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Purposes of the Speech
Joe Biden, the current President of the United States, gave a speech on the coronavirus pandemic on March 11, 2021. According to the Political Discourse reading, an address has various purposes, including inspiration, motivation, amusement, information, and persuasion. Joe Bidens speech sought to inspire, motivate, inform, and persuade the audience. At the beginning of his discourse, the president said that he wanted to talk about the countrys position regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, a year since the first cases were reported. The speaker also persuaded the listeners to comply with COVID-19 preventive measures such as wearing masks and maintaining social distance.
The president pleaded with the audience to comply with the scientists health regulations and to trust the government to do its best to help its citizens overcome the pandemic. The speech also aimed at motivating and inspiring the healthcare workers who were the frontline responders to the pandemic. Joe Biden achieved inspiration when he told the listeners that he had experienced frontline workers and essential workers risk their lives. He acknowledged the healthcare workers selflessness and sacrifices in their attempts to save others. The speech inspired those who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic not to give up. He gave an example of a personal experience with job loss, demonstrating to the audience that he understood their pain and hopelessness. This part of the speech inspired the audience to adhere to regulations and motivated essential workers to continue offering services.
Rhetorical and Linguistic Strategies and Devices used by the Speaker
The speaker deployed various rhetorical and linguistic strategies and devices to achieve the intended effects on the audience. The president used the three rhetorical appeals to persuade the audience about the seriousness of the pandemic and the need to adhere to the preventive measures. He used logos appeal by logic, statistics, and facts about the pandemic. For example, President Joe Biden mentioned the specific number of deaths due to COVID-19 within one year 527,726. He also said that this number was higher than the deaths that occurred during WWI, WWII, the Vietnam War, and the terror of 9/11 combined. The purpose of providing statistics and facts about the pandemic was to convince the citizens about the importance of complying with the measures that health experts had provided. These statistics were vital in demonstrating the viruss extensive spread and convincing people to adhere to the regulatory standards.
Pathos is another strategy that appears consistently throughout the presidents speech. According to the Political Discourse reading, pathos is a technique that intends to appeal to the audiences emotions and feelings. The president gave an emotional narration about his experience as a young boy when his father lost his job, relating to how most people had lost their employment opportunities due to the pandemic. President Joe Biden sought to let the listeners know that he understood their pain and frustration. The president also used this appeal when he sympathized with those who had lost their loved ones due to coronavirus and other unrelated causes. He also appealed to peoples emotions when he highlighted the division brought about by wearing masks as a requirement. A section of the population was against wearing masks, which brought division and unnecessary hate. Therefore, the president used pathos to appeal for peace and togetherness because divisiveness threatened the effectiveness of efforts to fight the spread of corona.
The president also used ethos to appeal to the audience. He achieved this by establishing credibility, trustworthiness, and reliability as the bearer of the news. For example, he demonstrated trustworthiness with the audience when he said that fellow Americans were owed nothing but the truth. Joe Biden also vowed to use his authority as the president to get the job done, indicating that he could influence decisions regarding the management of coronavirus.
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