Answer

1. Declaration of Independence

   The declaration of independence is a vital document in the history of the united states. It is a pronouncement that signified the freedom of thirteen American colonies from their colonial masters Great Britain.  It is a pronouncement that marked the people’s right to choose their government based on the values and beliefs they thought were dear to them.  Therefore, the declaration of independence asserted the right Americans have for self-governance and the power the people have over the government that they have selected to govern them.

     The declaration of independence has three main points; first that all men are equal. The second point is the civic duty the people have to defend their rights and that of others in the society, and the third main point is the inalienable rights such as the right to life, pursuit of happiness, and liberty.  The three main rights form the cardinal focus on values that guided the United States at independence. Of the three main points, the main idea that can be extracted from the declaration of independence is that people have certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. The rights and freedoms recognized by the declaration is, therefore, the single main idea of the document.

     The declaration of independence is still relevant today as it was in 1776. The main idea in the document is that people have certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, is still relevant in modern society in the following ways; first, it acknowledges the equality that individuals have in society.  Society is made up of people from different backgrounds and cultures. As a result of immigration, modern American society is more diverse today than it was in 1776.  The communities are made up of people from different racial groups, different gender, age groups, political beliefs, and religious beliefs. The country’s high level of diversity should be a recipe for chaos since people who are different and have different values can easily get into conflicts if their interactions are not civilized and guided by basic fundamental principles. However, the declaration of independence appreciation of the fact that each person regardless of who they are and what they believe in provides the fundamental foundation that enables diversity in the country work for the good of the country.  The declaration asserts that “all men are created equal’ the simple statement is powerful as it ensures there is equality in the societies in the country to all regardless of their race, gender, religious inclination, age, or political beliefs.

   Secondly, the main argument of the declaration of independence is still relevant since it still guides the way American citizens are governed. America is a representative democracy. The country holds periodic elections where the citizens get to choose those who they need to govern their affairs for a given period of time. For instance, the president is elected after every four years. Therefore, the right to elect those who govern the people is an inalienable right that the constitution must respect. Today, Americans who are eligible to vote have a right to vote and let their voice be heard through their ballot. Apart from having a right to vote, they also have a civic duty to ensure they cast their vote to elect their leaders. 

   Furthermore, from the declaration of independence, the people have a right to recall any leader entrusted with a public office who they feel is not governing according to the governed’s wishes. After the acceptance of the declaration of independence, its assertion that the “people have a right to alter or abolish a government that becomes destructive to the will of the people has been implemented on certain occasions. For instance, the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.  Therefore, the actions show that the declaration of independence is relevant as the rights it gave the people are still being exercised by the people to determine and influence how they are being governed.

   Thirdly, liberty is also a concept advocated for from the declaration of independence.  Championing for liberty as a right of the people has yielded several outcomes in society, such as the abolition of laws that oppress the people based on certain features such as their race.  Today, Americans are free to live and work in any part of the country regardless of their race. The clause of the right to liberty in the declaration of independence provides the foundation upon which laws such as employment laws that prohibit discrimination based on gender, race, or disability stem.  The people, therefore, have the freedom to live without any form of illegal oppressive restrictions.

   The pursuit of happiness enshrined in the declaration of independence has resulted in several outcomes. For instance, it has led to the legalization of same-sex marriage in the country.  The pursuit of happiness clause guarantees the people the right and freedom to live their lives in a way that makes them happy as long as their happiness does not infringe on others’ happiness in society.  The pursuit of happiness has made it possible for same-sex couples to legally get married without the fear of persecution from the law or society.

   In conclusion, the main idea in the declaration of independence is that people have certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. The idea has resulted in several fundamental outcomes as the right to elect leaders in the country, the right to live and own property in any part of the country, and the right to lead one’s life in a way that makes them happy.  Therefore, based on the outcome of the declaration of independence, it is still valuable today as it was in the past.

    

Answer

Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” Movie Analysis

            While delivering a speech, persuasion is essential in convincing the audience to listen to their ideas in their address. In An Inconvenient Truth, former US Vice President Al – Gore speaks on global warming as an encroaching crisis affecting its atmosphere and the environment as his central message. Al- Gore effectively persuades the audience into joining his cause against global warming by using persuasive communication strategies, a solid introduction, rhetoric strategies, oral citations, proper speech delivery, and presentation aids to evoke the audience in supporting his cause.

            Al- Gore’s successfully incorporates a solid speech introduction to attract the audience’s attention. He begins the introduction with a joke alluding to him being the “former future president of the United States.” The use of such a satirical comment evokes the audience wondering who would be bold enough to stand on stage after losing a race, such as the presidential election. This captures the audience to be more involving in his speech and sit for a better listening into the matters at hand. Later on, he introduces his speech topic by focusing on his central message, outlining his whole address’s main points. Finally, it eases the audience by showing a mangrove parchment indicated to involve the audience in relating to a preserved environment before expounding on his speech. The audience is engaged after this as he gets into his central message and further engaging in his speech.

