Martin Luther King Persuasive Speech

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For years, rhetoric has been the mechanism used by many important leaders that made significant changes in our world. The purpose of these people was to use rhetoric as a tool to change the minds of millions of people about a specific idea. Nowadays, it is possible to observe this kind of persuasive speech in different contexts of our daily life such as politics. In fact, now that the United States is going through one of the most important social-political situations known as the presidential elections, it is possible to observe a great variety of speeches. There are six different candidates trying to convince society that they are the perfect leader to govern this country. To achieve it, they use persuasive speech. Each one of them has his …show more content…
A concrete example of an ethical speech can be the ones of the famous politician Martin Luther king. If we analyze many of his speeches we would find significant differences with the ones of the candidate Trump. To begin with, the use of values in order to convince was a hallmark of King's speeches. If he talked about a problem he would also come out with the solution, generating feelings of faith and happiness that will contribute to change the mentality of a society in a fair and positive way. For instance, there is one specific speech that is remembered for being one of the best speeches in history, titled “ I Have A Dream”, which was wrote in 1963. This one says, "Now is the time to make the real promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood." ( King). As we could observe, this is a speech that reflects all the characteristics that define an ethical rhetoric. It is completely different from Trump speech in the way that he doesn't don't blame a group of people, or try to emphasize that one specific person is responsible for the problems the US has. His speech is based on moral values, in demanding racial justice and social integration. He talks by all and …show more content…
This is a factor that both, Aristotle and Booth, agreed is essential to have an ethical persuasive speech. It is clear that compared with King who based his speeches in real and concise arguments, Trump exceeds the limit of exaggeration and generalization to the point his speeches are considered lies. Although an occasional problem involved one, two or even hundred Mexicans, that does not imply that he has the right to generalize every person that migrates from Mexico to the USA is under that degrading characterization. According to Booth “Rhetoric is useful because things that are true and things that are just have a natural tendency to prevail over their opposites” (Austin 180). In other words, persuasion is effective and lasting only when it discuss topics that align with reality. This is the reason why even today all the ideas of Martin Luther Kings are still recalled because everything that he said was in favor of the reality of a conflict that existed against the African American race. Good persuasion is honest persuasion. Therefore, if this person is influenced by feelings of friendship or self - interest, that will make him lose a clear vision of the truth and have their judgment obscured by consideration of personal
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