All through Elie Wiesel’s memoir, he sends a message to his audience about his concern with the amount of indifference being practiced throughout the world. Indifference is enticing, it seems easier to stay out of the way and not contribute, but, if one is aware of the horrific events occurring to their fellow human beings, then one should speak out and show support. In other words, if one stays silent when they know that others are casualties of genocide, persecution, oppression, they are not only indifferent, yet, accomplices to the ones administering the torment. In addition,the individuals who are silent, deny humanity to their fellow human beings and essentially violate, and disregard their human rights. For instance, Wiesel expresses …show more content…
How can one not be sensitive to their plight? … And I tell him that I have tried. That I have tried to keep memory alive, that I have tired to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices” (Night 118-119). Wiesel conveys through these lines that people should fight against the individuals that are apathetic to acts of mistreatment. Through his book, Wiesel also expresses that being indifferent causes victims to lose a sense humanity, they presume that the world has abandoned or gave up on them. Although, indifference is tempting, taking action will improve any situation; people should speak up. For example, Wiesel claims in his book, that “when human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted of their race, religion, political views, that place must- at that moment- become the center of the universe” (Night 118-119). Whenever a fellow man is being mistreated, that place should be the center of attention; those who do not, are as much as fault due to the fact that staying silent aids the …show more content…
It was directed to the American government and citizens of the United States. Elie wrote this speech in hopes of sharing his intellect on what happens when people are indifferent.Through this speech he reminded the people about the atrocities caused when the United States was indifferent during World War II. Millions of people felt abandoned due to the fact their fellow man betrayed them; the United States knew the pain of the victims to the Holocaust, however, they still chose to stay indifferent to their cause. “In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred… Indifference is not creative… Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response. Indifference is not a beginning; it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten… And in denying humanity, we betray our own” (Perils of Indifference). Elie Wiesel suggests that indifference is the leading cause of man being inhumane to man; a lack of concern for inhumane acts aids the the attacker, and, denies their fellow man their given human rights. “He understood those who needed help. Why didn't he allow these refugees to disembark? A thousand people -- in America, a great country, the greatest
In April 1999, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel addresses the President, First Lady, several members of the government, and the American public with a speech titled “The Perils of Indifference.” He provides examples of indifference during World War II. Similarly, he reasons why indifference in the future has the potential to cause disaster. As the country turns its back on people, a multitude of victims suffer. Wiesel feels the responsibility to spread awareness as he personally felt the effects of indifference.
Wiesel pinpoints the indifference of humans as the real enemy, causing further suffering and lost to those already in peril. Wiesel commenced the speech with an interesting attention getter: a story about a young Jewish from a small town that was at the end of war liberated from Nazi rule by American soldiers. This young boy was in fact himself. The first-hand experience of cruelty gave him credibility in discussing the dangers of indifference; he was a victim himself.
In the article “Meet Elie Wiesel” includes his quote, “look, it’s important to bear witness. Important to tell your story... you cannot imagine what it meant spending a night of death among death”. The quote shows Wiesel’s acknowledgement of others around the world not experiencing what he has and making sure to speak out for one’s self. In addition in Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, he states, “When human lives are endangered , when human dignity is in jeopardy national borders, and sensitivities become irrelevant”(118).The speech makes the point of citizens throughout the world caring for everyone else even if it does not directly impact tem or their daily life. Wiesel continues to advocate for people around the world due to his
Indifference Kills ADL’s Pyramid of Hate states how every genocide that has ever happened on earth will always start with a biased attitude towards a group of people. This biased attitude leads to acts of discrimination, dehumanization, this is followed by, extreme systemic discrimination, then bias motivates violence and finally genocide. Another aspect that most people forget when a genocide happens is the response from the rest of the world. To show what happens when societies disregard their obligation to help each other we can see from Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel's first hand accounts about living through the fascist Nazi regime during the Holocaust.
A quarrel is better than a cold war, and we better remind ourselves the situations that we choose to be indifference toward our friends and families. Elie Wiesel urges people to face their own indifference, addressing that indifference denies the humanity of victims. This whole speech is based on the ethos of Wiesel, conveying the message that he himself symbolizes humanity. Wiesel refers to his own experience during the Holocaust, the most infamous and evil event in history.
But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it.”.
