New York Times Op-Ed Columns - Assignment #2

Nicholas D. Kristof – Is Delhi So Different From Steubenville?

Nicholas Kristof has written about violence against women and sex trafficking previous to this column.  Kristof has also visited India on multiple occasions and tagged along on a raid of a brothel while focusing on the story of a 15-year-old and 10-year-old imprisoned at the brothel. This column was different however.  Kristof compared the repeated rape of a 16-year-old girl in Steubenville, Ohio to the gang rape in India as well as a similar situation in West Africa. Kristof’s tone throughout the column is disappointment in Congress for failing to renew the Violence Against Women Act and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. While Kristof did applaud Hillary Clinton for trying to put these issues on the global agenda, he still expresses disappointment that situations like these are still allowed to occur without a whole lot being done to prevent them in the future.

The lead and first few paragraphs outline the events that happened in India, West Africa and Steubenville, Ohio.  The fourth paragraph is where Kristof first expresses his disappointment in Congress for failing to show their concern for sexual violence with the failure to renew the Violence Against Women Act.

Kristof tries to show how big of a problem gender violence is throughout his piece.

“Gender violence is one of the world’s most common human rights abuses,” Kristof writes. “Women worldwide ages 15 through 44 are more likely to die or be maimed because of mail violence than because of cancer, malaria, war and traffic accidents combined.”

Kristof also used quotes from medical professionals to drive home his main point of how big of a problem gender violence is throughout the world.

“When I treat a rape victim, I always advise her not to go to the police. Because if she does, the police might just rape her again,” said former president of the Soceity of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Pakistan, Dr. Shershah Syed.

The article was published on January 12, 2013 and is still timely because many other major news organizations are continuing to follow the situation in Delhi as well as Steubenville. 

Joe Nocera – How to Shoot a Gun

Joe Nocera’s column describes his experience shooting a gun for the first time to try and understand why gun owners are so passionate about their guns. Nocera’s lead sets the scene for the rest of the column.  Nocera describes the environment of Bud’s Gun Shop in Lexington, Ky. on a cold Wednesday following the Newton massacre and President Obama’s reelection. Nocera describes his nervousness about being at the gun shop and about to fire a gun for the first time.  The tone of his column is confusion about why guns are so popular. Nocera tries to understand the popularity, but each time is left without understanding.  However, Nocera writes that people who grew up around guns have a completely different viewpoint than him.

The first paragraph of Nocera's column is very descriptive about his nervousness walking through the doors of the gun shop for the very first time. Nocera also expresses his surprise to how many people were in the gun shop in the middle of a work day. With the way the first paragraph is written, you get a visual and sense of what it was like for Nocera to be there at the gun shop. 

In the third paragraph, Nocera introduces the daughter of one of his local friends.  Unlike himself, she grew up around guns. With the introduction of Gena, Nocera offered multiple viewpoints on a very controversial subject.

In the final paragraphs, Nocera states following the gun range experience he still did not understand firearms appeal to so many people however, he was able to see why it would be so difficult to change the gun culture.

“Did I discover on Wednesday afternoon why shooting a gun appeals to so many people? Not really,” Nocera wrote. “But I did get a glimpse of why it will be so difficult to change America’s gun culture.”

“You can say until you’re blue in the face that a gun owner or his family is far more likely to be hurt or killed by that fun than an intruder,” wrote Nocera. “But people like Gena – decent, honorable citizens who grew up around guns – will never believe it. They will always think of guns as the great equalizer.”

Nocera talked to a variety of people to include a variety of viewpoints.  While he offers his confusion to the popularity of firearms, he tried to take steps to be able to understand it.  He also interviewed the gun shop owner and a woman who grew up around guns.  The columns offering of a variety of viewpoints showed the research he put into the column. Also, Nocera went to a shooting range for the first time to conduct his own research as to why firearms are so popular in the American culture.

The article was published on January 11, 2013 and therefore was timely because the massacre in Newtown is still fresh in American's minds as well as new gun legislation was just passed this week in New York State as well as talk of legislation at the federal level.