Essay #2 Analysis of A Whisper of AIDS

Mary Fisher uses a topical organizational pattern throughout the speech, and I believe that she used this pattern so she could talk about the main points: ignorance, prejudice, and silence people view HIV/AIDS with, and the need for more of an awareness of the disease. I was able to pick up the main points by listening throughout the entire speech for topics. Mary Fisher’s introduction can be divided into the different parts of the introduction: attention getter can be found in her opening statement as well as revealing the topic, she establishes her credibility in the statement about not wanting to be HIV positive, and finally she previews her body when she says that HIV/AIDS does not care who you are. Much like the introduction the conclusion can be divided into its part as well, and these parts include letting the audience know the ending of the speech is coming, done when she says, “To all within the sound of my voice,” she ends her speech with a summarization,

“Two hundred thousand Americans are dead or dying” Two hundred thousand Americans, two hundred thousand brothers, friends, loved ones, all fighting a war; this war is not fought in foreign countries, this war is HIV/AIDS (“American Rhetoric: Mary Fisher”). Sadly, Mary Fisher is one of the many victims that are crushed by the heartbreaking diagnostic of being HIV positive, however, this was her alarm to the severity of the virus. As a result, Fisher dedicated her life to spread awareness of HIV and AIDS. In addition to the jaw-dropping speech, Fisher, has dedicated her whole life to the awareness of AIDS, through her store, biographies, non-profitable organizations, and many more. However, “A Whisper of AIDS” is the first domino in her line of work to break the “shroud of silence” known as AIDS (“American Rhetoric: Mary Fisher”).Fisher spoke from the heart, and as well as the mind in “A Whisper of AIDS”, which effectively touched the hearts of many and did exactly what she hoped it would, turned the whisper of the word AIDS into a shout spoken from numerous to prevent fear in the hearts of many. In order to show the dire importance of awareness of HIV/AIDS, Fisher, Effectively uses heartbreaking pathos, strong logos, and persuasive ethos.

In the introduction part, Fisher stated her purpose of speech. She asked the Republican Party to act with the AIDS issue rather than to put it in silence, and she hoped to get people’s attention, not applause. It is important to reveal the purpose or thesis in the introduction for accomplishing the speaker’s goal (Pearson, Nelson, Titsworth, & Hosek, 2016). Then, she used statistics on how millions of people are infected and how, making audience realize AIDS is a present danger, not a distant threat. Fisher also used her own story stressing not only homosexuals and drug users had the chance to contract AIDS, but also ordinary people. This is called self-disclosure which is a method for gaining and maintaining audience attention (Pearson, Nelson, Titsworth, & Hosek, 2016). At the end of her speech, she talked about her relationship with her family and made a promise to her sons. She also claimed that she would not rest until she had done all that she can in order to make the world safe. All these rationales evoked audience’s empathy and concern about AIDS

In the beginning of her speech, Fisher includes details and anecdotes that appeal to pathos and help persuade the audience emotionally. The topic of AIDS and HIV has a negative and almost shameful connotation surrounding it, so to combat this and

The story focuses on how Chanda and the people around her are affected by AIDS. In the community that Chanda lives in, mentioning AIDS is taboo, and when Chanda felt the loss of her loved ones, she had difficulty finding anyone to talk to. When it was revealed that Chanda’s mother had AIDS, Chanda wanted to change what her community thought of the disease, “I’m tired of lies and hiding and being afraid. I’m not ashamed of AIDS! I’m ashamed of being ashamed” (Stratton 181). Rather than tolerating the truth and hiding from her community, Chanda wanted to teach people that AIDS should not be taboo. She wants them to accept that AIDS is a reality and it is a disease many are affected by. Chanda, Mrs. Tafa, and Esther, who were not afraid of the truth, inspired people to be less sensitive when bringing up the topic of AIDS. Personally, it is understandable why the people in Chanda’s community don’t want to bring up the topic of AIDS. It is human nature to avoid what we fear as our natural instincts tell us to flee from reality. This is related to our human condition, as all humans are terrified by death. Although, if one person bravely stands, many others are empowered to stand up and face their fear. Through her story, Chanda taught the readers that acceptance can be empowering and cause a positive chain reaction of

Fisher begins by speaking of the non-existent impacts of movements that have attempted to raise awareness about AIDS. She utilizes the word “despite” in consecutive phrases to show that “despite science and research” and “good intentions”, nothing significant has occurred because “the

