https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ryan-has-a-lot-going-for-him-but-hes-still-unlikely-to-heal-a-broken-house/2015/11/01/6e73549a-80a9-11e5-9afb-0c971f713d0c_story.html
Last week Paul Ryan gave his first address as the newly elected House Speaker. In the article above, it explains how Ryan's speech was effective and direct. In Ryan's speech, he described that he believes that, "The House is broken" and that he thinks that "We are not solving problems. We are adding to them." The article mentions how in his Speech, Ryan states that he has a vision for the House's future and how he plans to "fix" all of the problems he sees within the House. The article continues to bring up all of the different aspects Ryan said that he wants to change in the House and also lists the steps he has created to start what he believes will be a positive transformation of the House.
This past week we discussed the power of speech and the effect it can have over the people you are addressing the speech to. When reading this article I thought of our reading and discussion on Pericles speech at the funeral oration. In class we mentioned how Pericles was able to argue his opinion in his speech, but did so in a way that made the people of Athens respect and listen to his ideas. He created a sense of honor for the soldiers lost in the war, which is a topic many people do not want to discus. In relation to Pericles speech, Ryan was able to state his criticisms of the House, but in a way that caused his fellow lawmakers to listen and respect his ideas. Ryan used the word "we" a lot throughout his speech, which is a word that unifies people as a group instead of just pointing fingers and accusing people of their wrongdoings. Ryan used the power of speech to talk about what he wants to do while in his position as Speaker of the House. So far Ryan has received positive feedback on what he talked about in his speech, which demonstrates how effective his speech really was.
This is an interesting post, I agree with the statement that legislative success lies in unity of the polis. However I'm not sure if I would draw a comparison between the two due to the circumstances in which they occurred. Pericles spoke to an Athens at war, united through the rally-round the flag effect while Ryan spoke to a polarized legislature attempting to unify.
ReplyDeleteI do see where you are coming from, but I the reason I related these two speeches was because of their idea of power. I am not saying that the two speeches are identical, in fact I believe that they are very different, especially in terms of their audiences. I wanted to draw the connection between the two speeches on their use of power. Both of the speeches were effective in that they shared the two speakers ideas in a powerful way. Pericles demonstrated power through speech by unifying the people to view the fallen soldiers as heroes, Ryan demonstrated power by unifying the legislature as one.
DeleteI agree with you. The power of speech had a great effect over people in both these examples. Additionally, his use of we was definitely effective, as you said. Although they are both obviously different situations, they are still using the same basic tools of speech.
ReplyDeleteI know that my connection between these two speeches is abstract, but I am happy you can see where I was coming from. I did not mean to insinuate that either of these speeches have a direct correlation, I just wanted to bring light to the idea that a speech can be powerful if done correctly.
DeleteI agree with you that Paul Ryan is really a good public speaker. Paul Ryan not only brings out the problems, but also encourages people, both Republicans and Democrats, to solve the problems together. Moreover, he talks about his goal which is to work for people who are not in the house. He also aims to let people live under the protection of a more united happy and free America. Paul Ryan's speech is no wonder successful since he units all Americans together. And I agree with Adriana that both situations exemplifies the perfect use of speech.
ReplyDeleteI also found that one of the reasons Ryan's speech was so successful was because of his tactic of unifying Americans. When Ryan brought up the problems that he had with the system and how it works now, I too found it useful that he included how people should work together in solving them. Unifying the Republicans and Democrats is a lot easier said than done, but I believe that it is something that should be tried in attempting to fix the problems that Ryan sees in the legislature.
DeleteI agree with you that Paul Ryan is really a good public speaker. Paul Ryan not only brings out the problems, but also encourages people, both Republicans and Democrats, to solve the problems together. Moreover, he talks about his goal which is to work for people who are not in the house. He also aims to let people live under the protection of a more united happy and free America. Paul Ryan's speech is no wonder successful since he units all Americans together. And I agree with Adriana that both situations exemplifies the perfect use of speech.
ReplyDeletePaul Ryans is a great public speaker and how he used the term "we" in his speech had a great impression on the House delegates. I say this because the House is divided between parties, when one party tries to pass a bill the other vetoes it out. The term "we" does not point the finger for the wrongdoings of the house at his Democratic delegates. It creates a feeling that the problems facing the House is because of everyones doing and that we must come together to fix it.
ReplyDeleteWhen commenting on Xintong's comment I mentioned how the two parties need to work on coming together. When passing bills, Democrats and Republicans both tend to focus on staying within the lines of their parties instead of voting for what they believe to be right. I agree with you that the House is divided between parties. I also agree with you then when Ryan used the term "we," he was doing so in a way that made everyone responsible in some way for the past wrongdoings of the House. This will hopefully will unify the parties in some way to come together to fix what is "wrong."
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