“If you believe you are safe, you are in danger” –Mary Fisher
A Whisper of AIDS was delivered on August 19th 1992 at the Republican National Convention Address in Houston, Texas. Mary Fisher the daughter of the wealthy and powerful Republican fund raiser Max Fisher conducted her speech on the dangers of HIV and AIDS. A forty-four year old HIV positive mother of two was infected with this disease through her ex-husband. Fisher said throughout her speech “I would never have asked to be HIV positive, but I believe that in all things there is a purpose”. During the year of 1992, millions of people were infected with this disease but were ashamed to speak publicly about the issue. Fisher knew that in order to change federal polices outlook
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Her enormous amount of credibility and persuasion of words used makes you think twice about this well-known diseases. During her speech she said “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.” Fisher was off-limits but still contracted the disease, AIDS does not discriminate on skin color this disease targets on all humans. Fisher repeatedly asks her audience throughout her speech “Are you human?” why would she ask this question? Many people think that when you contract AIDS/HIV that you because some type of an alien. Fisher tries to explain during her speech how AIDS can really effect someone and that we need to be taught about the issue before we stereotype and judge.
At the time of Fisher’s speech many Americas were misinformed about the growing epidemic of AIDS. She used many of her unique techniques that showed her impressive use of logical appeal. The use of logos was used during a part of her speech when she interacts the audience with how many people are suffering with AIDS. She proved her information about the increasing population when she stated “The reality of AIDS is brutally clear. Two thousand Americas are dead or dying. A million more are infected. Worldwide, forty million, sixty million, or a hundred million infections will be counted in the coming few years.” (Fisher) Therefore, Fisher never really understood what AIDS were until it happened to
By stating facts, gaining sympathy, and giving her audience a speaker they can trust, Fisher gave one of the most memorable and effective speeches in history. At the end of her speech, she called for her audience to take action. She provided words of inspiration and developed a care for victims of AIDS and HIV in the listener’s hearts. She begins her speech with her saying, “I would never have asked to be HIV-positive” (Fisher). However, since she is HIV-positive, Fisher decides to accept it and look at it as an opportunity to make a change. Fisher’s speech would have been not nearly as powerful if she didn’t have HIV herself. Mary Fisher believes that AIDS shouldn’t be a whisper. She wants to get it out there as a topic of discussion instead of everyone acting uncomfortable when it’s brought up. Fisher’s main purpose is to raise awareness, but not only of AIDS and HIV. She wants to raise awareness and change the way people with AIDS and HIV are treated. She goes about doing so by publically speaking wherever she can and hoping that it sinks in. She hopes that eventually, AIDS and HIV can be studied well enough and understood globally. Most importantly, Mary Fisher hopes for a
Mary Fisher’s speech entitled “A Whisper of Aids,” is an appeal to the emotional and political moods of the Republican National Conference on August 19, 1992. In this speech she talks about her disease, but unlike most people, who become depressed when they learn about contracting the disease, Mary Fisher stands up and fights for everyone who has AIDS as well as bringing the statics of HIV and AIDS to light. Mary Fisher’s speech can be analyzed from three different standpoints: structure, delivery, and appeal.
“Two hundred thousand Americans are dead or dying. A million more are infected. Worldwide, forty million, sixty million, or a hundred million infections will be counted in the coming years” (American Rhetoric: Mary Fisher -- 1992 Republican National Convention Address). Mary Fisher, who is a Political activist, delivers a speech on August 19, 1992 at the Republican National Convention that addresses the matter of the Aids epidemic that is going on in the country. She became a spokesperson for HIV and Aids when she contracted the virus from her second husband in 1991. From the moment that when the virus had affected herself and her family; in fact, Fisher has been more determined to prevent the spread of Aids and to assist others to be
She says, “I want my children to know that their mother was not a victim” (3). In this speech she uses ethos by saying, “Tonight, I represent an AIDS community whose members have been reluctantly drafted from every segment of American Society” (1). She is saying that she represents anyone who has AIDS. Fisher is also credible to talk about this subject because of when she says, “In the place of judgement, they have shown affection” (2). Fisher is talking about how President Bush and Mrs. Bush have treated Fisher and her family no different then a person with AIDS or HIV. Mary Fisher is believable in the speech and able to relate to many different people, who either have AIDS or are HIV positive, also people who have a family member that is struggling with this disease.
At the Republican National Convention in 1992, no one was aware that Mary Fisher was about to alter the viewpoints of thousands of Americans. During the 1980’s and 90’s the public’s view on AIDS was uninformed, skewed, and ignorant. The purpose of Mary Fisher’s speech was to open up the conversation on AIDS and to inform the public of the deadly disease. Fisher’s speech came from a place of sorrow and passion because she and her newborn son were both diagnosed with AIDS. At this time, society deemed AIDS as only associated with homosexuals and that no straight person could contract it. Mary Fisher’s speech persuaded people to change their viewpoints on AIDS by the use of ethos, pathos, and logos.
