The Necessity of the Afghanistan War
The Afghanistan War is a big and controversial issue within today’s society, especially now, after the ten year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks which caused this declaration of war. There are many different views throughout the world dealing with this war and it can be difficult to determine which view is right. Often one single view won’t show the whole picture, only representing the idea from one perspective, causing a division not only in Australia but all over the world as to whether the war in Afghanistan is beneficial and worth the bloodshed and cost. The blog post “Australian media access to Afghan mission vital for understanding” from the blog Frontline and written by Lynne O’Donnell careful constructs an argument to persuade readers to accept the necessity of the Afghanistan War. Through the use of generic blog and language convention Lynne O’Donnell is able to construct a positive representation of the Afghanistan War. This is clearly seen through the uses of generic and language conventions throughout the blog post.
The blog entry “Australian media access to Afghan mission vital for understanding” uses the main generic blog conventions to represent the importance of the Afghanistan War. Generic conventions are hard to define for blogs because there are so many different ways in which to write a blog. Some blogs have only pictures where as other have large amounts of text. Some blogs have short and to the point posts or even just one line. However there are conventions that are common to all blogs, they are all online, they all have posts, they have a date and a title for each post, and they have a layout and a post structure, no matter how different they can be. This blog post is online and therefore represents the topic of war as an important topic that needs to be discussed word wide. If this topic was not important it would not be blogged about on a professional blog site such as Frontline. This article is also in a separate post, not with many other topics such as on a family blog, therefore indicating, again, the importance of the topic of war. The date is close to present, it being written about 3 months ago, representing it as a current issue. The layout of the blog as a whole is professional also representing the topic as important because if the topic was not important it would not be discussed on a professional blog. Finally, the structure of the post itself starts with background information, then moves onto the issue in a non-aggressive way then finally discussing the issue, and representing the issue in a negative way. O’Donnell portrays the idea that the people who feel the Afghanistan War is causing too much blood shed and is no longer beneficial see this because of government action, but nevertheless the war is still important. Conventions such as themes are also present in the text such as the need for the Afghanistan War and also the need media access in Afghanistan.
Persuasive Techniques are important in all pieces of text that are used to convince people of a particular point of view. The author uses a questioning statement in paragraph five where she says “How many of these writers, I wondered, had been to Afghanistan?” This allows the reader to think about the rhetorical question given and plants a picture in their minds. In doing so the reader is persuaded to think that the government is in the wrong for not allowing journalists to go into Afghanistan, giving the wrong representation of war to the Australian people. Through this the author can then represent the Afghanistan War as important in order to stabilize the Afghan government, giving a positive representation of the Afghanistan War.
Figure of speech, if used in the right way, can persuade a reader to see a particular point of view through the use of metaphoric language to give a better understanding of the situation. The author uses the figure of speech “tightest of lip” in reference to the government to represent them in a negative way. The phrase “tightest of lip” means to hate to speak or closed mouth, a pursing of the lips in anger. This word has a negative connotation and is said to represent the government in a negative way.
To represent a topic or idea in a certain way it is important for an author to carefully choose specific vocabulary with particular connotations to bring across a certain point of view. In order for Lynne O’Donnell to persuade her readers that the Afghanistan War is necessary, she has to choose particular words that shed positive light on the war. The author uses strong words such as ‘immediate’ in reference to the idea of many Australian citizens wanting to withdraw from the war. This represents the idea that people don’t want a gradual removal of troops, allowing Afghanistan to ease into an unoccupied state but rather a quick and hasty withdrawal. This give a representation of the Australian people as not wanting the Afghanistan War and therefore helps the author push her point that the government needs to allow Journalists into Afghanistan to get the truth to the Australian people so that they can understand the importance of the war.
In reference to the soldiers the author uses terms such as ‘serving’ which has a positive connotation to represent work they are doing in Afghanistan. Rather than using words such as ‘fighting’ or ‘combat’, ‘serving’ is a much more positive word, the two previous terms having negative connotations that make the idea of being in the military very negative. ‘Serving’, however, helps readers to think positively about the soldiers and therefore the work they are doing in Afghanistan, allowing them to accept the idea of war as important for such a country.
Terms such as ‘arduous’ are used by the author to explain the hard but important task of the war in Afghanistan. This shows that the concern that people have about the war in Afghanistan is not unjustified and therefore opens the minds of the readers who are anti-war because the author can see their point of view. In doing this the author can portray to the audience that the war is important and represent what the soldiers are doing as necessary.
The word ‘radical’ is used to describe the Islamic ideology and its goals and is used in reference to people not understanding the Islamic religion and doings because they feel that Australia is not in danger of being under attack. By saying ‘radical’ it puts across the idea that the extremist views of this religion are putting Australia in danger and therefore represents war in a needed way, showing the necessity of it. Further the word ‘target’ is used to portray the idea that Australia is being watched and attack was planned against us. This has a negative connotation in that things were planned and we are therefore in extreme danger, pushing for the idea that war is needed. ‘Target’ was used rather than ‘affected’ to represent the situations of the terrorist attacks as being specifically focused on Australia, showing further need for the war in Afghanistan.
The symbol of blood was used to represent the Australian soldiers who have died in the Afghanistan War. The word ‘blood’ was used to show the loss of life, blood being the source of life; with no blood coursing through the body there is no life. By doing this the author represents death, the loss of life in a symbolic way to put across the point that life has been lost, blood has been shed and all because of this war. Blood is an important substance to people all over the world; people are encouraged to give blood, when we talk about our children we say they are our flesh and blood and it represents life. Through taking about blood as a loss we therefore feel greatly touched by the situation, helping us to empathise and feel the pain of death. Therefore the symbol of blood represents in this case the loss of life and gives a representation of the hatred towards the Afghanistan War that is felt by many people because of the misunderstandings and miscommunications.
Through the use of generic and language conventions an author is able to represent an idea in a particular point of view, in order to persuade their readers. In the blog post “Australian media access to Afghan mission vital for understanding” Lynne O’Donnell uses generic and language conventions to persuade her readers to understand that although the government is causing people to see the war as unsuccessful the truth is that the war is important to keep the world functioning. Through blog conventions such as being posted online or having its own recent post shows the importance and current issues of the topic of the Afghanistan War. In addition to this O’Donnell uses language conventions such as persuasive techniques, figure of speech, vocabulary choice to bring across certain connotations and symbolism to represent the Afghanistan War in a positive way. In doing so O’Donnell is able to persuade her readers that the Afghanistan War is beneficial and very important in order for the safety not only of the Afghans but for the rest of the world.
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