Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Did King Tut die or did he not?

An obscure article in cHindu shows both a lack of understanding of the statement reported as news as well as the ability to question what was said. The article titled, Tutankhamun’s mystery solved has this statement by cHindu,
Egyptian archaeologists have claimed to have finally solved the mystery of the lineage of boy king Tutankhamun more than 30 centuries after the pharaoh was sealed in a gold coffin.

However in the same article Zahi Hawass of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, contradicts his own statements by making this vague statement,
We don’t know how King Tut died. We have begun DNA testing and we have made some wonderful discoveries. The results have been confirmed by the Journal of the American Medical Association and they will be publishing all the findings. It is very exciting. We will know who King Tut was

cHindu also claims,
Among the outstanding riddles, for example, is whether Tutankhamun’s mother was Queen Nefertiti

But later states,
Queen Nefertiti — whose mummy has yet to be discovered

This type of sensational journalism does not add any value to the facts being reported not does it help the reader understand the basic news in the article was that the results of DNA testing of a mummy discovered close to 100 years back will be announced in the next few days. Shouldn't the newspaper actually question why DNA testing which was available for years not used to resolve King Tut's death?
Perhaps the answer might lie in the motives of museums which wanted to raise a lot of money by parading Tut's mummified remains to gullible public.

10 comments:

cbcnn_Pilid said...

I read the paper in JAMA. They found that Tutankhamun had bone deformities some of which were from birth and the rest were acquired later on. He also had malaria. So they conclude that he might have died of one or the other or both but cannot establish actual cause of death. If how he died was the mystery, it has not been solved; so the title is misconceived.

Unknown said...

On another topic.....see how Chindu is shielding the Bengal government:

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hcs-apex-court-dont-need-ok-from-state-for-cbi-probe-sc/581278/

http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/18/stories/2010021859100100.htm

cbcnn_Pilid said...

Hey Shyam,

Good point. I too noticed that earlier today. One thing though: I am not sure if the Court specifically ruled based upon the West Bengal petition or it considered the batch of petitions as a whole and ruled collectively without going into the specifics of the Bengal case. In the latter instance, the limited reference to WB is less significant. Anyway, we will know once the text of the judgment becomes available.

Anonymous said...

The title of the post does not make any sense. Of course Tut died, unless someone can prove that he is still alive.
Are you trying to say 'Did Tut die of X or Y or both or neither?'?

Dirt Digger said...

Pilid,
Well the title is a satire on the article's central theme. On one hand it claims that the mystery was solved, but on the other Zahi says DNA testing will reveal everything.
So which is true? :)

Dirt Digger said...

Shyam,,
Thanks for the link
will look into it.

Dirt Digger said...

Anonymous,
The title is just poking fun at the cHindu's article which does a poor job at explaining the news release by the Egyptian authorities.
Nothing serious here.

Xinhua Ram said...

Hindutva terrorist groups and Islamic militants - Praveen Swami's turn to be secular.

.. Few investigators believe that the organisations — or other Hindutva cells — mounted the operation. “Still”,... (suspense, suspense!)

Anonymous said...

According to Secular (Praveen) Swami, "Jatin Chatterjee — better known by his alias Swami Asimanand — is thought to be hiding out in Gujarat's Adivasi tracts, where he runs a Hindu proselytisation organisation."

Chindu rarely calls any of the Christian missionary groups (which actively indule in converion in the guise of aid and charity) as running a "proselytisation organisation". That is secularism of the Chindu variety.

Anonymous said...

Allow me to wear my ebonics hat and say: "My bad".
For a fleeting moment I was satire-challenged.

>>>> Anonymous,
The title is just poking fun at the cHindu's article which does a poor job at explaining the news release by the Egyptian authorities.
Nothing serious here.