“Indifference is not a beginning, it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten” (Wiesel, 1999, para. 10). Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor and Nobel peace Laureate, demonstrates how the perils of indifference can affect the future to come. He strongly argues “indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred” (Wiesel, 1999, para. 9). Wiesel’s purpose was to point out to society that not only do we need to learn from our past, but change for the future. In 1945, Wiesel’s family was deported to an Auschwitz extermination camp for slave labor. Wiesel’s speech was set in the white house as part of the new millennium lecture. He starts off by directing his speech to the President, Mrs. Clinton, the members of congress, Ambassador of Holbrook, and excellences. However, the speech was intended to educate any listeners or readers about the perils of indifference. The author uses great strategies of pathos, use of stats, and …show more content…
This was an effective strategy because it makes the reader think about the consequences of being indifferent. This ties the idea together that being indifferent only benefits the aggressor because the victim loses hope, which gives the aggressor more power. Wiesel (1999) used rhetorical questions like, "Does it mean that we have learned from the past? Does it mean that society has changed? Has the human being become less indifferent and more human? Have we really learned from our experiences?” (para. 21). He asked these questions near the end of his speech and purposely did not answer them so the readers were left with these thoughts in their heads. He wants the audience to take charge and not be so indifferent. This is a warning how we have not learned from our past and there is still ethnic cleansing happening
A man named Elie Wiesel gave an important speech. “The Perils of Indifference" was about indifference and his views on this topic. He talks about the definition, examples, and what will happen if we let indifference continue. Reading a part of “The Perils of Indifference" has opened my eyes to the true meaning and effect of indifference on society. Elie Wiesel, the man who gave this speech, claimed the definition of this word as meaning “no difference”.
Wiesel pinpoints the indifference of humans as the real enemy, causing further suffering and lost to those already in peril. Wiesel commenced the speech with an interesting attention getter: a story about a young Jewish from a small town that was at the end of war liberated from Nazi rule by American soldiers. This young boy was in fact himself. The first-hand experience of cruelty gave him credibility in discussing the dangers of indifference; he was a victim himself.
In Weiesel's own life, he faced indifference head-on when he was in the Nazi concentration camp. For example, when Wiesel was in the camp he felt “abandoned by humanity” Wiesel (8) because everyone turned the other cheek and left the Jews out to dry. With no help until the American troops got to them. Another example that Wiesel noted in his speech is that indifference is “always the friend of the enemy”. This means that the perpetrator always wins in the world of indifference because the person or people that are being put down and mistreated don't have the strength and power to help themselves get help or be free.
Elie Wiesel is a Holocaust survivor who strongly believes that people need to share their stories about the Holocaust with others. Elie Wiesel was in concentration camps for about half of his teen years along with his father. After being the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust he resolved to make what really happened more well-known. Elie Wiesel wrote dozens of books and submitted an essay titled “A God Who Remembers” to the book This I Believe. The essay focused on Elie Wiesel’s belief that those who have survived the Holocaust should not suppress their experiences but must share them so history will not repeat itself.
Indifference need to be gain awareness and be stopped. He develops his claim by narrating the dangers of indifference, and how it affected his life then, describes how wrongful it is to be treated in such a way. Finally Wiesel illustrates examples of how indifference affected the world. Wiesel’s purpose is to inform us about the dangers of indifference in order to bring change about it. He establishes a straightforward tone for the president, ambassadors, politicians, and congressmen.
Elie Wiesel Rhetorical Speech Analysis Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor and winner of a Nobel peace prize, stood up on April 12, 1999 at the White House to give his speech, “The Perils of Indifference”. In Wiesel’s speech he was addressing to the nation, the audience only consisted of President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, congress, and other officials. The speech he gave was an eye-opener to the world in his perspective. Wiesel uses a variety of rhetorical strategies and devices to bring lots of emotion and to educate the indifference people have towards the holocaust. “You fight it.
The Perils of Indifference Critical Evaluation Essay In the past, indifference has led to the murder of millions of people. Indifference is when we, the humans race, do not care about those who suffer from the injustice, violence, or oppression on behalf of others (Clare). On 12 April 1992, Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor gave a speech regarding human indifference in front of President William J. Clinton and the first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, at the White House. What was he trying to accomplish during his speech?
