Analysis Of Op-Ed 'The Day Horror Invaded The Park'

On Easter Sunday in Lahore, Pakistan a bombing occurred at an amusement park killing 72 people, twenty-nine of which were children. I read two op-eds about this incident, and while both were emotionally charged, one was more logical and written with a larger viewpoint while the other was extremely emotionally driven and hit closer to home. In Sarah Eleazar’s op-ed “The Day Horror Invaded the Park” in The New York Times she describes the events of the Gulshan-e-Iqbal bombing and uses first hand accounts from people actually present at the bombing and those at the park after the tragedy. This strategy of writing comes across as very logical, emotional, and had a sense of authority because of the first hand accounts. The other op-ed “The Playgrounds
of Pakistan” by Rafia Zakaria is extremely emotionally driven and has a very personal point of view. Both are very successful and at first glance have extremely similar approaches but with further examination they are both different and I feel as though Zakaria’s personal touches and heart wrenching emotion makes her argument more effective. In Eleazar’s op-ed she heavily uses ethos in the beginning by stating that she was at the park on Tuesday after the bombing on Sunday, which gives the her a sense of authority, because she was present at the site of the incident getting first hand information and opinions from people who were directly effected by the tragedy. Eleazar’s use of direct quotes from people present at the park during the bombing and at the time of her visit a few days later gives her credibility because these first hand accounts give a reader insight on what the populous actually thinks about the attack instead just knowing the journalist’s thoughts. The fact that Eleazar was at the park and got first hand accounts of the terrorist attack makes a reader more inclined to believe what she is saying, because they see that she didn’t just sit at her desk and research the incident but instead, she went out and got first hand information for herself which makes a reader feel as though she really cares about the topic and therefore makes the reader more trusting of her opinion. There is also a strong sense of logos throughout the entire op-ed, in that it is very informative about the events that transpired on Sunday and some various related events that happened in the past. This also gave her a sense of authority because with a logical tone a reader will most likely assume an author knows what they are talking about and will put their trust in them more. Eleazar is also very straightforward; there is no guess work in figuring out what she is talking about and her stance on the matter, this is nice for a reader because instead of trying to figure out what she means or what she thinks you are able to focus more fully on her actual opinions and not how they are presented. Eleazar uses many first hand accounts in her op-ed which furthers her credibility: “Fearing a stampede, Mr. Iqbal told people running toward the park that the machinery of one of the rides must have malfunctioned. “But my words were drowned by screams that issued from the park,” he said” (Eleazar). This quote by a man present at the park minutes after the bombing gives the reader a more visual and personal approach to the situation. Eleazar also focuses on other issues that relate to this tragic event which makes it seems as though it’s a less successful argument compared to the other op-ed that stayed to the sole topic of the park bombing, but the author very eloquently weaved in the other experiences into her op-ed and made her argument more well-rounded. She mentions that this terror attack is one of many that threaten the lives of the Pakistani, and how the government seems to not be doing as much as they could to solve the problem, “Over the last decade, the government has promised many times to crack down on the extremists. But Sunday’s attack proves that safety, especially for minorities, is a luxury the state is failing to provide. The security at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park was nearly nonexistent” (Eleazar). This quote highlights how this tragic event at the park ties in with issues that have been going on in that part of the world for years. In her last few sentences the author uses a lot of emotion and first hand accounts to really convey the emotion of this situation, “On Tuesday, the site of the attack was cordoned off, but the blackened metal barrier of the Hilly Gilly ride and the scorched tiles of the fountain explained it all. The policeman guarding the park told me it was the ball bearings in the attacker’s vest that did the most damage, ripping though victims’ bodies. “I cried later at home,” he said, now glaring at the ground. “This is the death of humanity” (Eleazar) – this was a great use of tone and first hand accounts that really made the reader feel the immense magnitude of the heartache the families of the victims, and even the general population feel after such an event.
In Rafia Zakaria’s “The Playgrounds of Pakistan” she focuses heavily her personal connection to the terrorist attack and the heavy emotion involved with this topic.
She compares the the park she went to as a child in Pakistan to the park that was targeted on Easter in Pakistan, gives her a sense of authority on the matter because she remembers how fun and comforting the park was for her and how children and parents who go to or went to the Gulshan-e-Iqbal park will not feel that sense of joy because it was robbed from them by a terrorist attack. This gives a great personal aspect to the start of her op-ed, and lets the reader know that this issue hits quite close to home for her and that she cares about this situation, which gives the reader a sense of security in that you will believe that what is written is correct and thought out because people who truly care about something will most likely take time into making sure they’re correct and have a well formulated argument about the topic. “Twenty-nine of the at least 72 dead were children, all of them, presumably, engaging in the child’s pastime of facing fear and surviving it” (Zakaria). This quote gives great emotion and ties in her experiences as a child and how the children effected will not get that opportunity now. “Pakistan’s pain has already been extinguished from the global news cycle, its catastrophe a news item and not — as in Paris or Brussels — a news event.” – alludes to the fact that a lot of times western
media does not focus on the tragic events that happen in Muslim based countries because: “It may not be said, but it is believed that they are complicit in their own deaths, guilty somehow — even at 2 or 4 or 6 years of age — of belonging to a nation that the world has appointed as its own boogeyman, a repository of all its vilest trepidations.” These quotes, while not directly related to the current catastrophe, highlight the ongoing strife that some people feel when events like these happen in Middle Eastern countries compared to European or North American ones. Zakaria also wrote her op-ed in a very poetic tone which gives a sense of beauty to an op-ed written about a tragic event, which keeps a reader engaged and helps get her point across and more clear.
While both op-eds were very nicely written and conveyed great emotion to the reader, I feel as though Rafia Zakaria’s “The Playgrounds of Pakistan” was more effective because of the emotion it evoked.
The use of her language and using a personal story to show what the children of Pakistan have lost, a sense of joy and safety at parks, made me, a reader not directly effected by this tragedy personally, feel immensely for these victims and want to do something to help. Which I feel was the goal of this op-ed, to make people feel and make them take action against these horrible tragedies. Sarah Eleazar’s “The Day Horror Invaded the Park” was very moving and very informative but I feel that for this situation an approach that focused more on evoking emotion will cause a reader to actually go out and do something as apposed to just be more informed about the
situation.