Orator's Truth

To be an orator, one requires having some kind of a purpose that he or she wishes to achieve. In a perfect world, all aspirations, intents, and desires, which motivate someone to speak in public, would have been based on the ultimate truth and goodness.  But, as we all know, our world is far from being perfect.

Through history to current time, there have been many orators that mastered the art of public speaking; some of them follow the Greek belief and considered to be morally good; however, others follow the concept that the end justifies the means. Likewise, these days, public speakers deliver not only for themselves, their personal ideas and believe, but they also speak the words of companies, other groups and individuals that carry idiosyncratic goals.

 To clarify, I do believe that if we wish for a better world, an orator should be an individual that is morally good, but this wish, at this time, is far from reality.

ethos, pathos & logos

Thinking about public speakers, Jill Bolte Taylor is the first speaker that came to my mind. There is no doubt that she succeeded in getting my full attention and delivered her message. For those of you who do not know who she is, Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroanatomist, brain scientist that experienced a massive stroke in her left hemisphere, the left side of her brain. Jill, a graduated Harvard Medical School, in her speech (and through her book "My Stroke of Insight") takes the audience to a step by step journey of the lost of cognitive abilities; a journey which she claims to be the best thing that could have happened to her.   
Jill's pathos, her ability to arouse emotions, is her strongest quality as a public speaker. Jill uses her personal story and experience and brings metaphors that are easy to relate to. She acts her story out, stimulates the audience and makes them feel the emotions with her. However, Pathos is not her only quality; Jill masters the ethos and the logos as well. Her background as a brain scientist gives her the expertise and makes her trustworthy, while at the same time, the use of plain words makes it easy to follow her. She also brings s a real human brain to the stage and holds it against her own head (brain) and shows pictures of herself from when she experienced the stroke. At the end of her speech she clearly voices her message.
If you know anybody that experience stroke and wonder what it feels like, or if you just wander how it feels to lose your cognitive abilities? I attached a video of Jill's speech and encourage you to watch it.

As for my personal abilities to persuade audience, I think that logos is my strongest quality. I analyze and present things in logic ways, and I always search for the words that are most accurate and befitting. In addition, I have some pathos in me; I can't hide my emotions, they are clearly being displayed when I talk, and therefore, they trigger the emotions in others. In regards to my ethos abilities, I believe that I am trustworthy; I always put myself in someone else's shoes as I search for true meanings, and I shy away from making assumptions or speaking on things that I don't have enough knowledge about. However, I realize that an objective view on this one must come from the observer.

 

Jill's Speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU

Introductory Post

Hi everyone,

My name is Sunshine and I am a full time student (16 units this semester), but first of all I am a mom and a wife; I have a ten year old daughter, a six year old son and a wonderful husband that is also my best friend.
 My major at Sierra College is Natural Science and by the end of next semester I will be transferring to Sac State for a major in Health Science.
I love spending my free time at the ocean, rivers, lakes…Yes, I love water!! My favorite activity is scuba diving but unfortunately I don't get to do it much lately. However, I also love fishing and I go fishing all the time.
I was born and raised in Israel and moved to live in CA at the end of the year 2000, when I was 25 years old. I arrived in LA and traveled up the coast. On the third day I stooped in Sacramento for the night and there I met my husband. Traveling as a tourist in a different country, with different culture and language, is an interesting communication experience; however, becoming a resident in this country is not only interesting, but also a very challenging communication experience. In any case, the "communication story" I like to share with you took place in 2000 when I met my husband. At that time my vocabulary in English was very minimal, but it didn't bother me that I wasn't able to understand much of the things that my husband (boyfriend at that time) was saying. I also didn't care that I was not able to worldly express myself.  I remember; I just looked at his facial expressions and his body language, and smiled. that's all I needed.
As for my experience in Communication Studies, I have none, but I am looking forward to gain some in this class. My goal for this class is to complete all assignment to the best I can, and I hope that at the end of this class I will be able to have a better understanding of the communication process.

I am very excited to start this semester, and I am looking forward to meet you and read your blogs.
Cheers to an enjoyable and successful semester!