Although many people believe anger and hatred cause others to act out in violence or turn own friends against each other, the real problem is indifference. The quote by the Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, emphasizes how disastrous indifference really is: “More dangerous than anger and hatred is indifference. Indifference is not a beginning; it is an end—and it is always the friend of the enemy” (Wiesel). In support of Elie Wiesel’s position, indifference is far more destructive than both anger and hatred combined.
With all of these dreadful attacks, one would think something would be done to prevent these acts of violence, but instead, most of us showed some type of sympathy but no actions, laws, or acts are being enforced to prevent the ruthless and inhuman acts from occurring. I get it, being indifferent is extremely easy, but it is also not worth the pain and suffering that others have to go through. Elie Wiesel, the human rights activist, Nobel Peace Prize-winning, Holocaust survivor, and author of more than 50 books, performed his "The Perils of Indifference" speech at the White House in April of 1999. Where he talked about the meaning of indifference and how easy it is to be indifferent, "Of course, indifference can be tempting -- more than
Elie Wiesel voiced his emotions and thoughts of the horrors done to Jewish people during World War II whilst developing his claim. Wiesel “remember[s] his bewilderment,” “his astonishment,” and “his anguish” when he saw they were dropped into the ghetto to become slaves and to be slaughtered. He repeats the words “I remember” because he and the world, especially those who suffered in the ghettos and camps, would never be able to forget how innocent suffered. Consequently, he emphasized that “no one” has the right to advocate for the dead. Like many other people in the world, he lost his family during the war.
In his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Elie Wiesel strives to inform his audience of the unbelievable atrocities of the Holocaust in order to prevent them from ever again responding to inhumanity and injustice with silence and neutrality. The structure or organization of Wiesel’s speech, his skillful use of the rhetorical appeals of pathos and ethos, combined with powerful rhetorical devices leads his audience to understand that they must never choose silence when they witness injustice. To do so supports the oppressors. Wiesel’s speech is tightly organized and moves the ideas forward effectively. Wiesel begins with humility, stating that he does not have the right to speak for the dead, introducing the framework of his words.
Cydnee Lopez Ms.Trelease English 1010 23 October 2015 Rhetorical Analysis-Perils of Indifference Well known writer, world activist, and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, in his speech, Perils of Indifference, elaborates on on the topic of indifference, within our country/society and consequences and achievements because of it. The speech was delivered on the 12th of April 1999, in Washington, D.C., as part of the Millennium Lecture Series hosted by the White House. Directed towards the audience of the White House, Government officials, and Americans. Wiesel's purpose is to show reference to how indifference has allowed many good and and bad things to happen throughout america's history.
Attention. Attention is something all authors desire to have from the audience when reading his or her book. Attention can be drawn by the author is various ways whether it is through the writing itself or the style. In particular, Elie Wiesel does this in his memoir, Night, to drawn the attention out by style. In this memoir Wiesel gets the attention of his audience through the variety of sentence structure throughout his book that helps emphasize many moments that had occurred in his life and journey.
The entire world was so ignorant to such a massacre of horrific events that were right under their noses, so Elie Wiesel persuades and expresses his viewpoint of neutrality to an audience. Wiesel uses the ignorance of the countries during World War II to express the effects of their involvement on the civilians, “And then I explain to him how naive we were, that the world did know and remained silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent when and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation” (Weisel). To persuade the audience, Elie uses facts to make the people become sentimental toward the victims of the Holocaust. Also, when Weisel shares his opinion with the audience, he gains people onto his side because of his authority and good reputation.
Over just a few years in places in Europe over 6 million European Jews were killed in terrifying concentration camps. One of rare survivors, Elie Wiesel, was just a kid when he experienced this horrible event in history. 12 years later he wrote a memorable memoir called Night. Then, in 1999 he traveled to the U.S. to deliver a speech that is known as Parrels Of Indifference. Both the book and speech deliver a intriguing and opening message about his experience and what he took away from this event.