Md. Noor Hassan - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Drafts by Md. Noor Hassan
The supposition is that a culture can never be properly comprehended by the people of other cultu... more The supposition is that a culture can never be properly comprehended by the people of other cultural sections. And if someone tries to describe the characteristics of a culture, which s/he does not belong to, the possibility is that it would not be a factual one. So, to better understand and cooperate with other cultures, we can deduce the following guideline from Hall’s (1996) ideas presented in “The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power”:
The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power Hassan Gorkey Stuart Hall, in his dissertation “T... more The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power
Hassan Gorkey
Stuart Hall, in his dissertation “The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power” has described how the people living outside the “West” have been depicted by western civilization as “others” during the known history. To him, the present deportment of considering non-western people and their cultures as ‘inferior ones’ has a long past, starting from Greek civilization. This conception got a functional shape in the early fifteenth century, when the Portuguese voyagers landed on African coast in 1430. It was closely followed by Columbus’s trip to a ‘New World’, America, in 1492 exploring the first physical existence of geographical ‘otherness'. These two consecutive successes made Western European people confident of their technological ability and kindled their psyche to expedite venture for the unknown part of the world. As a result, by the eighteenth century Portugal, Spain, England, France and Holland annexed and colonized a large portion of Asia, Africa and America. It enthused them to enjoy a sense of superiority that, in course of time, turned into western hegemony and has been governing the world during last five centuries.
During the mediaeval era (5th to 15th century), the main sources of knowledge were classical belief, religious dogma, mythology and travelers’ tales. Citing Edward Said, Hall (1996) shows that it is like an archive, a storehouse of knowledge, refusing any kind of counter opinion or new explanation. Long before the beginning of colonization, Europeans thought themselves to be ‘the center’ of the earth- topographically, ideologically and culturally. They believed that rest of the world is populated by substandard humans along with cannibals, pygmies, giants and fairies and thereby showing their inferiority. With the comparative enrichment of knowledge about physical world, Europeans started to come out from fancies but could not overcome their predispositions.
So when the settlers conquered a new land, first thing they used to do was to capture the natives as slave. For example, within 14 years of sailing down Africa, Portuguese settlers started slave trading. This trend was followed by England, France and Spain. Later they used to clutch the natural resources through trade or simply by forceful grabbing. While doing so, the “West” depicted the “Rest” as passive, dull in intellect, and dependent on nature. Astonishingly the present world is continuing that tradition. In the following three paragraphs, I would like to focus on how the “West” presently portray the ‘Rest’, the way they were used to, in the past.
Practically, nowadays, the “West” is being driven by a cluster of concepts about ‘others’ keeping the old tradition intact. Classical knowledge has been replaced by a presumption about the ‘non-western’ people. Religion and mythology have been substituted by a sense of intellectual superiority. And travelers’ tale has been swept by the findings of western researchers- who work on economic, social and political arena of the ‘Rest’. ‘West’ believes and make others believe that ‘others’ are not socially or psychologically sound. They are not capable enough to make a positive contribution to the present civilization. So they should be guided by the recommendations made by the western intelligentsia.
At the end of middle age, Europe began to find some facts concerning the real topography of the world, people living beyond Europe and their culture. But Europe could not come out from its old belief about nonwestern people. They went on idealizing the ‘others’ as simple, meager, innocent and dependent on nature. Similarly in present days, the “West” depicts a picture that tells, people’s life in third world countries are mainly nature based. They have almost a primordial society with few modern goods and amenities. But this is not the real picture. Social structures of developing countries have their own uniqueness and naturally they are different from that of the “West”. This is not a matter of superiority or inferiority; rather an issue of distinctiveness. When Spanish voyagers reached in western hemisphere (1492) it was already inhabited by 16 million people surviving ably for centuries. Likewise, when Portuguese conquerors landed at Indian coast (1498), it had already been a civilization with a stable social structure and rich culture. Even there had been a civil society comprised of economists, poets, philosophers and musicians. But during last five centuries ‘West’ has been engaged in painting the same archetype picture of India: ill health unruly poor people, absence of good governance, chaotic society, hunger and above all intellectual poverty, though there are some quite opposite pictures too.
