Democratic National Convention '08

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

As for Leo listening to the speech - as I said before, I think that he won't hear it the same as others might. The words mean different things. It couldn't hurt, though after seeing his posts here, I don't think the speech will persuade him. That's as negative as I'll get...

I can't wait to watch the Republican Convention just to see just how much I don't understand of their language these days.

There are many brilliant orators who are and were despicable people, able to persuade with passion or personality. I am NOT suggesting Obama is a despicable person in the least so don't read it that way. I find that reading what someone has to say in a speech takes the magic of personality and charm or whatever the individual possesses out of the equation so I can focus on what they've actually said.

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

I find that reading what someone has to say in a speech takes the magic of personality and charm or whatever the individual possesses out of the equation so I can focus on what they've actually said.

All well and good, but don't pretend to know whether a speech was effective or not. It goes way beyond the mere words.


Not that the words aren't important. Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural remains perhaps the best political speech of all time, and I never got to hear it. So I have NO IDEA whether it was effective in its day. Perhaps the speech was ruined by Lincoln's poor delivery, I have no idea.

But I can't claim to know all about the 2nd Inaugural just because I read it in letters four feet high carved in marble on the walls of the Lincoln Memorial and it made me weep. Or just because it's rightly famous and well-studied. I didn't live in Lincoln's times and so I can never know.


Not to equate Obama or Gore or anyone alive today with Lincoln, but what a shame to have the opportunity to hear a speech, to see it delivered, and not take advantage of it. If I'd have been in D.C. to hear Lincoln give that address, but decided to just read it in the Gazette ... I would have jumped in front of that bullet at Ford's Theater.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

All well and good, but don't pretend to know whether a speech was effective or not. It goes way beyond the mere words.

I haven't alluded to that I thought it was ineffective, nor have I suggested that others adopt my.....philosophy, for lack of a better word....of reading rather than listening.

In fact, earlier I said I had no doubt it was delivered brilliantly.

How far does "it" go beyond mere words? If reading the speech of Lincoln made you weep, without the experience of him saying it, than weren't the words themselves powerful enough to evoke that response? If Lincoln were a slow speaker or had speech mannerisms and inflections you found annoying, perhaps hearing the speech would have diminished the words he was saying.

Again, it's just how I prefer to approach political speeches. There is also the advantage of not having to endure endless applause interruptions.