While the world seemed to become a safer place as the cold war ended and efforts towards reducing global warming begin, a deadly virus was killing millions while hiding behind the ignorance of the nation. This ignorance allowed the infection to spread and the death toll to skyrocket. The virus, known as HIV, remained unacknowledged as a serious threat until brave people broke the silence and came forward to raise awareness and try to save the nation from letting itself die off. One of the brave people who stepped forward to pierce the ignorance was Mary Fisher, who was diagnosed with HIV herself and dedicated her life to preventing others from meeting the same near death fate she did. She addressed the Republican National Convention in 1992
…show more content…
Because AIDS was first seen only in minority groups of society such as homosexuals and needle injectors, AIDS was falsely believed to be contained to just these minority groups and labelled an outcast disease. The original name for AIDS was, “gay-related immune deficiency” (McMickens). Consequently many people who were not members of these groups thought that they were safe from becoming victims themselves. Mary Fisher countered these false beliefs with stark statistics about the infection rate and death toll of AIDS. She first cites the mind boggling numbers of, “Two hundred thousand Americans are dead or dying; a million more are infected” and then proceeds with, “The rate of infection is increasing fastest among women and children” (Fisher). Fisher knew going walking onto the stage that many in her audience had been trying to find bliss in their ignorance of the disease sweeping the nation, so she informs them of the “million” infected to force them to first accept that the disease is a serious threat. She then spoke of the increased infections among “women and children” to prove that no one can hide under the belief that AIDS cannot infect …show more content…
The “American family” has been used for centuries as a means of propaganda and promoting nationalism and Mary Fisher utilizes it in the same way in her speech. She states that the President’s efforts to raise AIDS awareness will have been for nothing, “if we praise the American family but ignore a virus that destroys it” (Fisher). The, “American family” Fisher refers to is the same smiling couple with one son and one daughter that inspired hundreds of men to enlist in the military, they are what is believed to be the perfect family. Even though this family may have sent millions of young men to the front lines of war to protect their lives and livelihood, Mary Fisher puts it to better use by inspiring the audience to protect the “American family” by simply raising awareness and accepting the reality of
Because AIDS was first seen only in minority groups of society such as homosexuals and needle injectors, AIDS was falsely believed to be contained to just these minority groups and labelled an outcast disease. The original name for AIDS was, “gay-related immune deficiency” (McMickens). Consequently many people who were not members of these groups thought that they were safe from becoming victims themselves. Mary Fisher countered these false beliefs with stark statistics about the infection rate and death toll of AIDS. She first cites the mind boggling numbers of, “Two hundred thousand Americans are dead or dying; a million more are infected” and then proceeds with, “The rate of infection is increasing fastest among women and children” (Fisher). Fisher knew going walking onto the stage that many in her audience had been trying to find bliss in their ignorance of the disease sweeping the nation, so she informs them of the “million” infected to force them to first accept that the disease is a serious threat. She then spoke of the increased infections among “women and children” to prove that no one can hide under the belief that AIDS cannot infect …show more content…
The “American family” has been used for centuries as a means of propaganda and promoting nationalism and Mary Fisher utilizes it in the same way in her speech. She states that the President’s efforts to raise AIDS awareness will have been for nothing, “if we praise the American family but ignore a virus that destroys it” (Fisher). The, “American family” Fisher refers to is the same smiling couple with one son and one daughter that inspired hundreds of men to enlist in the military, they are what is believed to be the perfect family. Even though this family may have sent millions of young men to the front lines of war to protect their lives and livelihood, Mary Fisher puts it to better use by inspiring the audience to protect the “American family” by simply raising awareness and accepting the reality of