So the supposition is that, a culture can never be properly comprehended by the people of other cultural sections. And if someone tries to describe the characteristics of a culture, which s/he does not belong to, possibility is that it would not be a factual one. So, to better understand and cooperate with other cultures, we can deduce the following guideline from Hall’s (1996) ideas presented in “The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power”:
(1) Each culture has its own inimitable explanation about the life style, philosophy, rituals, customs, norms and beliefs of its members. So, instead of assuming or conducting research from distance, if we directly communicate people and know about their cultural sensations, we will better understand it. (2) While communicating with them, we need to create a natural and ‘others’ friendly atmosphere, so that they do not hesitate to expose themselves. (3) To be able to communicate with other cultures, we, at the very outset, need to push away our sense of ‘otherness’, if there is any in our hidden self. It is not enough to recognize the difference; rather, to make the counterparts comfortable and happy, we should make them feel that we really honor their cultures (4) Landing Caribbean shore Spaniards thought it to be India. Similarly depending on some secret service reports, the then US statesmen thought that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction followed by an unwanted war. So, knowing truth about other cultures is important not only to create a successful communication but also to avoid mishaps that might promise a safe and friendly blue planet.
Global media policy, generally recognized as global media and communication policy (GMCP), has be... more Global media policy, generally recognized as global media and communication policy (GMCP), has been an increasingly important field of study for media students as well as for students of other related disciplines. Intercultural and global communication, as an academic discipline, studies correlation among cultures, nations, societies, and organizations around the globe. Global media, in addition to their prime responsibility, exchanging information, knowledge, and entertainment, deal with global culture and communication. International media outlets, e.g. BBC, Al-Jazeera, appear with global issues accompanied by an internationalized flavor of culture. On the other hand, though domestic media outlets of a country manifest the local culture and concerns, they very often cross the national boundaries as the borderline between "national" and "international" is blurred nowadays. So global media is an important subject to deal with for intercultural and global communication students. Like that of all other industries, the success of media industry depends largely on the policy it applies. Communication students need to have a clear understanding of how media industry runs its functions. A policy is probably the most important component that constructs the personality of print and electronic media. When we study the guiding principle of a media outlet, e.g. radio,
We know enmity between India and Pakistan is very deep rooted having territorial, religious and c... more We know enmity between India and Pakistan is very deep rooted having territorial, religious and cultural conflicts. After attaining independence from British rule in August 1947, Pakistan and India started a war in October of the same year on the controversial princely state- Jammu and Kashmir followed by the September 1965 war on the same issue. The 1971 India Pakistan war ended with an all-out victory for India in which Pakistan lost its eastern province (now Bangladesh) with deep desolation. India emerged as the sixth nuclear power in 1974 and Pakistan detonated its first nuclear device in May 1998, within a month of India’s second nuclear test initiating the nuclear arms race in South Asia. According to the Federation of American Scientists, presently Pakistan and India have approximately 120 and 110 nuclear bombs respectively. To counter India’s conventional arms’ superiority, Pakistan has launched a non-strategic nuclear weapon program and come up with significant developments during last five years (2011-2016).
The strategic nuclear weapons, with massive destruction power, are designed to diminish the enemy’s war power by destroying cities, factories and large scale establishments. A tactical nuclear weapon (or TNW), also known as non-strategic nuclear weapon, refers to a low yield nuclear weapon that is designed to be used specially in a battlefield on military locations to shatter enemy troops. According to the Congressional Research Service, USA and Russia still possess approximately 760 and 1000-6000 TNWs. When USA and Russia have been working on the complete dismantling of TNWs, Pakistan and India have been working to develop these low-yield, short-range nuclear missiles to use in the battlefield. To daunt India, Pakistan has decided to depend on nuclear-capable delivery vehicles, which has conventional military advantages.
In 2013 Pakistan deployed Hatf ix, a sub-kiloton nuclear warhead that has a maximum range of 60 kilometre and integrated it into its C31 (Command, control, communication and intelligence). According to the Press Information Bureau news, India earlier had tested a short-range ballistic missile on July 21, 2011. War analysts are considering TNWs as a threat to military stability to South Asia. The statements of India and Pakistan’s government officials regarding such weapons have been infrequent and filled with calculated ambiguity. Pakistan’s Nuclear Doctrine suggests, if Indian armed forces overwhelm Pakistan’s military power to such an extent that it cannot be restored by conventional weapons, Pakistan will use nuclear weapons as a part of their ‘first strike’ policy. In October 2010, India has shifted its policy from ‘no first use’ to ‘no first use against non-nuclear weapon states’. So it is clear that India is in the ‘first use policy’ against all nuclear powers including its staple enemy Pakistan.