“Tonight, HIV marches resolutely toward AIDS in more than a million American homes, littering its pathway with the bodies of the young -- young men, young women, young parents, and young children. One of the families is mine” (Fisher). Mary Fisher, born April 6, 1948 would have never imagined growing up one day to speak those exact words and more. Fisher never expected to be telling her story while pleading for others to become aware of HIV and AIDS, to help those who have these awful diseases. However, on the night of August 19, 1992 she did what she would have never expected to do growing up, she delivered a speech on the importance of helping those with HIV and AIDS and told her story trying to prompt others to figure out a way to stop this epidemic that was happening with HIV and

What makes Fisher a credible person to speak on the subject is the fact that her herself is HIV positive which means she know the everyday problems and can share the reality of the terrible disease. She understands that it will eventually make her sick enough to where she will pass away and she deals with that fact everyday and she is able to put all of that in her speech and it makes it so much better.

"Mary Fisher, the HIV-positive daughter of the well off and effective Republican reserve raiser Max Fisher, remained before the group to tell the gathering of people: 'In the event that you trust you are sheltered, you are in risk ' "(McGee). She communicated this message in the scandalous discourse astutely titled, "A Whisper of AIDS," that she persuasively conveyed amid the 1992 Republican National Tradition Address on August nineteenth in Houston, TX. Fisher talked in a way that built up her nearness and told the regard and full focus of her crowd. In this talk, Fisher utilized the expository requests of ethos, logos, and tenderness to shape her morally solid and extremely compelling reaction to the logical circumstance.

The battle against Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Defiance Syndrome (AIDS) has been devastating, underestimated, and complex. In America, this difficulty surrounding HIV/AIDS is due to the inability of the state to properly educate and protect its citizens from being exposed to this illness. Since the first detection of HIV and AIDS the government aided in the miseducation, stereotypes, and deaths of its citizens by not taking the proper protocols to protect its people. Originally, United States’ government allowed its citizens to believe that HIV and AIDS were strictly related to homosexual relationships. As a result of this misguidance, homophobia increased nationally; thus, shunning the gay community and making it

The purpose of this speech was to make the audience aware of the reality of AIDS. At the time that the speech was given, many people were uninformed about the subject of AIDS because they simply believed that it would not affect them. Fisher, was a non-stereotypical AIDS victim, and attempted to warn the audience that this disease could affect anyone. She ultimately achieved this purpose by telling the audience,

The fight for HIV and AIDS continues. Fisher tells the Republican Party “to recognize that AIDS virus is not a political creature. It does not care whether you are Democrat or Republican. ”(Page 1) As Mary Fisher explains HIV and AIDS are sexual transmitted disease; a disease does not look for a specific person but any person with a beating heart. The information Mary Fisher interprets HIV and AIDS is by saying that everyone has a risk of getting infected by this deadly disease that has plagued many homes, taken many lives.

Now many people view this disease in a very different way, and believe that information about it is very important to all people; but most important to the young generation. The speech she gave touched many peoples hearts, including the AIDS community. She did a wonderful job when she gave this speech, because she put emotion into it and used many techniques to draw the audience in. Mary Fisher gave this speech to open peoples eyes to this disease; and she used effective pausing, explanations to unclear items, anecdotes, and repetition to clarify that not just gays or people who inject drugs can receive HIV/AIDS, but that anyone can get it. What will you do to protect yourself and the new generation from this deadly virus?

Politically framing the AIDS epidemic as the “black eye” of the FDA in the 1980s and a controversial time in the Reagan Administration is not a new concept from a modern perspective. However, when looking closely at the ramifications of AIDS patient activism on public opinion of regulation and the critical view of the Treatment IND program established to catalyze AIDS research, it is undeniable that the AIDS epidemic was a critical point for Reagan’s deregulation policy and was influential in securing favorability for the wave of neoliberalism in federal policy that drove looser regulations in the agency. In fact, the public health crisis became crucial to the establishment of a period when the FDA was vulnerable to capturing.

It would only be fair to state that Mary Fisher was biased in her arguments in favor of lifting the "shroud of silence" that the Republican Party had put over the issue of AIDS with as she herself was HIV positive. (Fisher) But her main point in the speech was to get the audience to realize that it did not matter what color, sexual orientation, age, or political affiliation a person was; everyone was threatened by this disease. And to get her point across, she opened her speech with the shocking statement that despite all that the government has done to battle the AIDS epidemic, it is "the epidemic which is winning tonight." (Fisher)