“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.
Mary Fisher also wants her immediate audience to change their negative perspective toward the disease. She wants them to let the affected speak about AIDS and HIV and not ignore them. She is claiming that the rest of the nation has made the affected be fearful, with the words, “You are HIV positive, but dare not say it. You have lost loved ones, but you dare not whisper the word AIDS. You weep
Anyone who enters cannot leave the cell and therefore once an individual is infected, then, death is the only next probable thing. This painting attracted views from all persons and groups in our society after they realized that handling and addressing the AIDS epidemic is a collective responsibility. Discussions of disease, death, race, sex, drug addiction and homosexuality which are shunned by polite individuals became common topics (Mahoney, n.p.). Gatewood created a scenario where everyone had to acknowledge that the AIDS epidemic was now a threat that needed to be addressed immediately. Humanity ought to give the AIDS epidemic the weight it deserves by advocating everyone to play their role in this collective responsibility of reducing infections and deaths caused by the spread of HIV. Gatewood wanted humanity to realize the price they have to pay for their prudishness and ignorance of AIDS as a killer
Once Fisher gained the attention of the Republican Party, she would start her claim by applying logos. By citing statistics about AIDS such as the death rate; “Two hundred thousand are dying,” and the number of rising victims; “A million more infected,” these devastating facts will support her claim that AIDS is real and it is killing the human race. Fisher
The year was 1991 when Mary Fisher tested positive for HIV. Fisher is the daughter of Max Fisher, a powerful and wealthy republican. She isn 't the normal face of AIDS, and in 1992 she spoke out of her disease at the Republican National Convention. Fisher 's speech, A Whisper of AIDS, is considered one of the top speeches of the 20th century. When Fisher gave her speech, she spoke to a crowd that didn 't believe AIDS was going to affect their lives. When listening and reading the speech, one must take into context the time period, during the 90s testing positive for HIV/AIDS meant death. At the time there were no treatments to help prolong those
When the AIDS and HIV virus crept its way into the human-race, it quickly, and without warning, claimed the lives of millions. Then when its destructive wake had finally been abated, it left behind several untold mysteries. Throughout the course of this class, all the new material we have been exposed to has added some unique piece to the puzzle of the AIDS epidemic. Each puzzle pieces have ranged from speculations on how the AIDS epidemic had begun, to what exactly has the epidemic done. We have also tackled the question and how it forced a change in society. Our newest piece of the puzzle is the documentary “The Age of AIDS,” by William Cran. Although this documentary did not surprise me in its content, it did, however, affirm certain types
On August 19, 1992, Mary Fisher had the country in silence and paying full attention. “…I asked the Republican Party to lift the shroud of silence which has been draped over the issue of HIV and AIDS. I have come tonight to bring our silence to an end.” This analysis of her speech will allow the reader to further understand how the American public politicized the contraction of a virus that can affect anyone and how Mary Fisher was able to help bring an end to this stigma. The way in which Fisher uses rhetoric connects with her audience on a personal ground, allowing them to sympathize with her and her struggles, further allows her to use their support for her cause. By using the feminine style of rhetoric, Fisher’s speech reaches an audience that has up to this point, not paid much attention to the HIV and AIDS crisis in America. Through this style, she is able to relate better with the conservative Republican audience in attendance while also connecting and identifying with the disadvantaged populations that have contracted HIV and AIDS that do not have the
The most effective (and the cheapest) are her repeated mentions of children. She reminds the audience that, despite the perception of AIDS as only affecting gay men and drug users, women and children are being infected increasingly quickly. Fisher also delivers a particularly masterful and wonderfully uninspired paragraph to her children about dying at the end of her speech. We the listeners know that said children had an average age of three at the time, and thus this statement really was not for them at all. It hit its true audience hard and made for an excellent closing remark. In a slightly less cheap statement, she had also urged those affected by AIDS not to feel shame, because the fault does not lie with them, only with those who blame victims to make themselves feel
Mary attempted to bring attention to the quickly spreading disease to an uneducated audience. In her bold and inspiring speech, Mary argues the importance of opening the eyes of Americans and abolishing the hushed whispers of what AIDS really is.
Although the “war on AIDS have contributed to the development of policies, one important aspect of the disease was the Ryan White Care Act that came about from a young men who at the age of 13 was diagnosed with AIDs through a blood transfusion. It was this movement that brought about much awareness that HIV/Aids can happen to anyone. He was the first teenager, the first with hemophiliac to have AIDS. At the time, there was no education or information on AIDS. Since, the life and struggle of Ryan White, there has been changes in helping those with the disease. His death has sparked a national outcry for those who suffers with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) the virus that causes AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). His legacy has left behind for people to receive better care and live a longer life.