Blogorama

3. Recently, the issue of a writer’s voice was brought to my attention so I decided to read other blogs in an attempt to discern a writer’s voice through his/her text. Here is my voice critique of a blog titled, "Life must go on in Gaza and Sderot". This blog is written by two friends, Peaceman and Hopeman. Peaceman lives in a refugee camp in Gaza and Hopeman lives in Sderot, a small Israeli town across the border with Gaza. I decided to take a closer look at a post from each writer although Hopeman is more recent as the conflict has kept Peaceman from access to stable communication and therefore does not have as many recent posts. The first post I will talk about is titled "2 weeks and still going".

The first thing that stood out to me as I read the post was the sense of urgency and desperation conveyed by Hopeman. Although the post itself is describing the awful situation on the ground and the events occurring related to the conflict, it is Hopeman's use of short sentences which seemed to convey to me not only a sense of desperation but of panic. They are short staccato sentences almost like someone is out of breath from running miles and cannot get the words out fluidly. It also reminds me of a machine gun firing round after round, rounds which much like these sentences, travel fast and have a critical impact. Here is an excerpt from the post,

"On the Israeli side 1 million people are in the range of the rockets from Gaza. Many people have fled to safer areas in Israel. Most rockets are hitting in open areas, however some have injured civilians and lot's of damage has been caused to homes and buildings. People are in constant fear and alert. The war has created chaos in most of the southern part of Israel. No school or university studies, people are not allowed to crowd which means no weddings and other gatherings are not allowed, many businesses are closed and people have not been to work for 2 weeks".

The text is informative, relaying critical information to its readers with great clarity and little flare. Yet again, I am drawn to relate it to something else such as an urgent military radio transmission wherein there is only time for the most vital of information and all else is withheld. I am inclined to think that Hopeman's voice in this blog is a reflection of the the intense feelings he must have been going through when writing this. The words he uses are simple but describe the situation with great clarity and every sentence seems to carry the weight of truth. Hopeman's voice does seem to calm down a little further in the post as he begins to describe his family's situation. He then picks it back up again with these sentences,

"It feels rather normal however as I type, I can clearly hear the sounds of war. Blasts and planes, shooting and helicopters. A horrible war so close across the border. I am horrified by the number of civilian casualties in Gaza. The civilians are to suffer once again from the brutality and incompetence of their leaders and this time the result is worse than ever".

Here we have more of the short urgent sentences but now we can begin to see the resignation of Hopeman in this matter. For me these sentences convey strong feelings of sadness and regret. Further on in the post, Hopeman uses a rhetorical question to highlight the absurdity of the idea that there was no other option but war.

"This war has broken out for the simple reason that neither side was willing to make a serious effort to avoid it. Both sides were sharpening their swords waiting for the next horrible round. Was there no other option? Of course there was!".

All throughout the post Hopeman is strongly using pathos to reach the readers and this rhetorical question is another direct appeal to the reader's emotions. There is not, in my opinion, any other way to write about war (especially when your own country is involved) that can convey the intensity of the situation to others and that can jolt people into thinking like humans again and pierce the us/them mentality.

The post by Peaceman I looked at is titled, "war in Gaza". I found this post to be even more urgent and distressing than Hopeman's mentioned post. The post contains relatively short sentences bringing a lot of information to the readers. The text has minor errors throughout such as this one,

"But when the ground operation started, most people die is civilians and children".

Of course, I only mention such trifling errors (ESPECIALLY from a blogger in Gaza, with only limited time to send a message, whose first language probably isn't English) because they do add a dimension to the writer's voice that allows his character to be seen more clearly. The errors definitely allude to a rushed and urgent voice who I believe was probably more interested in sharing his true experiences and feelings in those fleeting moments then trying to influence unknown perceptions of the life and death conflict the Gazans are locked into. Peaceman's post was short but powerful in that it conveyed the sense of powerlessness and helplessness the Gazans are experiencing right now. Take this post for example,

"It is hard to describe what is going on in Gaza, a terrible disaster, where the aircraft do not distinguish between civilians and military and children, no water ,electricity and difficult to get your needs".

Both writers had very strong emotional voices that still had an air of coherence and logic surrounding them. They were not just wildly raving about their fear or uncertainty or the horrible loss of human life although all those things were mentioned. Neither were they expressing any political or ideological views views except when calling for an end to the violence and a permanent lasting cease-fire. I found their voices to be of the best kind, sincere and honest.

