http://www.bradenton.com/2012/09/06/4187349/highlights-from-bill-clintons.html
These are just some highlights (very concise) from Bill Clinton's speech in favor of re-electing Barack Obama this November. While I don't usually follow these campaigns very closely (or at all, and don't vote because I am uninformed), I happened to hear part of this speech the other day. It was after this assignment had been posted so I listened particularly closely, mostly out of laziness and out of the hope that it would fill the requirement of the assignment and indeed, I believe it did. I thought that this speech was a highlight of the flaw with the polarized bipartisanship election process in this country. The whole time, Clinton talks only about what his candidate has done correctly and what the other has done wrong. While this is probably the best way to win an election, I feel that this is so intellectually misdirected as to border upon useless. It is my experience (as limited as it may be) that most people are dug into their Democratic or Republican corners, and perhaps the reason for this is that the seems to be nothing but corners any more....
An interesting quote I happened to stumble upon:
I kind of noticed the same thing about Clinton's speech. I tend to be incredibly cynical when it comes to politics, especially when someone else signs on to a campaign to tell the world how great this candidate is and everything that they will do for our country and blah blah blah...
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I think that he made great use of pathos, encouraging us to vote for Obama because he is such a great man and whatever. From what I've noticed, the majority of Americans don't really pay attention to anything, so it's pathos that will win. Nobody wants to vote for a bad guy. They want a wonderful citizen, a caring father, and someone they can trust.
As to your quote, I think it is dripping with pathos. Word choice is huge, and using words such as "anti-intellectualism" and "false notion" and "ignorance" and "knowledge" immediately bring up strong feelings. No one wants to be "anti-intellectual." That's obviously bad. So is ignorance. We should all strive to be knowledgeable for the good of democracy! If we vote for Obama, we will be voting against ignorance and for democracy and freedom and culture! Woo!