Chowraha

A piece on today's Metro, a newspaper read by at least 2 million people in the UK everyday, caught my instant attention. At first I found it funny, but then it made me sad - sad to see how careless and in fact ridiculously childish reporters were, and media is at allowing (trash) news to appear. Trash not because of what it is reporting, but because of the "way" it is being reported, the language being used to described the news, the objectivity in the news item, and the neutrality a news item is supposed to have. The news item I am referring to was titled "Islam-obsessed girl disappears" and it went on to report that "it is feared she may have been brainwashed by hardline Muslims..." Notice the use of the words "Islam-obsessed" in the title. It has instantly manipulated the story and even before jumping into the news item, the reader knows Islam was the cause of something bad. It doesn't matter any more that the only evidence the newspap...

Fair & Lovely is a product extremely well-known and easily available in many non-white countries of the world. I have tried to delve into what exactly is being sold here in physical terms and in ideology? I have attempted to explain why buying such a product is problematic and what can we learn about societies through this? (In Part 2, I will look into the Fair & Lovely expanding into the men's world by introducing its menz active version, and the implications of that on the world of consumerism, commodification and advertisements) *** Living in a world of commodities, more often than not, we tend to overlook the historical context, the cultural and social implications of, the impact on mentalities, and the impact on our lives (in general) of commercial products and the marketing techniques used to sell these products. Having recently seen or rather “properly” seen (this time critically viewing) the Fair and Lovely ads on youtube, I was forced to analyze them in several wa...

Many people still do not fully understand what Twitter is or how to use it. But the Twitter boom cannot be ignored. Learn how to use this secret tool for higher sales! Read more: http://social-networking-tagging.suite101.com/article.cfm/twitter_to_boost_publicity_and_sales#ixzz0QiDGLZS1

The following article is taken from www.zawya.com The UAE's Twitterati meet next Saturday to help raise awareness & donations for Dubai Autism Center as Dubai takes part in Twestival Local Dubai, UAE - 07 September 2009 - Dubai will host Dubai Twestival Local, one of the 200 Twestival Local events taking place in leading cities around the world, on Saturday using the power of Twitter to support local causes. Dubai Twestival Local (@dubaitwestival on Twitter) aims to raise money and awareness for Dubai Autism Center, a non-profit organisation Founded in November 2001, set-up to help integrate children with autism into the community and raise social awareness for autism. Dubai Twitter users, or 'tweeps' as they call themselves, will converge on The Jam Jar gallery in Al Quoz on Saturday 12 September 2009 to meet other members of the Twitter community and support Dubai Autism Center (@dubaiautism) at an informal networking event sponsored by Nokia (@nokconv), ShopandShip.c...

Abdullah Saleh, a Guantanamo detainee is alleged to have committed suicide. Binyam Muhammad, an ex-Guantanamo detainee refutes the allegations. Read more: http://international-human-rights.suite101.com/article.cfm/guantanamo_suicide_raises_questions#ixzz0MpjqYYOc

More British lives have been lost in the last one month than any other month in the last seven years. But British government's propaganda for war on Afghanistan continues Read more: http://britishaffairs.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_new_war_on_afghanistan_and_brtish_opinion#ixzz0MfWAApSN

"When a cause comes along and you know in your bones that it is just, yet refuse to defend it -- at that moment you begin to die. And I have never seen so many corpses walking around talking about justice." -- Mumia Abu-Jamal --