The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is about
a well to do Pashtun boy, Amir, growing up in Afghanistan during the 1970s and later is faced with turbulent times because of the Russian invasion. Behind the author’s vivid story telling, lies what may be a deeper truth; the author’s propaganda in an attempt to conjure a better image of Afghanistan post 9/11. In my
opinion, the book is a “good propaganda” because after reading the book, my views and attitude towards Afghanistan has changed in a positive way because Hosseini's book has informed me on the Afghanistan; separating my views from terrorists and the civilians of Afghanistan as different entities. Hosseini does this by informing, humanizing, and helping us to sympathize with the plight of his people having to struggle to break free from the hands of their vicious government.

On September 11, 2001, or otherwise known as 9/11, two commercial aircrafts crashed into the World Trade Center, signaling the United State that the U.S. was under a terrorist attack. There were a total of four airplanes hijacked and crashed by the terrorist. It was later discovered that the horrendous act was carried out by the Taliban and al Qaeda as its mastermind. Al Qaeda was protected and was given a safe sanctuary by the Afghanistan’s government. Because the Taliban’s government supported the al Qaeda, the United States launched a war against Afghanistan, calling it “War on Terror”. American’s sentiments towards Afghanistan had become cold and revengeful. At the time, most Americans were anti- anything Middle Eastern. I remember hearing the news that even people who looked Middle Eastern were being harassed and threaten. Violence and hate crimes on Middle Eastern people were at a high in the United States. I remember a story on a Middle Eastern man being shot and killed, and he wasn’t even Muslim. I believe that some Americans still harbor hate towards Afghanistan and their people to this day. But perhaps, this book can change people’s view point, one reader at a time. It changed mine. After reading this book, the light was shed on the Afghan people. My view of all Middle Eastern men hiding out in caves while terrorist groups like al Qaeda pulls these men’s strings to get them to commit terrorist acts, are debunked.

Hosseini uses Amir, our protagonist, to narrate his story. He recalls the contrasts in his past life, under King Zahir’s rule, versus life under the Russian powers, followed by the Taliban's, were as different as black and white. Through Amir’s narration, we see how the Afghan people lived through good times under the rule of King Zahir Shah. When Amir described his homeland, it was beautifully and warmly described. The children were children. The good times in Afghanistan was seen through the eyes of Amir when he was a boy. Amir was well off because his father was rich so he lived a comfortable life. So it is a bit biased to say that children in Afghanistan lived a good life because you only saw from Amir’s point of view. But one thing that spoke of childhood for the children in Afghanistan was the traditional kite running contest. Amir’s district had a kite running tournament. I think this epitomizes one of the Afghan children’s childhood, in their traditional sense. But under the Russian rule, that faded away for the Afghan children. Amir narrates how the children had to grow up fast. I think the children in the story had no childhood because the Taliban had snatched that away from them.

Later in the story, Amir’s driver tells Amir that the children were just lucky enough to be fed, let alone have money to buy a kite to run. Amir narrates when he went back to Afghanistan to retrieve Hassan’s little boy from the orphanage, he stayed with Farid’s family. Farid was Amir’s driver and travel guide. The children in Farid’s home stared at what Amir thought was his watch but in actuality it was Amir’s food. Lots of children were placed in orphanages because the war had pick up most of the men, leaving the children fatherless. And the mothers had no money so they couldn’t feed their children so they put their children in the orphanages, in hope of getting their children fed there. The place where Amir visited to find Hassan’s son, Sohrab, was in terrible conditions. The children were being sold to a Taliban official. Later in the story we find out that these people were doing unspeakable things to these children. If they were lucky, the children got to come back. If not, they never see or hear from them again. This part helped me feel for the Afghan children.


The peaceful life in Afghanistan got pulled out from under them because the communist placed a coup d’etat, replacing the Zahir’s rule. The narrator knew that after the Russian tanks rolled in, there will be no play left for the boys, Amir and Hassan, only an “ongoing era of bloodletting” in store for the future. Amir was told how the soldiers took over his very own childhood home and shot and killed his best friend, Hassan, and his wife, who tried to defend it. The government controlled the mouths of the Afghan people too. People became spies and they didn’t know who was on which side. Running off their mouth was fatal, as Amir recalled.

“You couldn’t trust anyone in Kabul anymore- for a fee or under threat, people told on each other…I thought of Ahmad Zahir, who played the accordion at my thirteenth birthday. He had gone for a drive with some friends, and someone later found his body on the side of the road, a bullet in the back of his head.” (112)

More brutal still was when Assef, Amir’s childhood bully, had become a bloodthirsty Taliban leader, recalls how he executed the Hazara massacre.