2. For my first go at blogging I went online and searched for any blogs that were related to the issues I wanted to blog about. I found one called “Andisheh: some thoughts on Iran”. Andisheh means, “thought” in Farsi. The blog’s subjects are politics, arts, and architecture. The writer is Cyrus Shahidi, an Iranian art student living in Geneve, Switzerland. According to Mr. Shahidi he is “pro-freedom and a supporter of a united, secular, strong and independent Iran”. It seems that Mr. Shahidi feels the same way about Iran that many Americans do about the U.S. and his basic but strong opinion is one reason why I chose to profile his blog rather than a number of others that contained a great deal of rhetoric from one political viewpoint or another. Mr. Shahidi also has many recent and frequent posts. His posts are very interesting and he gleans his information from a number of sources on the Internet and in the media. In addition, when he quotes somebody he posts links to the source article or website.

A recent post to the blog and a very interesting one at that contained parts of an interview Mr. Shahidi read from Rooz Online. The interview was with former CIA field officer, Robert Bayer. Some trivia on the side, Bayer was the main inspiration for George Clooney’s character in the movie Syriana whose opening scene took place in Iran. In the interview Bayer had some very interesting things to say about Iran’s position in the Middle East, Iran’s relationship with Israel and the U.S., and the Iran-Contra affair. (Read Mr. Shahidi’s post and the interview for yourself here).

Another fascinating post from Mr. Shahidi contains his take on the recent proclamations issued by two very important religious figures in Iran concerning the supreme authority held by the top Islamic cleric over all other positions including the president and parliament. Overall, it was a very interesting event for Iran and possibly a sign of hope for change in the future. Thank you Mr. Shahidi for bringing it to my attention. (Read the post here).

I feel that Mr. Shahidi's blog relates well to my blog in that it is informative and realistic and stays away from the bias and propaganda that has been running rampant for so many years now. Many of Mr. Shahidi’s posts are related to Iran and that is also similar to how my blog will run. I also get the feeling that Mr. Shahidi cares a lot about the possibility of war between Iran and America and would like to find away to avoid it, which is similar to my goals. Mr. Shahidi’s blog is not what I would call academic in the sense of strict writing and struture but it is definitely academic and scholarly in that he is actively searching for, analyzing, and critiquing current events in a competent manner. The posts are rich in detail and contain the required references when needed but they are not boring or too wordy. Mr. Shahidi lays out the situation and his opinion quite eloquently. I am not entirely certain who Mr. Shahidi’s audience is but I assume, going by some comments that I read and the country flag counter, that it is a mix of people from every continent with quite a few Iranians and people living in America. Depending on the number of American and Iranian readers, I imagine that the audience’s relevance to the field is around the same level as Mr. Shahidi’s and my own; people who have a personal stake in the situation and people who wish to stay informed and current with their information.

There is much to choose from when writing about the current situation with Iran and a number of ways to do it. So although I will probably continue to read Mr. Shahidi’s blog I will not use it as any sort of reference or generator for ideas on what to blog about. My blog will contain posts on what I feel are the most interesting or relevant topics to blog about. I would also like to focus a little more on clearing the haze of misconceptions currently spouted in America about Iran, its people, and society. Although I feel that this is a worthy goal, I also feel disturbed and ashamed by the fact that there is still so much ignorance in America concerning foreign countries, especially Middle Eastern countries. Therefore, I plan to refute any and all false information that comes to my attention concerning Iran and portray the most accurate picture I can of Iran and its people. This does not mean I will be singing Iran’s praises and denouncing America, for I will also talk about the Iranian’s misconceptions of Americans. I will give credit and criticism where it is due to both countries (and to any other countries involved in the situation). I also would like to blog about current events taking place in Iran (not just political ones) in order to share more information with readers about the everyday lives of the Iranian people.

1. Hello everybody!!! Prince of Persia here and I have decided to blog about the current situation between America and Iran and many issues relating to it. This topic is very near and dear to me since I am an American, married to an Iranian, and have family in Iran. I am semi-fluent in Farsi and I have traveled to Iran as recently as 2007. I have a deep love for both countries and I truly desire peace for both countries and I am certain that military action would not bring prosperity or security to either country. Therefore, I would like to explore the current situation between the two countries and form analyses of America’s foreign policy and actions concerning Iran as well as the Iranian regimes reactions. I would like to explore as much as possible about the two countries current relationship in order to broaden my knowledge of the situation and to better understand what can be done to bring about a peaceful resolution to the crisis as well as hopefully add to other’s understanding of the matter.

My posts will likely alternate between economical and political as wells as social and religious because Iran is an Islamic country and I would like to explore the role that religion has played in the situation. I will also possibly include a bit of history in my posts about the two countries past relationship in order to give newcomers to the situation a clearer understanding of the current crisis. Many Americans are not aware that Iran was America’s closest ally in the Middle East for many years. In fact, to have a decent understanding of the current situation you have to go back to the summer of 1953 when Prime Minister Mossadeq was overthrown by a coup d’état supported by the British and Americans. All of that particular history will most likely be referred to in various posts in the future. But, mostly I would like to post about the current events taking place in the Middle East and in America determine whether or not they are helpful or harmful to a peaceful resolution of the situation.