Page 325 - Essentials of Human Communication

304 ChaPter 14 The Persuasive Speech

State . . . and public . . . the chemical constituents used in the fracturing proc- Note that the speaker asks the audience to do something—not a require-
ess.” Gas companies will finally be forced to disclose what they dump into ment in a persuasive speech but definitely an option—in this case, sign a pe-
our soil by the billions of gallons a year. Devastated families will finally be tition in support of the FRAC Act and to disseminate it through social media.
able to bring legal action against the companies which have ignored their Here the speaker goes beyond his immediate audience and attempts to also
cries. Tragically, according to the websites of the House and Senate sponsors reach his remote audience. What else might the speaker have asked the audi-
Diane DeGette and Robert Casey, the previous three FRAC Acts were all killed ence to do?
by industry lobbying in committee. It is more critical now than ever before we
lend our support. After the round, I’ll have a handout available with a link to
an online petition I created that you can sign in support of the FRAC Act.
I further urge any of you who visit the petition to use the built-in feature Here the speaker makes a further appeal to action by stressing the impor-
to share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Further, with just one tance of this issue. How successful was the speaker is gaining your agree-
click, a letter with your signature will be sent to every member of the House ment? If you were a member of the audience, would you sign the petition?
and Senate Energy Committee, as well as all party leadership. Beyond this, we Would you share it on Facebook or Twitter?
need to get loud. Tell your family, your friends, tell your co-workers about the
Faustian bargain our government has made for cheap gas. Students, send ed-
itorials to local and national papers and send letters to major news programs,
like I’ve done. The FRAC Act has given Congress every tool for justice; all they
need is the courage to use them. And we can lend it. We’re the nation that
put a man on the moon, signed the Civil Rights Act, and for over 200 years
has stood as the most successful democracy in human history. Getting our
government to realize we can hit that light switch without poisoning our
neighbor should not be this hard.
COMTEX News of September 21, 2010, reports fracturing is set to double With the last phrase—” our next glass of water”— the speaker clearly signals
in the next five years. We can’t wait any longer. Beginning today, we stand to- that the speech is finished and achieves closure. How would you have
gether with one voice for our health, with one voice of our future, with one ended this speech?
voice for our next glass of water.

PerSuASive SPeeCheS On queSTiOnS OF POliCY
When you move beyond focusing on values to urging your audience to do something about
Watch the Video
“Same Sex Marriage” at an issue, you’ve broached a question of policy. For example, in a speech designed to convince
MyCommunicationLab your listeners that bullfighting is inhumane, you’d be focusing on a question of value. But, if
you were to urge that bullfighting should therefore be declared illegal, you’d be focusing on a
question of policy. Items that focused on questions of policy in the
May 18, 2012, issue of Yahoo News included the following: Should
Greece remain in the European Union? What should be the nation’s
policy on same-sex marriage? What should be the policy on negative
campaign ads? Should municipalities tax colleges and universities?
What action should New York take to combat the mosquito invasion?
Questions of policy concern what should be done, what proce-
dures should be adopted, what laws should be changed—in short,
what policy should be followed. In some speeches you may want to
defend a specific policy; in others you may wish to argue that a cur-
rent policy should be discontinued.

Thesis and Main Points Persuasive speeches frequently revolve
around questions of policy and may use theses such as the following:
● Smoking in municipal parks should be banned.
● Facebook’s privacy settings should be changed.
ViewPOinTS ● Colleges should not allow guns on campus.
Fact, value, and Policy in the news ● Abortion should be available on demand.
Examine one issue of an online news page for the city in which
you live. What are the questions of fact, value, and policy that ● Medical marijuana should be legalized.
this news outlet features? Now, examine an online news page As you can tell from these examples, questions of policy almost in-
from a foreign country—Google will translate for you—for the variably involve questions of values. For example, the argument that hate
same types of questions? Do they differ? If so, in what ways?
speech should be banned at colleges is based on the value judgment that