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[taikara]

Sorry for this, but I think it falls a little short of being a true humorist column - as it is, it just seems like anti-Afghanistan propaganda (which it probably is). I guess I wasn't really sure what your point in writing the article was, other than trying to to make Afghanistan look bad. I kept waiting for the bottom line, and never seemed to come to it (I'm not even really sure if it was supposed to be a humorist column)

You can take that or leave it, obviously - I used to be an editorial staff writer for my uni newspaper, but I realize that not everyone will get the point of everything you write. If you think it fulfilled its purpose, and your editor accepted it, I suppose that's good enough.

[Danny252]

Look it up Tai; Its a real sport. And its almost exactly at he described it, too.

[taikara]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Danny252 @ May 27 2006, 05:09 PM) [snapback]232579[/snapback]</div>

Look it up Tai; Its a real sport. And its almost exactly at he described it, too.
[/b]

I did look it up, actually. I realize it's at least somewhat factual, but that doesn't mean that his point in writing it is clear. It's just factual enough that you're like, "interesting," but the opinion usually associated with an editorial column isn't really there. I mean, if you're going to bash something in an editorial column, you should really make it clear you're bashing it, and why.

After reading it, I was just kinda like, "Yeah? ...and?"

I mean, it's weird, sure, but I think pie eating contests are weird.

Meaning, I don't think I ever got to the "why" of the bashing. I could only assume that the "why" was just to write something "bad" about Afghanistan, since it wasn't clearly stated.

[Grinder]

Good point about the why. I disagree on the rest. The point of the article/column/whatever was to make fun of a sport widely acclaimed in a country. He didn't say all those people in Afghanistan are crazy, he just said all those people who are playing it were. After all, a nation doesn't make a sport its national sport, all the people playing it do. And by the way - who do you mean when you say Afghanistan? The government? The people? The terrorists? Ooops, I guess I went over the top with the last one. Let's start discussing wether or not there's terrorists in Afghanistan.


...sorry, I just had to say this. <_<

[taikara]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Grinder @ May 27 2006, 05:54 PM) [snapback]232590[/snapback]</div>

Good point about the why. I disagree on the rest. The point of the article/column/whatever was to make fun of a sport widely acclaimed in a country. He didn't say all those people in Afghanistan are crazy, he just said all those people who are playing it were. After all, a nation doesn't make a sport its national sport, all the people playing it do. And by the way - who do you mean when you say Afghanistan? The government? The people? The terrorists? Ooops, I guess I went over the top with the last one. Let's start discussing wether or not there's terrorists in Afghanistan.


...sorry, I just had to say this. <_<
[/b]

Well, that's kind of my point, really... He's writing an article on an Afghani sport... why? To make Afghanistan look bad? To poke fun at a weird sport? It's ambiguous, thus it can be read either as a commentary on Afghanistan in general, or on an Afghanistan sport. Considering that Afghanistan is kind of a hot topic atm, it makes more sense that he wrote it as a commentary on the country in general. I mean, if he just wanted to poke fun at a weird sport or activity, he could have found one in any country (not involved in conflict) to write about, and would have more successfully avoided the ambiguity in his purpose.

The point of an editorial is to take a stance, and there isn't a clear one in this article - why don't you ask TGM why he wrote about an Afghanistan sport, and whether he had any intention of alluding to the government or terrorists? I was just pointing out that I'm not really sure if that was his purpose in writing it.

[Grinder]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(taikara @ May 27 2006, 06:59 PM) [snapback]232608[/snapback]</div>

Afghanistan is kind of a hot topic atm[/b]

That's why I wrote my whole post. Because I don't think he wrote it just because Afghanistan is a hot topic.

[taikara]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Grinder @ May 27 2006, 07:07 PM) [snapback]232613[/snapback]</div>

That's why I wrote my whole post. Because I don't think he wrote it just because Afghanistan is a hot topic.
[/b]

Okay. How do you know?

[Grinder]

I do not now. Read again. The use of the verb 'think' indicates that the opinion stated is not necessarily true.



...sorry, sometimes, I'm a jerk

[taikara]

It's okay, I don't take it personally :P

And thanks... I've just been trying to say that my problem with it is that we don't know what his stance is, or what he's trying to get across. Because it's an editorial, we probably should.

[Grinder]

I miss the part where he said it's an editorial.