One of the most fascinating things I have learned in my public speaking class is the idea of how cautious a speaker must be when presenting a highly controversial and polarized idea that reflects personal values of
the audience.
Tuning the theme of the presentation to the light that best targets the speaker’s audience while not insulting those who differ from their views is a real art, one with the complexity that can be grasped only by a few.
It is reasonable to doubt the coordinators of the anti-abortion campaign can fully comprehend the meaning behind provocative advertising, which simply means to annoy, instigate or anger.
The wildest interpretation of the verb to provoke does not include disguise or repulse, insult, and harass – as was done by the organizers of last week’s campaign on the Green.
The title of the presentation “Genocide” suggests to me only one thing: Whoever decided on this name did not have any other choice but to turn to emotional appeal as a last resort.
Because left to itself, the arguments were too weak to make the same impact by strong and overbearing facts on his or her side.
The presentation featured grotesque photos of aborted fetuses.
It’s a shame that those who cast the first stone and point out on the lack of ethical considerations are the ones who turn into monsters themselves when blindly pursuing their own goals.
How many of you have thought, “How does a girl, who decided to terminate her pregnancy as a result of a rape, feel when she comes to campus and the first thing she sees is ‘Genocide’ above a giant poster featuring a dead fetus?”
The Constitution of the United States guarantees its citizens certain liberties protected by the law.
If the same document, to which the organizers pledge allegiance, gives me the right to terminate my pregnancy, what allows them to terrorize me for making the choice and harass me in an environment designed predominantly to an open and educated dialogue?
My advice for the organizers is not to change their opinion, or the worldview they feel comfortable with, but to change the way they force it upon others.
Each one of us has the opportunity to become influential in the field we wish to pursue.
Each one of us can graduate from Harvard or Pajama University; we can become the next Stalin or the next Jesus.
Go out there, become somebody and change the world if you wish.
That, I believe, is the reason why we have Gandhi smiling in the core of campus and don’t have Hitler hailing at us every morning on our way to school.
Because the means we choose will mark the goal we reach.
E-mail Andrea Farah at staff2@unfspinnaker.com.