There is a big difference between the military power of India and Pakistan. Presently India and Pakistan rank respectively 4th and 17th in world military power spending 2.40% and 3.04% of their GDPs correspondingly. The nature of enmity between these two countries is different from that of what we see between other contending neighbouring countries in the world. Since TNWs are less dangerous than strategic nuclear weapons, these two countries might think of using it when they are overwhelmed by the opponent. It is very likely that the use of low-yield tactical nuclear weapon could be a dangerous instigation both for India and Pakistan to respond with the same weapons. Both the countries might use their nuclear ballistic missiles starting a full scale nuclear war if the situation eventually gets snow ball effect.
Books by Md. Noor Hassan
Anarja, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2011
The newspaper industry in Bangladesh is, no doubt, a prospective industry. To ensure the growth o... more The newspaper industry in Bangladesh is, no doubt, a prospective industry. To ensure the growth of this industry we will have to have a wide range of observations and studies on possibilities and hindrances laid here. It is further important for the reason that some dailies published from Dhaka, containing almost all the key features, that are valuable theoretically, have not been able to attract the attention of the readers at the desired level. On the contrary, containing those components less in quantity and lower in quality some newspapers have obtained remarkable popularity. Only a few dailies, published from Dhaka, have been surviving or at least stable popularity; the rests have disappeared or being published with very low circulation. The Daily Ittefaq is the only daily that has kept its popularity intact all through its 50 years publication period. With a decreased circulation The Daily Sangbad has been straggling to survive with repute. Once upon a time, The Daily Observer was the most popular English Daily. It has been keeping all the qualities that made it popular. But it is facing the challenge of Daily Star, published much later.
We usually are influenced by the ideas, theories, and revelations conveyed by the researchers of West Europe and North America. We usually do not feel the necessity of examining whether or not there is any weakness, misinterpretation, or hollowness. In most of the cases we just follow them blindly. The socio-economic-cultural reality of our region is different from that of them. So it is very likely that any social research will produce different results in our soil. So we felt the necessity of conducting research on aspects that influence a reader to choose a particular newspaper. Only university-level students were selected as the primary source of this research work since they represent the most dynamic and comparatively cognizant section of people. A survey was conducted on 150 students. Collected data was analyzed and compiled and results and recommendations were prepared.
The supposition is that a culture can never be properly comprehended by the people of other cultu... more The supposition is that a culture can never be properly comprehended by the people of other cultural sections. And if someone tries to describe the characteristics of a culture, which s/he does not belong to, the possibility is that it would not be a factual one. So, to better understand and cooperate with other cultures, we can deduce the following guideline from Hall’s (1996) ideas presented in “The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power”:
The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power Hassan Gorkey Stuart Hall, in his dissertation “T... more The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power
Hassan Gorkey
Stuart Hall, in his dissertation “The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power” has described how the people living outside the “West” have been depicted by western civilization as “others” during the known history. To him, the present deportment of considering non-western people and their cultures as ‘inferior ones’ has a long past, starting from Greek civilization. This conception got a functional shape in the early fifteenth century, when the Portuguese voyagers landed on African coast in 1430. It was closely followed by Columbus’s trip to a ‘New World’, America, in 1492 exploring the first physical existence of geographical ‘otherness'. These two consecutive successes made Western European people confident of their technological ability and kindled their psyche to expedite venture for the unknown part of the world. As a result, by the eighteenth century Portugal, Spain, England, France and Holland annexed and colonized a large portion of Asia, Africa and America. It enthused them to enjoy a sense of superiority that, in course of time, turned into western hegemony and has been governing the world during last five centuries.
During the mediaeval era (5th to 15th century), the main sources of knowledge were classical belief, religious dogma, mythology and travelers’ tales. Citing Edward Said, Hall (1996) shows that it is like an archive, a storehouse of knowledge, refusing any kind of counter opinion or new explanation. Long before the beginning of colonization, Europeans thought themselves to be ‘the center’ of the earth- topographically, ideologically and culturally. They believed that rest of the world is populated by substandard humans along with cannibals, pygmies, giants and fairies and thereby showing their inferiority. With the comparative enrichment of knowledge about physical world, Europeans started to come out from fancies but could not overcome their predispositions.
