PDP1 - History's Unmarked Grave of Discarded Lies
Author Bio: John McConnell and a team of two other speechwriters wrote this for President Bush to address the damage and casualties brought about by the terrorist attacks on 9/11. This group had previously written four State of the Union addresses for Bush. President Bush and this team show bias against groups like Al-Qaeda not only because of their attacks, but he disapproves of the way that they train and control their recruits. There is also religious bias in the speech, which is exemplified in phrases such as, "may God grant us wisdom and may he watch over the United States of America." Although Al-Qaeda's motives and ideals are discussed, they are mostly described as "evil" and "enemies", which are relative terms. The use of propaganda techniques is evident, such as the use of words with positive connotations when describing America and Americans, and negative words when describing Al-Qaeda. Also, Bush appeals to the crowd's emotions when he tells them that he will keep George Howard's police shield as a reminder of his actions. One other important example of propaganda is the use of generalizations. The phrases, "All of America," and "all who believe in progress and pluralism," group together and speak for everyone who is seen as "good". All of the "bad" people, such as terrorists, are all put into one group with "fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism,"
Date/Context: This speech was given to Congress on September 21, 2001. This was ten days after the terrorist group Al Qaeda attacked the Pentagon, World Trade Center, and Hijacked a commercial airliner. There were nearly 7,000 deaths in the United States as well as countries around the world. Many of these countries had already begun to offer support and supplies to the U.S.
Summary: The purpose of this speech was mostly to inform Congress and the American public that the attacks on 9/11 were planned and executed by an extremist group called Al-Qaeda. Another large portion of the speech is purely for inspiration and acknowledges many heroes during the attack, proposes plans to destroy terrorist organizations, and aims to give hope to Americans by explaining how we will overcome the "dark threat of violence" from terrorists. This speech also gives information on the extremist group, explains new safety measures, and thanks allied countries for their support in the time after the attacks.
Key Quotation: "Tonight we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom."
Identifying Characteristics: After reading the PDP and President Bush's speech it has become clear that there were some clear intents behind this speech, both strategic and sympathetic. The strategic point that President Bush is trying to convey is to rally the American people, behind the terrorist effort, he is doing this by utilizing the recent 9/11 attack as a rallying point to strengthen his cause. He is also, trying to make the American people feel better after this great loss, by informing them of the memorials being held in over 80 countries around the world, and by saying that everyone is trying to help.
ReplyDeleteFeedback: This PDP is done very well, and talks about many of the major points of the speech in detail. The analysis of propaganda techniques utilized in the speech was very well written and supplied a realistic read into the reason behind why President Bush utilized them. Within this PDP there is a well written conclusion and introduction that bring all the separate points together and introduce it through a strong thesis, respectively. Also, the data and context provides a good description of the events that occurred during this period, the most notable of which being 9/11.
Although, the summary could have gone into more detail about what he said during the speech. First, it could have been mentioned that the global vigils were held by over 80 countries, each playing the national anthem. Also, the explanation could have used an explanation of the title of the speech, so as to remove the confusion as to why it's called the Grave of Discarded Lies. Plus, in the data and context section, it could have used a bit more information of world affairs, especially America, thus helping to provide more information on the attach that would enable the reader to inference reasonings behind it.