Facebook as a Form of Public Address

As I was thinking about the different forms of public address to write about, I came across one that was literally staring me in the face: Facebook. I can almost guarantee that everyone on this blog has a Facebook, and I believe that Facebook has really become one of the largest forms of public address in the world. After thinking about it, and feel free to disagree, but just about everything on Facebook addresses the public in some way. We share basic information about ourselves on our profiles that others are free to view, and although we can control what others can and cannot see, we are still communicating to and with others. Every time we change our status, upload pictures, join a group, or write on a friend’s wall, that information is out there for our public to see. These days, Facebook has become one of the fastest and easiest ways to share information with A LOT of people at once. Here at Denison, we have begun using Facebook to advertise and promote events, run campaigns, show support for something… the list is endless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm5B7j65S1c

This is a short clip of Mark Zuckerbeg, the creator of Facebook. He talks about the mission of Facebook being about giving people “the power to share.” He also talks about wanting Facebook to be more about “people’s apps and the experiences we are all building together.” One of his last quotes, “to give people more power and tools to share information,” to me, just seems to really grasp the fact that Zuckerberg’s vision for Facebook is to have people constantly addressing the public through this network. I think his goal is definitely being realized.

-Sarah Ritchey

Emotional Appeal from a Council Member

In direct response to speaking to a potential hostile audience, council member Joel Burns addresses his audience with an affective tone and narrative that ensures success with his address. Just before Burns made his speech there was a large number of suicides within the youth of the gay community that concerned the more mature members of the community. Specifically, many of these suicides occurred in conservative, not gay friendly, regions of the country- much like the area of Texas from where Burns grew up. As he is from Texas and is serving as a council member in Texas, he establishes his credibility to the audience of the gay community which he is the audience that he is trying to reach. I would imagine that a struggling teen living in a conservative city would have a difficult time taking advice from someone who grew up in a gay friendly city where everything was easy. While Burns allows himself to establish credibility with the audience that he is trying to reach out to, he also must be weary of the audience that surrounds him. In this potentially hostile audience, Burns addresses his audience by use of pathos. By speaking with great emotion, Burns creates a reaction in the audience members that he made have not had without this emotion.  Correlating with the use of pathos is the use of personal narrative. By using a story that so sacred to his being, Burns effects both of his audiences, the one the surrounds him and the one that he hopes to reach, by gaining their respect and admiration.

Jen Phillips

An Unusual Climate Change Idea.

 

This talk is persuades people to look at the possibility of using a father unusual technique to stop the disastrous. The technique in question is using shooting sulfur into our atmosphere in order to cool the earth. Although this seems like a crazy idea. The speaker in this talk supports his idea with grounded scientific evidence that it will work and also uses a good smattering of graphs and statistics to demonstrate the veracity of his claims. I think that his use of graphs was very good. They helped to illustrate his point without distracting from his overall speech. The graphs were both informational and established his credibility. Another aspect of this speech that I though was especially good was that he addresses many of the opposing arguments to his plan as well as the possible problems and pitfalls that could come from atmospheric particle induced climate control. He not only talks about the immediate arguments and problems but delves into what this kind of technology could mean for our future and global politics. His argument is extremely clear and he comes across as a highly credible source. Also, the delivery of the speech included a good amount of humor, excellent and well placed pauses as well as clear annunciation and speaking volume.

American Injustice

 

This powerful speech addresses the history and oppression of the U.S and its relationship to North American indigenous people. This speech is both an awareness speech and an argument to give the black hills land in South Dakota back to the Lakota Sioux. His speech is extremely well put together and his performance of it is powerful. Huey establishes his credibility in this speech in two major ways. One, he begins his speech by talking about his time working directly with the people of the Lakota nation, and notes that many of them consider him a close friend and even an adopted family member. Also, his presentation includes photographs that he took while he was doing research on the history and current problems that afflict the people of that reservation. His photographs give him credibility as a speaker and also help to reinforce his argument and inform his audience on the terrible state of reservation life and the horrific history that led up to this. One thing we can learn from this is that credibility can come from the way you deliver your information. At many points the speaker seems like he could begin to cry at any moment. His extreme care for the subject of the speech helps the audience to feel how he feels and engage in what he is talking about. This was a powerful and well done piece of public address.

Insects for Dinner?

I chose this speech on eating insects because I was impressed with how the speaker tackled a rather challenging argument to make. Obviously, most people would be grossed out by the idea of eating insects and would be hard pressed to try an insect treat let alone eat bugs on a regular basis. However, Marcel Dicke makes eating insects seem quite practical and his argument makes the bug treats seem at least intriguing if not possibly quite tasty. Dicke manages to make a convincing argument in several ways. For one, he notes that all humans eat an average of 500 grams of insects per year! Also, he notes that many of the foods we already enjoy contain a certain amount of unavoidable insect protein. Dicke also points out that eating insects is economically and environmentally practical and that adopting insects as food will actually allow us to have a greater variety in what we eat!

Although I think his argument is sound I think that he could have stood to use a little more pathos in his speech. Specifically, it would have been beneficial to discuss more insect recipes and the delicious flavors of various insects. To be fair though, he show some tasty chocolate/bug covered strawberries and notes that grasshoppers are quite similar to shrimp. As someone who has eaten a flame broiled june bug I would say that he is right, and insects really aren’t all that bad tasting with the possibility of being delicious depending on the bug and the recipe.

Also, his speaking style was important in crafting his argument. The laid back, casual and excited tone of voice made him seem like someone who had eaten some delicious bugs and really knew what he was talking about. The excitement and humor that he used made him sound believable and convincing. Would you eat a bug snack?

Great War Veteran Speech

I came across this speech by a war veteran named Miky Prysner and I thought that it was interesting enough to write about in a blog post. This is because unlike most veteran speeches that talk about how the efforts abroad are for the best and the government is doing everything they can to bring peace to the world, Prysner has an entirely different stance on the subject and boldly calls for the U.S. to look inward for our problems than to go abroad and kill innocent people. Here is his speech:

This speech is very interesting because, as I mentioned above, it is a criticism of the way America has been handling its business in foreign affairs and boldly claims that the U.S. could provide a better world if we started with fixing ourselves. I must admit that I am a huge supporter of the Army, ROTC, Marines, Navy, and everyone out there that is preserving my freedom and I believe that we as a country have a great need for so many heros because there are a lot of evil people out there who would love nothing more than to knock the US off of the map.

However, the way that Mike delivers this speech makes me believe him and sympathize with him. He makes the claim that wealthy and powerful Americans are the ones who are behind a lot of the wars, and these powerful people are sending America’s poor to go and kill the poor in other countries. While that is a drastic claim, the words that he uses to describe his feelings effectively invoke my emotions, and I feel angry towards the way that that American political system does things. Is it possible that the root of much of the turmoil in the world stems from our own actions as a country? Or does Mike have it all wrong, and the American government is taking the correct action?

Regardless, Mike Prysner took the time to write a very impressive speech, and further took the time to practice it and deliver it to a large public with a lot of emotion and sincerity. His speech has effectively become popular on youtube and has stirred up a lot of comments from people who sing his praise. His speech embodies courage, truth, and the desire for a better world, and for that, Mike should be applauded.

Kevin Schneider