So when the settlers conquered a new land, first thing they used to do was to capture the natives as slave. For example, within 14 years of sailing down Africa, Portuguese settlers started slave trading. This trend was followed by England, France and Spain. Later they used to clutch the natural resources through trade or simply by forceful grabbing. While doing so, the “West” depicted the “Rest” as passive, dull in intellect, and dependent on nature. Astonishingly the present world is continuing that tradition. In the following three paragraphs, I would like to focus on how the “West” presently portray the ‘Rest’, the way they were used to, in the past.
Practically, nowadays, the “West” is being driven by a cluster of concepts about ‘others’ keeping the old tradition intact. Classical knowledge has been replaced by a presumption about the ‘non-western’ people. Religion and mythology have been substituted by a sense of intellectual superiority. And travelers’ tale has been swept by the findings of western researchers- who work on economic, social and political arena of the ‘Rest’. ‘West’ believes and make others believe that ‘others’ are not socially or psychologically sound. They are not capable enough to make a positive contribution to the present civilization. So they should be guided by the recommendations made by the western intelligentsia.
At the end of middle age, Europe began to find some facts concerning the real topography of the world, people living beyond Europe and their culture. But Europe could not come out from its old belief about nonwestern people. They went on idealizing the ‘others’ as simple, meager, innocent and dependent on nature. Similarly in present days, the “West” depicts a picture that tells, people’s life in third world countries are mainly nature based. They have almost a primordial society with few modern goods and amenities. But this is not the real picture. Social structures of developing countries have their own uniqueness and naturally they are different from that of the “West”. This is not a matter of superiority or inferiority; rather an issue of distinctiveness. When Spanish voyagers reached in western hemisphere (1492) it was already inhabited by 16 million people surviving ably for centuries. Likewise, when Portuguese conquerors landed at Indian coast (1498), it had already been a civilization with a stable social structure and rich culture. Even there had been a civil society comprised of economists, poets, philosophers and musicians. But during last five centuries ‘West’ has been engaged in painting the same archetype picture of India: ill health unruly poor people, absence of good governance, chaotic society, hunger and above all intellectual poverty, though there are some quite opposite pictures too.
So the supposition is that, a culture can never be properly comprehended by the people of other cultural sections. And if someone tries to describe the characteristics of a culture, which s/he does not belong to, possibility is that it would not be a factual one. So, to better understand and cooperate with other cultures, we can deduce the following guideline from Hall’s (1996) ideas presented in “The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power”:
(1) Each culture has its own inimitable explanation about the life style, philosophy, rituals, customs, norms and beliefs of its members. So, instead of assuming or conducting research from distance, if we directly communicate people and know about their cultural sensations, we will better understand it. (2) While communicating with them, we need to create a natural and ‘others’ friendly atmosphere, so that they do not hesitate to expose themselves. (3) To be able to communicate with other cultures, we, at the very outset, need to push away our sense of ‘otherness’, if there is any in our hidden self. It is not enough to recognize the difference; rather, to make the counterparts comfortable and happy, we should make them feel that we really honor their cultures (4) Landing Caribbean shore Spaniards thought it to be India. Similarly depending on some secret service reports, the then US statesmen thought that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction followed by an unwanted war. So, knowing truth about other cultures is important not only to create a successful communication but also to avoid mishaps that might promise a safe and friendly blue planet.
Global media policy, generally recognized as global media and communication policy (GMCP), has be... more Global media policy, generally recognized as global media and communication policy (GMCP), has been an increasingly important field of study for media students as well as for students of other related disciplines. Intercultural and global communication, as an academic discipline, studies correlation among cultures, nations, societies, and organizations around the globe. Global media, in addition to their prime responsibility, exchanging information, knowledge, and entertainment, deal with global culture and communication. International media outlets, e.g. BBC, Al-Jazeera, appear with global issues accompanied by an internationalized flavor of culture. On the other hand, though domestic media outlets of a country manifest the local culture and concerns, they very often cross the national boundaries as the borderline between "national" and "international" is blurred nowadays. So global media is an important subject to deal with for intercultural and global communication students. Like that of all other industries, the success of media industry depends largely on the policy it applies. Communication students need to have a clear understanding of how media industry runs its functions. A policy is probably the most important component that constructs the personality of print and electronic media. When we study the guiding principle of a media outlet, e.g. radio,
We know enmity between India and Pakistan is very deep rooted having territorial, religious and c... more We know enmity between India and Pakistan is very deep rooted having territorial, religious and cultural conflicts. After attaining independence from British rule in August 1947, Pakistan and India started a war in October of the same year on the controversial princely state- Jammu and Kashmir followed by the September 1965 war on the same issue. The 1971 India Pakistan war ended with an all-out victory for India in which Pakistan lost its eastern province (now Bangladesh) with deep desolation. India emerged as the sixth nuclear power in 1974 and Pakistan detonated its first nuclear device in May 1998, within a month of India’s second nuclear test initiating the nuclear arms race in South Asia. According to the Federation of American Scientists, presently Pakistan and India have approximately 120 and 110 nuclear bombs respectively. To counter India’s conventional arms’ superiority, Pakistan has launched a non-strategic nuclear weapon program and come up with significant developments during last five years (2011-2016).
