Author Archives: sali

What is Machiavelli’s idea of an ideal leader? What advice does he give about public image?

Discuss Shahryar’s transition of feelings towards women in the beginning of the text, and compare to the end of the story. How did Shahrazad sway his feeling of women through her stories.

The article, “In Kazakhstan, Clinton Defends Openness, but Condemns Diplomatic Cable Leaks” can be very closely related to the concept of statesmanship in, The Prince by Machiavelli.

Machiavelli places a great deal of emphasis on military in The Prince, and how important it is to have a sound military in order to run a country.  However he also discusses how to maintain relations with neighboring cities.  Diplomacy and international relations are very important as a leader because it is what gives you power over another country.  For example in the NY Times article, Hilary Clinton went to Kazakhstan to speak about openness and the spread of democracy.  She also mentioned the wiki leaks that came out and addressed them with confidence.  One of the parliament members stated, “It’s a confirmation of American leadership in global political issues.”  It is one thing to be a ruler it is another thing to be a leader.  Because of the U.S.’s ability to conduct diplomacy and maintain there relations with other countries, it makes them feared and makes it seem like they have leadership qualities they may not necessarily have. According to Machiavelli, having leadership qualities is not nearly as important as appearing to have leadership qualities. “it is not necessary, then for a prince to have of the qualities mentioned above, but it is certainly necessary that he appear to have them.” (C, 237)  In the eyes of Machiavelli, maintaining a desirable public image is extremely important for leaders and this is exactly what Hilary Clinton does when she goes to Kazakhstan and speaks to the people there.  Because the majority of the world recognizes political leaders through what the media tells them, maintaining a desirable public image is more important now than ever before.

The play, Throne of Blood was a very enjoyable play to watch.  I enjoyed the story as well as the costumes, which were very well crafted and reminiscent of ancient Japan.  The dialogue was easy to understand and so was the plot. However, I felt that the story dragged on at some unnecessary points and moved very fast at times where it seemed there should have been more dialogue. Having watched the original Macbeth, they followed the original story very well.  It is difficult to replicate a movie on stage sometimes and in this case, some scenes were just that

The review from NY Times states, “It essentially boils down to a lot of men charging back and forth across a mostly dark and bare stage in fancy samurai getups.”
This quote is true to an extent because all the fight scenes were a bit ridiculous and it was mostly characters just running back and forth and it was hard to tell what the director was trying to convey.  The costumes were by far the best part of the play.

http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/theater/reviews/12throne.html

“On Aug. 5, 2010, a gold and copper mine near the northern city of Copiapó, Chile caved in, trapping 33 miners in a chamber about 2,300 feet below the surface.”  There was no word of their survival for quite some time and so it was believed that none of the miners had survived.  But miraculously when communication was established, all the miners were alive and well.  The only problem was trying to rescue them.  On October 12, the first of the miners were rescued and so the process of rescuing the miners began.  As the miners came out, family welcomed them however they were taken away for medical treatment.  Experts say that the miners will still face obstacles such as post dramatic reactions that can last a couple months.

This article is similar to the story of Odysseus in The Odyssey.  Odysseus is being held against his will by Calypso on an island where he is unable to escape.  His family, just like the families of the miners are anxiously awaiting for his return. Penelope says, “How I long for my husband-alive in memory, always, the great man whose fame resounds through Hellas right to the depth of Argos.” (Page 268 line 394) It would be a miracle for Odysseus to return back to Ithaca just like the miners to be alive and well after being trapped for so long.  However, in the case of the miners and Odysseus, they both survive their hardships and return back to their family.  When Odysseus returns he is skeptical about what is going to happen upon his return so he disguises himself until he finds out more information.  This is an example of a post dramatic reaction which is also what experts say is an obstacle that the miners will have to face.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/chile_mining_accident_2010/index.html?scp=4&sq=miners%20trapped%20underground&st=cse

God is love,

-Sajjad Ali

A major theme in the Book of Job is trying to understand why an all-powerful God allows good people to suffer. In the article “U.S. Apologizes for Syphilis Tests in Guatemala it states that, “from 1946 to 1948, American public health doctors deliberately infected nearly 700 Guatemalan prisoners…with venereal diseases in what was meant as an effort to test the effectiveness of penicillin.”  At first doctors used prostitutes to spread the diseases but when that did not work, they forcefully poured or injected bacteria into the prisoners. After all was said and done, there were no results. Susan M. Reverby said, “whether everyone was then cured is not clear.”

