrases and slang that accommodate the new generation as this certain culture modernizes. Another case wherein the connection between culture and language kicks in is when an outsider is looked down on by the natives due to the fact that this person does not speak the language of this certain culture. Therefore, these examples clearly show that culture may not subsist without the existence of language and vice versa. In other words one cannot exist without the other due to the strong connection shared and the dependency built on one another.

With New Goals come Bigger Responsibilities!

It is easy to set goals for yourself but the hard part kicks in when it comes to achieving them. Every time I succeed in achieving a goal I gain confidence and hope. And whenever I try to achieve a goal but I fail to, I often lose hope yet I always keep in mind that everything is achievable if I try and try. Failure to me has profound meaning. Never have I felt ashamed of failing to achieve a goal, well not anymore at least. I learned that if I have failed to accomplish a goal I wouldn’t lose anything major, maybe a little bit of hope, but most importantly I will end up gaining the knowledge of what I have done wrong. Simply put, I get to learn from my mistakes.

Each year is not like the other, responsibilities grow as we opt to set new goals for ourselves. This year, hopefully, will conclude my life in high school and before I embark on my college life I would like to accomplish many things. I chose to make education my number one priority even if it will cause me to lose my social life. My number one goal for this year is to get accepted to one of my top 10 universities. This is crucially important to me as I wish that all the hard work that I have given throughout my high school years will pay off at the end when I get accepted to a prestigious university. My other important goal that I wish to achieve over the course of this year is to acquire a healthy body. I will achieve that by adjusting my diet completely from junk foods to healthy foods and continue doing my daily exercise routine. My health is of high priority to me, as well. By the end of this year I hope I can feel and look healthy for once in my life!

Another goal that I have set for myself for this year, probably onwards, is to learn to play the piano and also continue pursuing my hobbies that I have pursued but unfortunately gave myself a break due to work overload. I will give myself some time to learn new stuff and pursue my hobbies by managing my time correctly. Now that I have experienced work overload with school, I can manage my time and try to fit other activities that I can learn and pursue.
Last but definitely not least I would very much like to improve my relationship with distant friends and extended family members. I haven’t been in contact with any of my old friends or extended family members for over a year now! I've been too busy with “school” and other issues and so that made them distant. Starting from this year I will call them every once in a while or pay them a visit at least.

Reading over my list of goals, I realized that other than my number one goal I am able to achieve each and every goal in the long run, without a doubt!

"Muse" muse upon 1984 in The Resistance

It is quite obvious that their new song, The Resistance, is an allusion to the book 1984 by George Orwell. Reading the first verse automatically made me acknowledge the song’s reference to 1984 and where we stand today, as well. “Is your secret safe tonight? And are we ought of sight? Or will our world come tumbling down?” This clearly implies to Julia's  and Winston’s “secret”, their love affair, and the constant fear they’ve been facing from the thought police in order to hide such deadly secret. From where I stand I am able to vision people whom are actually living in constant fear merely because they are keeping a secret, of similar matter to Julia's and Winston’s, from the authorities. The following verse foreshadows the upcoming events that occur in book 3, “will they find our hiding place? Is this our last embrace?”, and the hiding place refers to the apartment above Mr. Charrington’s store in which they use it as their place of escape thinking that its far from the Party’s eyes.

The following two verses signify the Party’s physiological manipulation and perhaps the idea of “doublethink”. The repetition of the line “It could be wrong, could be wrong” conveys doubt and uncertainties about Winston's and Julia’s love and whether they should split apart and adhere to the Party’s principles or resist and endure alongside the love their posses for each other. Due to the Party’s physiological manipulation individuals whom are able to think independently get distracted by thoughts that belong to the principles in which they are forced to abide by and thus they encounter the concept of “doublethink”.

The verse that starts with “love is our resistance” tells the story of Winston's and Julia’s willingness to stay together and go up against The Party in order to uphold the love they possess for one another. Further, the verse “quell your prayers for love and peace you’ll wake the “thought police” we can hide the truth inside” clearly alludes to 1984. It alludes to the constantly worries Winston is having about waking the Thought Police (obvious reference) and he hopes that they can continue their affair without showing outward emotion in public.

The last two verses explain the part of the story when Winston gets fed up from being under constant surveillance and begin perpetuating his path of resisting, “the night has reached its end we can’t pretend…it’s time to run”. Living in an oppressed society leads one to the point of being fed up with the authorities rule and hence resistance.

Is War a link to Peace?