The strategic nuclear weapons, with massive destruction power, are designed to diminish the enemy’s war power by destroying cities, factories and large scale establishments. A tactical nuclear weapon (or TNW), also known as non-strategic nuclear weapon, refers to a low yield nuclear weapon that is designed to be used specially in a battlefield on military locations to shatter enemy troops. According to the Congressional Research Service, USA and Russia still possess approximately 760 and 1000-6000 TNWs. When USA and Russia have been working on the complete dismantling of TNWs, Pakistan and India have been working to develop these low-yield, short-range nuclear missiles to use in the battlefield. To daunt India, Pakistan has decided to depend on nuclear-capable delivery vehicles, which has conventional military advantages.
In 2013 Pakistan deployed Hatf ix, a sub-kiloton nuclear warhead that has a maximum range of 60 kilometre and integrated it into its C31 (Command, control, communication and intelligence). According to the Press Information Bureau news, India earlier had tested a short-range ballistic missile on July 21, 2011. War analysts are considering TNWs as a threat to military stability to South Asia. The statements of India and Pakistan’s government officials regarding such weapons have been infrequent and filled with calculated ambiguity. Pakistan’s Nuclear Doctrine suggests, if Indian armed forces overwhelm Pakistan’s military power to such an extent that it cannot be restored by conventional weapons, Pakistan will use nuclear weapons as a part of their ‘first strike’ policy. In October 2010, India has shifted its policy from ‘no first use’ to ‘no first use against non-nuclear weapon states’. So it is clear that India is in the ‘first use policy’ against all nuclear powers including its staple enemy Pakistan.
There is a big difference between the military power of India and Pakistan. Presently India and Pakistan rank respectively 4th and 17th in world military power spending 2.40% and 3.04% of their GDPs correspondingly. The nature of enmity between these two countries is different from that of what we see between other contending neighbouring countries in the world. Since TNWs are less dangerous than strategic nuclear weapons, these two countries might think of using it when they are overwhelmed by the opponent. It is very likely that the use of low-yield tactical nuclear weapon could be a dangerous instigation both for India and Pakistan to respond with the same weapons. Both the countries might use their nuclear ballistic missiles starting a full scale nuclear war if the situation eventually gets snow ball effect.
Anarja, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2011
The newspaper industry in Bangladesh is, no doubt, a prospective industry. To ensure the growth o... more The newspaper industry in Bangladesh is, no doubt, a prospective industry. To ensure the growth of this industry we will have to have a wide range of observations and studies on possibilities and hindrances laid here. It is further important for the reason that some dailies published from Dhaka, containing almost all the key features, that are valuable theoretically, have not been able to attract the attention of the readers at the desired level. On the contrary, containing those components less in quantity and lower in quality some newspapers have obtained remarkable popularity. Only a few dailies, published from Dhaka, have been surviving or at least stable popularity; the rests have disappeared or being published with very low circulation. The Daily Ittefaq is the only daily that has kept its popularity intact all through its 50 years publication period. With a decreased circulation The Daily Sangbad has been straggling to survive with repute. Once upon a time, The Daily Observer was the most popular English Daily. It has been keeping all the qualities that made it popular. But it is facing the challenge of Daily Star, published much later.
We usually are influenced by the ideas, theories, and revelations conveyed by the researchers of West Europe and North America. We usually do not feel the necessity of examining whether or not there is any weakness, misinterpretation, or hollowness. In most of the cases we just follow them blindly. The socio-economic-cultural reality of our region is different from that of them. So it is very likely that any social research will produce different results in our soil. So we felt the necessity of conducting research on aspects that influence a reader to choose a particular newspaper. Only university-level students were selected as the primary source of this research work since they represent the most dynamic and comparatively cognizant section of people. A survey was conducted on 150 students. Collected data was analyzed and compiled and results and recommendations were prepared.