Passion may mean different things to different people, but there are common themes. Tone of voice, Eye contact, and even examples of personal investment are aspects that indicate passion. There are reasons why passionate leaders have rallied the masses to their cause, whether it be righteous or evil. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini are two historical fascist dictators that perpetrated crimes against humanity, but how could they achieve this without rallying the masses?
These leaders used the correct tone of voice for the correct audiences and social situations. They didn’t read off note cards, which effectively gave the idea that their speeches were coming right from the hearts. Finally, they spoke of struggle as if they were among the audience and connected with them on a more personal level. They connected with the audience by establishing their ethos as someone understanding of the people, then continues to use pathos to ignite passion into the audience.
Although used for a negative cause, these speakers utilized the pillars of passion to successfully persuade and ignite the masses.
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Hearing a speech that is full of passion and sounds like it is coming right from a person's heart is such a strong way of connecting with an audience. I really like how you talked about leaders that talk to their audience in a personal way, rather than talking down to them. When listening to a speech, the audience doesn't want to listen to someone to them, they want to be engaged in the conversation and feel like they are part of it.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you with the fact that passion is a fundamental part of giving a good speech. It is very interesting the in determining a good speech the context and message doesn't matter as much about its effectiveness.
ReplyDeleteI like how the examples you included demonstrated how passion can be so powerful that it actually breeds evil. By doing so, you are actually illustrating in an extremely effective manner that passion in a speech can overcome the moral values of the audience. In a lighter situation, I agree that passion is essential to an effective speech. It makes it far more interesting to listen to the speech and typically you forget that you are being spoken to for several minutes. I find it easier to agree with someone who is passionate rather than someone who is monotone and almost seems disinterested in what he is saying.
ReplyDeleteAn audience member can usually detect rather quickly if the speaker is truly passionate about their topic. The speaker needs to be completely behind the topic that they're presenting or defending so that they can incorporate elements that you mentioned such as tone of voice and eye contact. I think that passion is the foundation for a great speech and everything else stems from this passion for the topic being discussed.
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