Holocaust survivor and American Jewish author, Elie Wiesel in his serious and pensive speech, “The Perils of Indifference,” asserts that “to be indifferent” of the world’s problems “is what makes the human being inhuman” and is the reason that genocides along with millions of deaths have occured (The Perils of). He supports his claim by revealing to his audience his personal experience in the concentration camps of the Holocaust to appeal to their emotions so that they can understand what he had to go through; moreover, Wiesel uses strong, emotionally loaded language to further create a stronger impact when describing our world and society as being involved with “so much violence” and “so much indifference.” Additionally, he uses imagery to illustrate indifference as “not only a sin,” but “a punishment.” Wiesel’s purpose is to make “the human being become less indifferent and more human” in order to bring about change in …show more content…
In July of 1995, 8000 Bosnians were killed during the war in Bosnia, which is the largest massacre in Europe since the Holocaust. An estimated total of 100,000 people were killed and over 2 million people were displaced (Past Genocides). Although the United States and the whole world knew what was going on, they decided to be indifferent to the cause and the US refused to send in troops. Wiesel says, “Indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor” (Wiesel). By being indifferent, the US was helping the Serbs with the benefit of allowing them to continue killing the Bosnians and continued to avoid helping by referring to the conflict as an “ethnic cleansing” rather than “genocide,” which it was. Eventually Wiesel’s words impacted some people at the time and help was sent to help end the war, but by then, thousands had already died even though people had begun to choose to not remain
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.
And something in me rebelled against that death.” (Wiesel, 89). This is juxtaposed with the amount of people around him who were dead or very close to death. Some of these people had ignored the advice Wiesel offered to them and choose to fall asleep in the snow, dying. He chose to live while others did not.
When Ellie Weisel says “Indifference, then, is not only a sin it is a punishment” he makes a powerful claim about human nature. An example of this is the Nazi invasion of Europe, where many countries did not stop the Nazis from murdering the Jewish people. They chose to remain silent because they were scared of the Nazis fighting back. When faced with opposition it is better to speak up than show indifference and stay silent.
Elie Wiesel was born in 1928 in the town of Sighet. During World War II, he and his family were taken to the German concentration camps. During his time in the concentration camps, his parents and little sister died. But Elie Wiesel and his older sisters survived, and in 1945, he was taken to Paris where he studied at the Sorbonne and became a journalist. His first book, La Nuit, was a memoir of his time in the concentration camps.
Stand Up For Injustice: Elie Wiesel and The Perils of Indifference The Holocaust was a time that will forever be marked in history as a tragedy for mankind. Whether someone was a prisoner, a Nazi, or a bystander, every person was affected in some way. Because the Holocaust took place so long ago, many people forget how it could have destroyed an entire race of people. They forget that millions of innocent lives were taken because of hate.
The reading of Elie Wiesel’s “The Perils of Indifference” makes it have a clearer understanding. 8,000 Bosniaks were killed in what is known as the Srebrenica genocide, the largest massacre in Europe after the Holocaust, 25,000 women and children were expelled from towns while generals tried to hunt down 15,000 men. There were Serbs that targeted Bosniak civilians in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Despite the war in Bosnia it had claimed the lives of a great estimation of 100,000 people. Following Bosnia’s independence in April 1992, Serbian forces accompanied them with an attempted with an ethnically cleanse(source).
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?
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.
Comparative Rhetorical Analysis Rough Draft In the American speeches unit, we have been exposed to a number of examples of powerful rhetoric. Two speeches that particularly stand out are Elie Wiesel's "Perils of Indifference" and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, as both speeches focus on the historical events of the tragedy, and by analyzing these speeches, we can learn valuable lessons about the power of language and its ability to effect change in the world. . These two speeches clearly have different two different historical focuses, with Wiesel referencing the Holocaust and King speaking about the Civil Rights Movement.
Elie Wiesel has been through much more than any person should ever have to go through, he has witnessed unspeakable things that have happened to others, and he has lived through it all to tell the stories. He has written so many books, and made so many speeches, but perhaps two of his most famous writings were the book Night and his speech Perils Of Indifference. His book was published in 1956, and his speech was given on April 12, 1999. Both his speech, and his book talk about the horrors of the holocaust, and how it affected him. However, in the speech he reflects upon his tribulations in the camps, and what he thinks about moving forward.
In which millions of Jews were innocently killed and persecuted because of their religion. As a student who is familiar with the years of the holocaust that will forever live in infamy, Wiesel’s memoir has undoubtedly changed my perspective. Throughout the text, I have been emotionally touched by the topics of dehumanization, the young life of Elie Wiesel, and gained a better understanding of the Holocaust. With how dehumanization was portrayed through words, pondering my mind the most.
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.
Although most people think of the Holocaust when it comes to genocides, there are many other acts of genocide that have not been as recognized. Genocide is killing people based on their race. It is important to be aware of genocide so it can be stopped and prevented. Elie Wiesel is a Holocaust survivor, who wrote stories based on his experiences and received a Nobel Peace prize. Elie Wiesel stated in his speech that when it comes to injustice, indifference is the greatest danger of all.