Category: Weekly Reflections

It has helped me become a better writer and think about current events differently. It has helped me discover the different types of writing and their effects on the audience.

All of Nicholas Kristof’s writing that I have read about so far has been about the refugees in Syria. He is very biased towards letting the Syrian Refugees into the United States for help and getting them visas. He writes that many people believe that any refugees the United States of America lets in could be Syrian spies or terrorists. In many of his columns, he compares the Syrian refugees today to Jewish people who were discriminated against in Germany in the 1930’s and 40’s. Kristof has many good points and uses logos in many of his writings because it is true that in the 30’s and 40’s Americans did not want to let Jews into the country because they thought they could be Nazi spies, just like they think the Syrian refugees could also be terrorists or spies for ISIS. He also uses pathos in some of his columns when he talks about the war in Syria. In “Anne Frank Today is a Syrian Girl”, Kristof compares Anne Frank to a Syrian little girl. He writes about Anne Frank’s family and how they tried to escape Germany, but could not get into the United States. Kristof says, “Fears of terrorism have left Muslim refugees toxic in the West, and almost no one wants them any more than anyone wanted a German-Dutch teenager named Anne” (Kristof). Kristof also uses a lot of persuasion in his writing because he is very biased and one sided about his views on politics. Especially for the Syrian refugees.