Mary Fisher a republican from a Republican family delivered a speech called A Whisper of AIDS on August 19th, 1992 to the Republican National Convention in Houston, Texas. Her audience gave her respect and their undivided attention because she spoke in a way that established her sense of purpose, “I accept a message of challenge, not self-congratulation.” (Fisher) This showed that she wanted to persuade her audience to make a change after her speech is presented. She does not care about the applause but she cares about the message she brings to them. Fisher applied the rhetorical advices ethos, logos, and pathos to appeal to the mind, logic, and reason to her audience. Fisher had an enormous amount of credibility in her speech just
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From the moment she began speaking, she established ethos. “I would never have asked to be HIV/AIDS positive, but I believe that in all things there is a purpose” (Fisher) This gives her a sense that she was credible because she admitted to the audience that she is HIV-positive. Here she shocked her audience because they never expected a middle-class white mother who had a family would have this virus. She used herself as an example to present to people that even though they were untouchable, they can be exposed as she was. Fisher brought up additional factors that would stereotypically exempt her from receive the virus when she stated "Because I was not gay, I was not at risk. Because I did not inject drugs, I was not at risk."(Fisher) Here she brought up how she was "off limits" to its effects, but she received the virus anyways. She wanted to present to the audience that they had the same risk as the person next to them. All humans are victims to this disease. She reminded them that we should take care of one as humans especially the less fortunate. She said “Are you human? And this is the right …show more content…
She wanted her audience to know that HIV/AIDS should not be something shameful to talk about and that loved ones should always be there for you. Towards the end of her speech Fisher touched the hearts of her audience by saying her goodbyes to her children. “I will not hurry to leave you, my children, but when I go, I pray that you will not suffer shame on my account. Learn with me the lessons of history, so my children will not be afraid to say the word "AIDS" when I am gone.” (Fisher) These words really touched her audience because it had them thinking about what if this were to happen to their loved ones or their children. Also, every parent in the room was able think about what she said and relate to her because leaving children behind is every parents’ worst fear, especially being left with the burden of shame, which is painful. Fisher had a great tone in her speech, it was straight forward and serious. By using ethos, pathos, and logos she was able educate the nation on what HIV/AIDS has done and to get her point across it should not be something embarrassing to talk
From the moment she began speaking, she established ethos. “I would never have asked to be HIV/AIDS positive, but I believe that in all things there is a purpose” (Fisher) This gives her a sense that she was credible because she admitted to the audience that she is HIV-positive. Here she shocked her audience because they never expected a middle-class white mother who had a family would have this virus. She used herself as an example to present to people that even though they were untouchable, they can be exposed as she was. Fisher brought up additional factors that would stereotypically exempt her from receive the virus when she stated "Because I was not gay, I was not at risk. Because I did not inject drugs, I was not at risk."(Fisher) Here she brought up how she was "off limits" to its effects, but she received the virus anyways. She wanted to present to the audience that they had the same risk as the person next to them. All humans are victims to this disease. She reminded them that we should take care of one as humans especially the less fortunate. She said “Are you human? And this is the right …show more content…
She wanted her audience to know that HIV/AIDS should not be something shameful to talk about and that loved ones should always be there for you. Towards the end of her speech Fisher touched the hearts of her audience by saying her goodbyes to her children. “I will not hurry to leave you, my children, but when I go, I pray that you will not suffer shame on my account. Learn with me the lessons of history, so my children will not be afraid to say the word "AIDS" when I am gone.” (Fisher) These words really touched her audience because it had them thinking about what if this were to happen to their loved ones or their children. Also, every parent in the room was able think about what she said and relate to her because leaving children behind is every parents’ worst fear, especially being left with the burden of shame, which is painful. Fisher had a great tone in her speech, it was straight forward and serious. By using ethos, pathos, and logos she was able educate the nation on what HIV/AIDS has done and to get her point across it should not be something embarrassing to talk