Do all peace signs and peace movements resemble war; are we not aware that fighting in war is a fight for peace? There are numerous questions that come to mind when one thinks of the passage, extracted from the book 1984 by George Orwell, “War is peace”. This passage triggers uncertainties regarding the idea that peace is not able to subsist in our world. If war, the thing that most people dread, is a link to peace then aren’t we living in a world bombarded with peace? If the higher authorities think that brainwashing the public into telling them that “war is peace” then they are most certainly concealing their strategies away from the masses. Obviously, a government akin to the one in 1984 mainly focuses on keeping their people appointed towards a certain aggressor, far from themselves, to annihilate the idea of rebellion and keep it far from one’s ability to think about. War usually injects hatred in one’s mind towards the aggressor, and the hatred obtained stands as a fundamental element that keeps masses not only incapable of rebellion but also unified. Moreover, this passage is marked by physiological manipulation as the masses are being subjected to the idea that war is something for their own benefit while being coerced subliminally to believe in this ideology. However, in reality war is something for the Party’s own benefit in order to maintain stability and the so-called “peace” in their society. Evidently, Orwell is conveying the message that humans have a diabolical instinct wherein they tend to prioritize their wants before others, thinking of only the benefits THEY will gain yet not taking into consideration the aftermath even if the outcome is a total catastrophe for the majority but themselves. Simply put greed has stained the human flesh!

Catastrophic Disparities

Chile Vs. Haiti

I know that Chile is a much bigger quake than Haiti but according to the media, Haiti wins the attention! They’re pointing our attention to a much less severe earthquake. The picture illustrates the media’s perception that is reflected upon the majority of the world. However, reality states a rather different view; the Chile quake was actually much more severe than the one that occurred in Haiti. But somehow all our attention is pointed towards Haiti and the aftermath that the earthquake brought along. Currently a very few people are concerned with the death toll and the aftermath disasters that the 8.8 earthquake brought along to Chile. In fact people are more concerned about the earthquake’s aftermath regarding the shift of the earth’s axis or whatever.  Media, media, media you attention-grabbing slithery sly poisonous snake, with the poison you inject you’ve got the whole publics’ attention, don't you?

From Paris with a Bias

Please note that the following entry contains spoilers.
I am quite sure that a several of you guys have watched the movie From Paris with Love. I personally liked the movie and John Travolta was hilarious; I was cracking up the whole time. However, it conveyed a major misconception that people outside of the Middle East would view it as reality.

Basically the movie revolves around a team of two American operatives for the CIA, working in Paris. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays the role of James Reece, a personal aide to the American Ambassador of Paris and an under-cover operative for the CIA. He had an ideal life in the city of romance with his French girlfriend up until he discovered the horrid truth. John Travolta plays the role of Charlie Wax, a special agent with a humorous, daring, and an upfront persona. Wax has been sent to Paris to partner up with James to stop a terrorist attack. During their quest to “stop all evil” and bring in peace, James confront a bunch of complications and emotional hindrance associated with his love life. He discovers that his French girlfriend is a Muslim terrorist and she was using him to arrange terrorist attacks. This was very devastating for him to bear. Wax seemed to have no emotions toward James’s emotional distress as evident in the following quote said by Wax “that happened to me once in Cairo and twice in Beirut”. In the preceding quote Wax was referring to the fact that among the Arab women he gave his heart to, in those two Middle Eastern cities, he eventually discovered their true identity, "undercover terrorists". They mentioned the name of those two Middle Eastern cities, in the preceding quote, with the aim of presenting the audience with the misconception that only Muslim women and/or women from the Middle East are terrorists.

I find that the interrogation of suicide bombers conveyed a major misunderstanding of Islam as well. The following is a quote said by a Muslim suicide bomber during her interrogation “I want to do this because my faith [Islam] requires me to do it”. So if I were an outsider that had no idea about Islam, besides the misconceptions the media present us with, I would digest this quote in a different manner unlike a person who is well-informed of Islam. Showing that a committed Muslim must become a suicide bomber was just bogus.

Another thing I found attention-grabbing was the various locations around Paris the movie covered. It showed both the beautiful, peaceful and romantic side of Paris and the “Parisian underworld” that most of us never saw in movies. I have been in Paris a couple of times and I never thought it had this whole criminal world. It was a new angle of Paris, for a certain audience. We, the audience, always saw Paris as the epitome of an idealistic place, whether it was in movies or novels it was all the same Paris we were used to.

The movie in general was pleasant to watch and it wasn’t the typical action/romantic movie. The ending was very much unexpected. For those of you who haven’t watched the movie I recommend you to watch.

Gossip Girl settles in Kuwait!!

For those of you whom haven't heard about “Gossip Girl Kuwait” it is basically a Facebook group created by a high school girl that appears to be anonymous. It was revealed that she wrote under the name of a fake Facebook account that inevitably got hacked, hoping that they might unveil her true identity to stop the gossip from leaking to the public. She writes about the latest gossip that has been going on in high schools around Kuwait. Posting the latest gossip in the form of a list, she would include the person’s full name, their school and a comment about this particular person. The comments she includes are basically “the gossip” and they’re marked by absolute harshness and cruelty. “The gossip” is not only severe but it’s also a bunch of made-up scandals; it’s extremely offensive and insulting to the victims of those rumors. I find it completely foolish and immature to spread ruthless scandals to the public that are all untrue. The scandals spread widely all over Kuwait that even though I had no Facebook account I still received “the gossip” she posted on her group as a broadcast in my Blackberry. It’s really obvious that this girl is an avid fan of the hit TV series Gossip Girl. Is it not fascinating how a TV series led this girl to start her own replica of a gossip blog, yet in her case it’s a Facebook group! While she chuckles on her own, thinking that the peoples’ grudge will not get her, she is actually destroying the reputation of many. How big of an impact did a single TV series have on, literally, the majority of Kuwait’s adolescents? Quite big is what I have to say! Link

The Smartest Kid Alive is Egyptian!!