“Door to door we went calling for the men and boys. We’d shoot them right there in front of their families. Let them see. Let them know who they are, where they belonged…I’d sweep the barrel of my machine gun around the room and fired and fired until the smoke blinded me.” (227)

This shows how brutal their government was. No regards for human life. No one is there to stop them from taking innocent lives of their own country’s people. This made me become conscious of how the civilians of Afghanistan were suffering.

It got so bad that these people had to find a way to escape from such an evil dictatorship, so they fled. Amir and his father left Afghanistan, slipping into the night and not even telling their servant for fear that the servant will tell the soldiers, and that would spell death for both Amir, and his father. Even as they were trying to get out of Afghanistan, they faced many obstacles. The truck that Amir and his father were supposes to use to get them out of Afghanistan, had its engine blown a week before. They were cheated because the person they paid for the trip knew that. This circumstance forced them into hiding. Later they had to hide in a fuel tank to get out of Afghanistan. It was torturous as Amir recalled. This was an extremely different time then when he was a young boy flying kites in tournaments. This was informative to me. It showed me how people of Afghanistan had to regain a life that was livable again so they did what ever means it took to get them out of there.

I believed Hosseini propaganda worked. His book was written to make Afghanistan and its people human again in the readers' eyes post 9/11. By revealing information, it helps foster the idea that people in Afghanistan are not all terrorists and most are innocent civilians trapped Taliban’s ruthless reign. The people feel for the characters and in turn, feel for the Afghan people. Human conditions hit more on a universal note. Hosseini's book informed and helped me clarify the distinction between Afghan civilians and suicide bombers. That is why it is a good propaganda. I believe this should be take place on a national scale. People should be educated about the lives of the Afghan people so they can change their views. I know it is taken place on a national scale because there are over a million copies of The Kite Runner sold and there is also a movie in the making. I believe this will further spread information to help stop prejudice against Afghanistan and its innocent civilians.

What the heck is Skype?!

When I read Lily’s post about Skype, I could care less. But as I pounded my head on the keyboard thinking what I should write for my post, I thought, “Hey, what is up with that Skype thingy?” So I went to Technorati and typed in “Skype” and “San Jose State” but I didn’t get anything informative. It had info on why it should be banned, and all that jazz. But what were they banning? So I went to the next best thing, in my opinion, to find out what, in the name of all that is holy, is Skype at Wikipedia.

“The Skype communications system is notable for its broad range of features, including free voice and video conferencing, and its ability to use peer to peer (decentralized) technology to overcome common firewall and NAT problems.” (FOR FREE!)

Then I did some research into the company. Skype can be used to talk to anyone, anywhere if they had the internet program and it’s all for free! I think there are many international students that are probably using this. The schools are already charging international students at a price of a liver. Yes folks, no longer an arm and a leg but a liver! While us regular students do get charged an arm and a leg. And at the rate teachers get paid, don't get me started. So let the people have their free phone calls.

Ah, the plot thickens. It once again has to do with free stuff. Another war, perhaps, against phone companies vs. little old grannies making a free call to their grandchildren on the other side of the country? Maybe State is trying to remove itself from something that sounds illegal before anything blows up in their face. So San Jose State is trying to ban Skype on grounds that it may bring in people from the outside and mess with the school’s computer network. San Jose State users are not accepting this explanation and are not going down without a fight. Wouldn’t that be a sight? Students and teachers banded together for a common cause; free international phone calls.

While cruising Technorati for more info, I read a posting that Skype will no longer be banned…For now. Dun. Dunn. DUNNN!

Old News

As a consumer of the newspaper in paper and online form, I find that I like the online form more. Have you every struggled to fold back the paper to its original form? It’s almost impossible. You also get those dirty ink smudges from the paper form. And you have to flip through pages of ads before you get to some actual news. I picked up a San Jose Mercury newspaper, today.

The only pros from paper form is that you get the comics,coupons or inserts like “Your guide to Bay Area Events Calendar” or the “Eye”. The Eye is an insert that is published once a week. It writes about the low down on entertainment.

There are bigger differences between the Mercury news online and paper, other then a few ink smears, or your paper drowning in a sea of ads. For the paper version, the front page sections are huge, colored, and centered. The inside paper, if there are any pictures, they are small, and in black and white. The sections’ main pictures have captions. For the online version, there are colored mini-pictures.