These tests were inhumane and cruel to the prisoners.  Although the prisoners were not innocent like Job, these tests were not a part of their jail sentence.  These tests can be related to the punishments given to Job.  It seemed as if God and Satan were having a competition to see if Job was really a God fearing man. So first Job receives news that his livestock, and children have died.  Job mourns but still blesses God and does not curse him. When this did not work, Satan appears in heaven again, and God grants him another chance to test Job. Satan says “touch his bone and flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.” (pg127) This time, Satan afflicted Job with boils on his face.  Again Job does not curse God.  In end result, Job passes the test but is forced to suffer for no given reason.

To these Guatemalan prisoners, the American doctors were God like figures because they were the ones who pulled the strings in the prison.  They were able to do whatever tests they wished for their own gain and at the expense of the prisoners. In the instance of Job, he was like the prisoners.

-Sajjad Ali

There are many connections that can be made between the “Epic of Gilgamesh and “Genesis.” The most clear connection is the idea of a higher being.   In Genesis, the higher being is God, and in the Epic of Gilgamesh there are a lot of higher beings.  In both stories there is a flood sent by the higher being to destroy mankind.  However, in Genesis God wanted to destroy mankind for being evil while in Gilgamesh it was done on a whim. “The lord saw that the evil of human creature was great on the earth and that every scheme of his heart’s devising was only perpetually evil (A, 34).

Another similarity is in the instructions given to the creators of the ark.  In both stories the higher being gives clear instructions on what size the ship should be and who should be present on the ship.  In Gilgamesh, Utanapishtim brings his family as well as craftsmen, while in Genesis, Noah only brings his family and the animals.

The article in the Gates to Meet With Russian Defense Minister written in The New York Times, is about how the U.S Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, will meet with Russian Anatoly E. Serdyukov.  This article can be closely related to the Epic of Gilgamesh, because the characters of Gilgamesh and Enkidu can be compared with that of the U.S and Russia.  As we all know, the United States and Russia were not the best of allies.  The Cold War was proof of this, and now we see that Gates and Serdyukoy was working together to reduce military spending.  This compares to Gilgamesh and Enkidu who were at first enemies, and later were slaying bulls and going on wild adventures.  When it comes to the military, Serdyukov has little experience in the military just as Enkidu does.  Enkidu came from the jungle so his military skills were similar to that of an animal.  Serdyukoy had more experience in the furniture industry than with the military.  Russia and the U.S also share a common goal and that is reducing the size and spending of the defense department.  This goal can be compared to Enkidu and Gilgamesh slaying Humbaba as they both shared a common enemy.
Peace and Love

-Sajjad Ali

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/world/europe/15military.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=gates%20and%20russian%20counterpart&st=cse

The summer of 2010 brought a great tragedy to the country where my ancestors are from.  The floods in Pakistan began following monsoon rains.  Statistics say that nearly 20 million or one-eighth of the population has been displaced and millions of homes have been destroyed.  Not to mention all the carnage and chaos that is occurring on the streets.  There is famine, crops are damaged, and all supplies are pretty much of no use.  Roads, bridges, electricity; all these luxuries are non-existent in Pakistan due to this flood.

When I was reading Gilgamesh and I got to the part, “For six days and six nights the winds blew, torrent and tempest and flood overwhelmed the world, tempest and flood raged together like warring hosts;” (A, 93) I immediately thought of the flood in Pakistan.  Both floods caused damage that is beyond imaginable and also happen to be in a similar region.  For a natural disaster to set a country back, especially a country that was already stricken with poverty, and corruption, it really is heartbreaking.  In the New York Times, the article states, “Six weeks after the floods began, as rivers continued to devour villages and farmland in the southern province of Sindh, aid workers warned of a triple threat: loss of crops, loss of seed for the next planting season and loss of a daily income.”

In Gilgamesh they said the, “surface of the sea stretched as flat as a roof-top.” (A. 93) By looking at pictures of the flood in Pakistan you can really see what this quote is talking about.

If you can imagine, how somebody feels when they do not know where they will be sleeping at night, or what they will be eating, or where there children are, you can imagine how the people of Pakistan feel, and I can assume that the few that survived the flood in Gilgamesh also felt the same way.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/floods/2010_pakistan_floods/index.html

-Sajjad Ali