REHUGP

REHUGO #2 Gursimran Singh Mr. Soeth English 3 AP February 3, 2011   REHUGO Analysis: History – Speech     A.    Elie Wiesel delivers his speech, "The Perils of Indifference," on April 12, 1999 in the White House.  He is giving his speech in the perspective of a Holocaust survivor.   B.    Elie Wiesel delivers this speech to President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, members of the Congress, Ambassador Holbrooke, and other attendees at the Millennium Lecture Series; which is a farewell to the past century and an introduction to the future. In his speech, Elie shares the details of his experiences and struggles he had to face as a Holocaust victim. He also illustrates the dangers of indifference to one person; because indifference is not creative, elicits no response, is not a response, is not a beginning- it is an end. "And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten."   C.    The speech is relevant today because in his speech Elie talks about indifference. "Of course, indifference can be tempting -- more than that, seductive. It is so much easier to look away from victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, and our hopes. It is, after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in another person's pain and despair. Yet, for the person who is indifferent, his or her neighbors are of no consequence. And, therefore, their lives are meaningless. Their hidden or even visible anguish is of no interest. Indifference reduces the other to an abstraction."  Indifference is still happening in the world, on a regular everyday basis. People tend to see the wrong doings, but instead of doing something about it they turn their head and walk the other way; as if they have witnessed nothing. Also it's not just people, government officials also tend to look the other way when something unpleasant has come their way. For example, just recently when Obama went to India, thousands of Sikh widows who lost their beloved ones in the genocide of 1984 begged Mr. Obama and the first Lady to visit the Widow Colony. To see how bad the poverty was and how horrible treatment these widows get- but instead both Mr. and Mrs. Obama ignored the outcries of these widows. As long as there is mankind, there will always be indifference; it's like a disease no one can cure. This speech is very effective, especially since the tone of the speech is disappointment and pain such as when the author says "Why, the indifference, on the highest level, to the suffering of the victims?" It hits the audience with a blow of realization of how our world acts to indifference.   D.    Rhetorical Strategies   1.    Definition: Wiesel defines the word indifference as being " 'no different', a strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil" giving a further understanding of the word. It also clarifies the audience on what Wiesel's trying to get across to them and it changes their previous understanding of the word if different. 2.    Allusion: Elie Wiesel alludes to the holocaust and the liberation of Jewish people all throughout the speech to develop his credibility as a reliable speaker. He uses allusion by referring to numerous wars, genocides and assassinations (such as World War l and World War ll, the Holocaust and Rwanda, and the assassinations of Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr.). He does this to support's his argument on indifference and how people tend to make mistakes by doing nothing about it.       MLA Citation for Speech: Wiesel, Elie. "The Perils of Indifference." White House, Washington, D.C. 12 Apr.             1999. Speech.