The Holocaust was a terrible time in the world’s history. Not many Jewish people made it out of the Holocaust alive, but Elie Wiesel not only made it through the dark years, but he also wrote a book and delivered a speech. Both of these things were meant to tell the world about the horrors that happened in the concentration camps and raise awareness about the Holocaust. The book Night tells us what Elie’s journey throughout 1943-1945 (the time of the Holocaust) was like with Nazis controlling the Jews. In the speech Perils of Indifference, Elie explains why it is dangerous to not have an opinion on certain topics.
This quote that he wrote means people are humans, they feel the same emotions, they all feel pain. Elie wrote about his experience in the Holocaust that led to his advocate for human rights through the book Night that was published in 1956 (Wiesel, Night). Elie Wiesel uses his Holocaust experience, positive lessons, and his purpose for writing Night as a reason to advocate human rights today. Elie’s experience in the Holocaust caused him to advocate human rights after he escaped from the nightmare him and Jews went through. Jew were either killed on the spot or put into a concentration camps (Wiesel, Night).
Indifference need to be gain awareness and be stopped. He develops his claim by narrating the dangers of indifference, and how it affected his life then, describes how wrongful it is to be treated in such a way. Finally Wiesel illustrates examples of how indifference affected the world. Wiesel’s purpose is to inform us about the dangers of indifference in order to bring change about it. He establishes a straightforward tone for the president, ambassadors, politicians, and congressmen.
Elie Wiesel Rhetorical Speech Analysis Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor and winner of a Nobel peace prize, stood up on April 12, 1999 at the White House to give his speech, “The Perils of Indifference”. In Wiesel’s speech he was addressing to the nation, the audience only consisted of President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, congress, and other officials. The speech he gave was an eye-opener to the world in his perspective. Wiesel uses a variety of rhetorical strategies and devices to bring lots of emotion and to educate the indifference people have towards the holocaust. “You fight it.
The Perils of Indifference Critical Evaluation Essay In the past, indifference has led to the murder of millions of people. Indifference is when we, the humans race, do not care about those who suffer from the injustice, violence, or oppression on behalf of others (Clare). On 12 April 1992, Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor gave a speech regarding human indifference in front of President William J. Clinton and the first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, at the White House. What was he trying to accomplish during his speech?
With all of these dreadful attacks, one would think something would be done to prevent these acts of violence, but instead, most of us showed some type of sympathy but no actions, laws, or acts are being enforced to prevent the ruthless and inhuman acts from occurring. I get it, being indifferent is extremely easy, but it is also not worth the pain and suffering that others have to go through. Elie Wiesel, the human rights activist, Nobel Peace Prize-winning, Holocaust survivor, and author of more than 50 books, performed his "The Perils of Indifference" speech at the White House in April of 1999. Where he talked about the meaning of indifference and how easy it is to be indifferent, "Of course, indifference can be tempting -- more than
In his speech Wiesel describes the injustices faced by people in the twentieth century, focusing mainly on the holocaust. The intended purpose for this speech was to persuade the audience to stop practicing indifference to the victims of injustice, but to show compassion to those suffering. Throughout his entire speech, Wiesel uses a distressed, sympathetic, and critical tone when he is describing how people were treated with indifference. He advises the American government to not be indifferent to victims of injustices, he also hopes that people in the twenty first century will be indifferent.
In his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Elie Wiesel strives to inform his audience of the unbelievable atrocities of the Holocaust in order to prevent them from ever again responding to inhumanity and injustice with silence and neutrality. The structure or organization of Wiesel’s speech, his skillful use of the rhetorical appeals of pathos and ethos, combined with powerful rhetorical devices leads his audience to understand that they must never choose silence when they witness injustice. To do so supports the oppressors. Wiesel’s speech is tightly organized and moves the ideas forward effectively. Wiesel begins with humility, stating that he does not have the right to speak for the dead, introducing the framework of his words.
The entire world was so ignorant to such a massacre of horrific events that were right under their noses, so Elie Wiesel persuades and expresses his viewpoint of neutrality to an audience. Wiesel uses the ignorance of the countries during World War II to express the effects of their involvement on the civilians, “And then I explain to him how naive we were, that the world did know and remained silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent when and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation” (Weisel). To persuade the audience, Elie uses facts to make the people become sentimental toward the victims of the Holocaust. Also, when Weisel shares his opinion with the audience, he gains people onto his side because of his authority and good reputation.