The newspaper in print form makes money from its ads. So does the online version, but the ads are more discrete online. I think because readers get turned off by the in your face ads. I think it is a strategic move on the newspaper's part because readers can access other papers online if there are too many ads on a news site. But for the paper form, people have already bought it. The readers using paper forms are probably used to all the ads. And if they want the paper form, they only have a few publications in paper form that they can get their hands on.

Also, the ads in paper form comes from local businesses while onlne form comes from almost anywhere, and almost anything (except graphic, sexual ads).

For the online version, the “big” stories are not placed in order because the stories change every so often when you go to Mercury’s main news page. The main picture is small. Below the picture, there are many headlines you can click on and be directed to it. I find this way better then shuffling through papers to get to something that interests me. I think paper form will become old news because it will people are going online for their news, nowadays. Online and newsprint had different products advertising.

I don’t hate paper form newspaper but I rather use the online form of San Jose Mercury news because it is easier to use. Or it is because I’m lazy and want to work as little as possible to get my news. And that is why I watch news on TV but that’s another story.

The Sky's the Limit

The internet is the best thing ever invented, next to irrigated water, electricity, and Twix. Those things are so darn oh so chocolate-y delicious. Anyway, Internet is a form of mass communication, reaching millions of people. There are plenty of ways to use the internet; learn, find just about anything, research, play games, ramble about your life, read the news, send a message in two seconds to someone thousands of miles away, watch common people’s videos. The Internet has endless possibilities and “the party is just getting started”.

I found that the streets are free of boys and girls. The town is pretty much empty and thought I once saw a tumbleweed roll by my feet. Where are they? Why aren’t they outside doing what kids do? For boys, I think they are walled up in their room playing what ever online gaming that is currently popular right now. I have a prime example; my brother. All summer, that guy didn’t see the light of day. I can hear sound effects rumbling through my walls. He was playing WOW , also known as World of Warcraft. I was starting to wonder if that is healthy being holed up in a room. Well one thing is for sure, he isn’t the only kid to be playing it. He said he was leading over 200 people in his WoW community. They have Lan parties (see above picture). Kind of sad if you ask me.

But one thing I found to be a great contribution to the internet is Youtube. You can find just about anything that can be broadcasted in 8 minutes or less on Youtube. I found “Yellow Fever”. I thought it was hilarious



So if you want to learn how to fold orgami,


or play the guitar, you can find it online. You can find anything online.

The One Where...

“What Mario isn’t telling you,” is it’s all about propaganda. I was watching “Friends” and I realized they did an episode to make the viewers aware of VD. They had an episode with Joey where he models for a free clinic and his face gets plastered on VD posters, and comedy ensues. But behind all the laugh tracks and applauses, the message is clear; “VD. You never know who might have it,” not even a handsome stud like Joey.

I think this episode of "Friends" is propaganda because it is informing you on VD. Wikipedia describes as "..a specific type of message presentation directly aimed at influencing the opinions or behavior of people, rather than impartially providing information. An appeal to one's emotions is, perhaps, the more obvious propaganda method, but there are varied other more subtle and insidious forms. "Friends" appeal to your funny senses making a connection with its viewers on an emotional level while it promotes VD awareness.

Another propaganda I have encounter is when I go to the Post Office, there are people who always try to convert me into an god-fearing, bible-loving, Catholic. I totally get peeved when they try to push religion on me. You don’t see me to pushing satanic music on their children, so let me sin in peace. Goddamit!

What is propaganda, anyway? Is it just some scumbag politician telling you he’s saving your ass from terrorists but what he’s really trying to do is perch his butt on the other country’s oil and call first dibs? Or does it lie in that weird, creepy Japanese 30 something seconds commercial that tries to sell you a Micky D's hamburger?



Wikipedia defines propaganda as a unique message proposal that can pull people’s opinion or behavior in their direction. It can be explosive in style, or underlying, or secret like propaganda.

Propaganda comes in all form: politics, religion, advertising, and etcetera. Even people like you and me have some sort of propaganda. “Eat healthy! Save the whales! Don’t wear fur!” And the list goes on. The word "propaganda" is no longer really used today because people think it relates to manipulation. I think people today are too anal. Lighten up and tell me what propaganda you are trying to sell me today.

Out with the Old...

I think the future of the publishing world will evolve into a technological medium. Books will all be scanned and put into data application. It will be like a library but accessible to the online world. Libraries will become extinct like the dinosaurs. No longer will there be the need for printing, or storage of books.( I think environmentalist will be into the idea because there will be no need to cut down so many trees because they will not need paper for books.)

