Speech In Elie Wiesel's The Perils Of Indifference

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Morgan Odom
Mr. Cianciola
DE English Comp Block C
25 September 2017
The Perils of Indifference
The speaker of “The Perils Of Indifference,” Elie Wiesel, is a Holocaust survivor and a Nobel Laureate. He experienced injustices and life firsthand during the Holocaust. As a teenager in the year 1944, Wiesel and his family were deported by the Nazi’s from Hungary to the Auschwitz extermination camp in Poland . Wiesel remembers facing slavery, hunger, and strict discipline throughout his time within the concentration camp. On April 12, 1999 , as part of the Millennium Lecture series, hosted by President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton, Wiesel spoke about the injustices faced by people in the twentieth century, specifically during the Holocaust. In his speech, Wiesel addressed President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, Ambassadors, and the members of Congress.
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He uses the logos appeal to provide logical reasons for his argument. For example, Wiesel uses logic by stating that the injustices of the twentieth century would be judged in the new millennium. He recalls the tragic events of the twentieth century by stating, "These failures have cast a dark shadow over humanity: two World Wars, countless civil wars, the senseless chain of assassinations...bloodbaths in Cambodia and Nigeria, India and Pakistan...the inhumanity in the gulag and the tragedy of Hiroshima...So much violence, so much indifference." (Weisel). This quote makes the audience realize how much indifference and violence there is in the world that goes unnoticed, or is ignored. Wiesel asks how people did not have the motivation to act against the holocaust, when they knew it was happening. He

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