Al-Gore’s excellently persuades the audience by using ethos as a rhetorical strategy throughout the speech.  Ethos employs a sense of trustworthiness and competence that enables the audience to believe in the speaker’s credibility. He shows ethos by acknowledging his commitment to the earth as an environmental activist. Al- Gore’s speech is based on expansive research that helps the audience trust his competence in speaking on the issue. Al- Gore’s possesses charisma and positive energy that attracts the audience to remain rooted in listening to his appeal towards addressing global warming. As characteristics of applying ethos in a speech, the combination of dynamism and competence draws the crowd to become trustworthy with his presentation and remains attentive throughout the address.

Al- Gore’s effectively employs persuasive communication strategies that include positive motivation, negative motivation, cognitive dissonance, non-verbal communication, and appeals to self-esteem in his speech. Positive and negative motivations are essential in persuading the audience to venture into addressing global warming to achieve positive outcomes in the environment. Consequently, Al-Gore uses negative motivation to convince the audience that failure to look into measures of curbing global warming and climate change, the earth might end up like the few places he depicts in his comparison photographs and videos. Cognitive dissonance helps change one’s perspective to something by discomforting norms and beliefs to persuade an audience towards change. At the start of the documentary, Al-Gore introduces a short video of a beautiful mangrove parchment that would stay in the back of the audience’s mind on what should be safeguarded.  To destabilize the audience, he shows pictorials of areas devastated by global warming, evoking fear and panic for the world that has become dormant in addressing this issue. Intertwined, with his central idea, Al- Gore persuades the audience in a bleak and disheartened tone to fight for preserving the environment.

            In addition, Al-Gore’s effectually uses non-verbal communication in his body language is established through a dejected worrying tone for identifying with the audience on the prevailing situation. Al- Gore’s body movement showed confidence in his walk and constant interactiveness with the audience. Al – Gore also has a confiden, genuine smile appearing as a well- groomed and dressed man in delivering his speech. In the documentary, Al-Gore’s clear expression of displeasure with people who negated around global warming instead of addressing is clear.  Al-Gore aimed to show concern for the issue. Al –Gore’s self-esteem pushes his central message across the audience by focusing on positivity and the audience’s contributions to curb global warming. His articulation of each point across helps in building confidence with the audience. His confidence in his speech persuades the audience to be on board the matter.

            Oral citations are well used in An Inconvenient Truth to capture the audience’s attention. Al- Gore uses oral citations effectively to show reliability, credibility, and validity of information conveyed in his speech address. Denoting empirical evidence from videos, charts, and maps allude the audience into believing that Al- Gore critically researched the issue and came up with a profound speech to convince the audience to join his cause to remove fallacies on wrong information presented in his speech. Virtually, his research pays off as he captures the audience in his factual interactions on the matter.

Al – Gore excellently uses presentation aids like projected images, comparison photographs, short videos, satirical cartoons, and info graphs like maps and charts to help persuade his audience to come to his plea in preserving the environment by combating global warming. Projected images show areas adversely affected by global warming, including flooded areas. The short videos as well show people injured due to flooding. The graphs and maps show empirical evidence of the effects of global warming in areas. A comparison of videos and pictures shows how some places were before global warming and its impact after years. All these visual aids serve as areas involving the audience’s concern and worry over the deteriorating ecosystem around us. Al-Gore was not shy off, including videos of politicians passing over the global warming issue through satirical cartoons while also poking at renowned scientists worldwide who showed the existence of climate change. As much as Al-Gore is a politician, he intended for the audience to understand that his concern was for the environment and endeavors towards combating global warming rather than politically-driven shows with aspirations of a political seat.

Lastly, Al- Gore successfully uses ethos, pathos, and logos strategies to capture the audience’s attention in his speech. Ethos employs a sense of trustworthiness and competence that enables the audience to believe in the speaker’s credibility. He shows ethos by acknowledging his commitment to the earth as an environmental activist. The documentary shows the incorporation of logos through his presentation of scientific facts that support his claims to global warming as an issue of concern. Lastly, his attributes to incorporate his son’s demise into comparing it to his commitment to the environment show pathos as a rhetoric strategy.  Successful integration of photographs and videos of areas affected by global warming helped provoke the audience to support his cause towards alleviating global warming.

In conclusion, Al – Gore effectively incorporates persuasive communication strategies, a solid introduction, rhetoric strategies, oral citations, proper speech delivery, and presentation aids to evoke the audience in supporting his fight against global warming.  Using all these techniques successfully convinces the audience to have a concern about the deteriorating ecosystem. Having watched the documentary, I am persuaded to carry on the legacy of conserving our environment as an environmental ambassador.         

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