Com/220-Bias, Rhetorical Devices, and Argumentation

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Bias, Rhetorical Devices, and Argumentation COM/220 November 18, 2012 “1992 Republican National Convention Address: A Whisper of AIDS” by May Fisher (1992) What are some examples of bias, fallacies, and specific rhetorical devices in the speech you selected? The speech used Rhetorical devices in the argument. Parallelism: If you believe you are safe, you are in danger. Because I was not hemophiliac, I was not at risk. Because I was not gay, I was not at risk. Because I did not inject drugs, I was not at risk. If you believe you are safe, you are at risk. If you do not see this killer stalking your children, look again. There is no family or community, no race or religion, no place left in America that is safe. Until we genuinely embrace this message, we are a nation at risk. Alliteration: It does not ask whether you are black or white, male or female, gay or straight, young or old. Rhetorical question: Are you human? And this is the right question. Are you human? Because people with HIV have not entered some alien state of being. They are human. How did the speaker address arguments and counterarguments? The speaker addressed a good argument and asked the Republican Party to lift the shroud of silence, which has been draped over the issue of HIV and AIDS. We have killed each other with our ignorance, our prejudice, and our silence. This is not a distant threat. It is a present danger. The rate of infection is increasing fastest among women and children. The silence is causing more people to die and because having this infection, in peoples eyes, you are not worthy and degraded. That’s why people are being silence about it. The speaker is trying to embrace the fact that it’s okay to talk about it and teach one another about the virus. We as human beings need to acknowledge that this virus does not discriminate against
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