Nicholas Kristof

Nicholas D. Kristof in 2010

Nicholas Donabet Kristof (born April 27, 1959) is an American journalist, author, liberal / progressive op-ed columnist, and a winner of two Pulitzer Prizes. He has written an op-ed column for The New York Times since November 2001, and The Washington Post says that he "rewrote opinion journalism" with his emphasis on human rights abuses and social injustices, such as human trafficking and the Darfur conflict. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa has described Kristof as an "honorary African" for shining a spotlight on neglected conflicts.

Quotes

• At one level, this movement on behalf of oppressed farm animals is emotional … Yet the movement is also the product of a deep intellectual ferment pioneered by the Princeton scholar Peter Singer. … This idea popularized by Professor Singer — that we have ethical obligations that transcend our species — is one whose time appears to have come. … What we’re seeing now is an interesting moral moment: a grass-roots effort by members of one species to promote the welfare of others. … animal rights are now firmly on the mainstream ethical agenda.
  • "Humanity Even for Nonhumans", New York Times, 8 April 2009

• Most of us employ the Internet not to seek the best information, but rather to select information that confirms our prejudices.
  • "Would You Slap Your Father? If So, You’re a Liberal", New York Times, 27 May 2009

• Americans have called on moderates in Muslim countries to speak out against extremists, to stand up for the tolerance they say they believe in. We should all have the guts do the same at home.
  • "America's History of Fear", New York Times, 4 September 2010

• Compassion isn’t a sign of weakness, but a mark of civilization.
  • "Where is the Love?", New York Times, 27 November 2013

• Early signs of what the Trump administration may look like: A man associated with white supremacy and misogyny will be White House chief strategist; a man rejected for a judgeship because of alleged racism will be attorney general; and an Islamophobe who has taken money from Moscow will be national security adviser. No, this is not satire.
  • Trump Embarrasses Himself and Our Country, The New York Times (November 19, 2016)

• Look, Trump has been elected, he will be our president and he has the right to choose conservatives. But instead of turning to the many principled Republicans available, he seems drawn to hotheads and bigots, embarrassing himself and our nation.
  • Trump Embarrasses Himself and Our Country, The New York Times (November 19, 2016)

• Since 9/11, I’ve spent way too much of my time in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Syria and Libya, and the U.S. approach in dealing with those security problems has been to rely on the military toolbox and blow things up. We’ve seen that that’s a very expensive toolbox, and I think we’ve underinvested in the women’s empowerment toolbox and the education toolbox, which are also imperfect but are also powerful tools to bring about change.
  • [Removing the Barriers for Women Around the Globe], The New York Times (30 September 2018)

Lies in the Guise of News in the Trump Era (November 12, 2016)

Lies in the Guise of News in the Trump Era, The New York Times (November 12, 2016)

• One takeaway from this astonishing presidential election is that fake news is gaining ground, empowering nuts and undermining our democracy.

• I think we in the mainstream media — especially cable television — sometimes bungled coverage of Trump. There was too much uncritical television coverage of Trump because he was good for ratings; then there was not enough investigation of his business dealings, racism and history of sexual assaults, and too much false equivalency that equated the two candidates as equally flawed. More broadly, we in the mainstream media are out of touch with working-class America; we spend too much time chatting up senators, and not enough visiting unemployed steel workers. Yet for all of our sins in the mainstream media, these alt-right websites are both far more pernicious and increasingly influential.

External links

• Bio at The New York Times