It was such a shock for me to know that an 11 year young boy has an IQ of 155, let alone being from the Middle East. This 11 year young boy is the smartest kid alive, according to the AlJareeda newspaper. His name is Mahmud Wael and he is from Egypt. His intelligence was first discovered by his father, when he was at the age of 3. It all began when once Mahmud’s older sister was studying the times table with her father while he was seated next to them minding his own business. And at the moment when his father asked his sister a multiplication question, he instantaneously shouted out the answer, before she even uttered a word. The words he uttered literally staggered his father, I mean who wouldn’t be surprised to hear his own 3 year old child solve a multiplication question and it’s not even addition! As soon as his intelligence was discovered by his parents their attention was all pointed towards him. At the age of 5, he was invited by a well-known Egyptian anchor’s, Mufeed Fawzi, show called “Hadeeth Al Madina” and this was his first appearance on national TV. Upon his first appearance on TV, his fame gushed all over the Arab world. I was researching the name of this kid on the internet and I found several articles and posts about him, all of which are Arab based blogs or websites. It gave me doubt on whether this kid is “the smartest kid alive” because I found no single non-Arab source that validates this information. It is either that the media in the outside world doesn’t want to admit that the smartest kid alive is an Arab or that the media in the Arab world over-exaggerate the matter of this kid’s intelligence. It is evident that there's certainly clashed information on who could be the youngest genius alive.

Obama enjoys "The Fame"!!

I was watching The Insider the other day and one of their main headlines was "Obama on the Late Night Show with David Letterman".It wasn’t shocking news for me. Yet I find it quite interesting that he marks history as the first President of the United States to appear on a late night talk show. President Obama was condemned by many people and on several tabloid television programs. Criticism included that “he is not fit for president” and that “he is busy working on his celebrity life and fame rather than fixing the problems conjoined with the country”. I personally believe that because the late night talk shows are the most viewed shows across America, Obama intended to make an appearance on one of the late night talk shows to advocate and deliver his message “America is undergoing a positive reform”. I had a feeling that Obama is trying to introduce a new vista on presidency. We, the public, have always had this view that all presidents must be strict and rigid. I guess it's up to the public whether to accept Obama’s appearance on the Late Night Show with David Letterman or not, but I find no need to over-react. It’s obvious that Obama is very much relying on modern technologies to give out a speech to the public. I find no problem associated with his reliance on modern technologies; he is just trying to “fit in” and adapt to the whole “21st century virtual world”. Why make a big fuss out of it?

"He is not an Arab. He is a decent man!"

During the 2008 presidential elections, Senator John McCain campaigned in several states. In Lakeville specifically, he encountered a prejudice remark on his competitor President Barrack Obama. An old woman asked McCain whether Obama is an Arab or not? And his response showed idiocy and irrelevance. He responded to her saying the following "No mam, he is a decent family man." I honestly don't get what he was trying to state. And if I did get his statement I would say that he meant "all Arabs are immoral, irresponsible, and inappropriate people". It's a shame that those words came out from a man who ran for presidency. It was so unprofessional of him to respond in words that are considered quite offensive to a certain race. While watching the video on YouTube I found a video response, to the McCain campaign in Lakeville, by Ben Affleck. Every single word he spoke was absolutely true. At first he clarified that McCain's response to the woman was senseless, and he quoted  that "an Arab and a good guy are not antithetical to one another". He seemed to be certainly aware of the negative influence the media have on the public and their alteration of news. As he said "I know in the media they don't show that "referring to the fact that the media always tries to conceal a big chunk of the news or story so they could appoint the aggressor or "the bad guy[s]". I recommend you people to watch both videos and I have included both links below. Link 1/Link 2

2012? Doomsday?

Last week my friends were talking about the movie "2012" and the speculations that came along with it. During their conversation I felt kind of alienated since I was the only one that hasn't watched it. I honestly thought that the movie was horrible, before even watching it, and that it is basically a "wannabe" of the movie "The Day After Tomorrow". On top of that, I just felt that the speculations and predictions regarding the year 2012 are just bogus. But when my friends forced me to watch it, I had no other choice but to give a try. My first impression on the movie was that I should never judge a book by its cover. The movie was amazing and the visual effects they used for the movie were astounding from how real it looked. On the negative side, the movie made me ponder the idea of 2012 being the end of the world. As soon as I arrived home that day I logged onto my computer and researched the 2012 predictions. I was so eager to go in depth with this topic. Almost all the websites that were listed in the search engine supported and approved of the 2012 prediction, which was evident from the Mayan calendar. Upon my research I stumbled upon a very interesting website, I included the link below, which disproves the 2012 prediction with reasonable evidence that is supported by NASA. They also stated that "teenagers who don’t want to see the end of the world so they [decided] to end their lives "and that's just insane. I'm surprised how the ancient calendar created such a huge "buzz". Link