There are already companies that are creating programs and gadgets using the idea of books being loaded into a data application.
I think it will be a hard idea to sell at first. People like to have a physical book that they can hold and touch. The familiarity of a book will keep people from converting but books made out of paper will cease to exist like the dinosaurs. I think they will try to ease the public into it by using tablets. People will throw out paper books like they threw out cassettes. Technology will triumph over what people’s old way reading a book.

I think the future generation will scoff when our generation reminisce about the good out days when we would go to the library or the bookstore and sit and read a good old paper back.

Give the Public What They Want

Record companies are crying foul saying that the public are draining record companies' money. The record companies have been firing lawsuits at civilians left and right. They have million dollar lawsuits against little girls. Spoofing or corrupting download songs has been another weapon of choice against music downloading for the music industry. I think these are poor tactics that the music industry uses, especially siccing lawsuits on 12 year old girls. It is only making their industry look like the villain. As for spoofing and corrupting the song, I think that it is somewhat of a deterrent but not much. I think if people intend to get free music, they will get free music.

I propose a campaign that will get the consumers to want to buy the Cd's over downloading it. I know that seems like a simple answer and it probably is but how does one get consumers to buy their Cd's instead of downloading it? I think record companies should start selling the cheaper Cd's. Selling them so cheap that people would not bother with wasting time and energy to download music. That will put the sites like Napster to it's death because without any traffic, there would be no funding from investors. I think that music companies may lose money but in the long run they will sell more records because people can afford the CD. That will generate more fans. More fans will mean sales of related items like posters, key rings, etc.. And they still can do endorsement , concerts, and radio plays that will also make the record industry and artists money. What about little "garage bands"; little unknown bands that are struggling to make it? How will they make their money? I think the music business has been a tough one to get into to. New bands struggle to make it all the time. Majority of the start-up bands fail not because of music downloading, it is because they suck. If they are good, they would just have to wait for a record company to pick them up. Once they are signed by a record label, they can use the same theory to sell their albums real cheap so more people will buy it. If people like it, they will have more fans that help the band get revenue through other endorsements.

My other strategy would be to have an incentive that makes them want to buy the Cd's. Buy enough of so and so's record label, or music genre and the buyer gets a choice to a concert of their picking. The record industry could put something like a card with a number code in it. Let's say buyer need x numbers of cards (code can only be used once), when they have enough, they can send it in or redeem it for a concert of their choice online.The more they have, the more extravagant the concert prize will be. The biggest prize will be that they will get to go backstage and meet whom ever they choose. I know there are thousands, if not millions of fans who would do anything to meet Band "X" after a concert and if that means shelling out a few more hundred dollars to buy Cd's, they will.

My Mother Always told Me to Share

I share everything with friends and family. I share clothes, DVDs, Cd's, and anything worth sharing. But one thing I can't share is my music files and the music industry tends to keep it that way. It all started with Napster. Napster was created by Shawn Fanning when he was looking for an easier way to find music. He made it so peers can upload music and share it with other peers (P2P) by converting it into MP3 forms for free. It soon caught on like wild fire and spread mainly among college students. The music industry was alerted and threw in the big guns by taking legal actions against Napster. The music industry said that Napster was guilty of copyright violations. Artists threw in lawsuits after lawsuits and there were big name artists like Metallica involved in cases against Napster. Eventually the courts shut Napster down. Later Napster was bought out. I believe that the music industry cannot stop file sharing because after the shut down Napster there will be and there are other P2P programs such as Kazaa, and Limewire. I think that it is wrong that we can't share our music.
I think P2P file sharing benefits people who uses it, musicians, and the music industry. It benefits the people who uses it because they can get a song and not have to buy the whole CD. They can find songs that they couldn't find at any record store. They can listen to any kind of music in any language.Because the people can get a hold of any kind of music it helps the music industries. If people like the new music they listen to then fan base grows for all kinds of genres, and language and the music industry can expand and open a whole new gate of music. I think this is how alternative music became so popular. People couldn't get a hold of it before but with programs like Napster they can download it. After people listened to it they may like it; generating a fan base and craving a niche for alternative music in the music world. I think it helps musicians in the same way too. When people hear a local band and likes it and they go home and uploads the band's songs to programs like Napster. It then spreads throughout the music community making it possible for local bands to get heard and known. It lets the local bands have a door into success. File sharing music may be a god send to the music industry but only if they let it run its course.