Weekend Assignment #239: Message to the World

Let's start with the new topic, and then double back for a round up of last week's entries:

Weekend Assignment #239: Imagine that you have the world's full attention (or your country's full attention) for a maximum of two minutes. What do you tell everyone? Your message can be a single sentence if you like, or a bit longer.

Extra Credit: Would you prefer your message to be broadcast on tv or radio, or published in multiple print media?

Here's my message:

Calm down. It's going to be all right.

Barring a major disaster, or voting-related shenanigans that dwarf 2000 and 2004 combined, Barack Obama will be elected President of the United States less than two weeks from now. The entire country is on edge, either worried that something bad will happen between now and then, or else that the black guy with the foreign name will use his power as President to do something terrible.

If you're worried that Obama might somehow lose the election, then be sure to confirm that your voter registration remains intact, and help make sure everyone who legitimately registered has an opportunity to vote and have the vote be counted. Aside from that, just keep going, and don't freak out.

If you're worried that Obama will win, then consider this. For many months, people have been lying to you, doing their best to fill you with fear of Barack Obama, his policies, or both, so that you will vote for the Republican - any Republican. The truth is, you don't need to be afraid. Barack Obama is not Anti-American, a Muslim (not that a Muslim is automatically a bad person), a terrorist, a Socialist, a Commie or the Antichrist. He is not about to raise your taxes, kill your baby or hand control of the U.S. Government to Osama Bin Laden.

So relax. It's going to be all right. Reject the politics of fear, and the potential violence that has already resulted in death threats, assaults on a reporter and an Obama volunteer, and even a kicked dog. Just be cool. Watch and wait. Soon you will see that the guy with the funny name is doing his best to look out for you.

How would I deliver this message? I think I'd like to deliver a speech. Just don't let Chris Matthews or Bill O'Reilly interrupt me, okay? But the written word is fine, too.

Your turn! Give us your message to the world, and we'll help to spread it. Write it up in your blog along with a link back here, and leave a link to your entry in the comments below. I'll be back in a week with a roundup of your responses.

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Last week for Weekend Assignment #238: What a Rip Off! I asked you to tell us of a time you've been ripped off - that is, stolen from or cheated in some way. Evidently most of you have never been ripped off, ;) but we did have three entries:


Julie said...

My first job after I got married was with a small ad agency. Long story short, the guy was terribly clueless about how things worked. I kept with it because I didn't have any prospect of another job, and I kept hoping things would look up. They didn't. I never got paid, and every time I asked for money the boss would quote the Old Testament to me. It was a bad situation, and I finally had enough and left after he spent thousands on camera gear, but had no money to pay me.

Florinda said...

The next morning we went out to the car to leave for church (I did do that regularly for a number of years) and discovered that I must have been so sleepy I had forgotten to lock the car doors - and apparently someone had noticed. However, while I had made breaking into the car easy for them, they must have gotten frustrated once they actually got inside, since they were unable to dislodge the car stereo. They were successful in stealing the knobs off it, though.

Mike said...

I took my Land Speeder and put it behind the air conditioner and said bye to my friends as I went inside. When I came home it was gone. I looked all over the deck, and I probably cried a little, but it was never found. I've always thought that one of my friends I was playing with took it, but I never confronted him. It still haunts me to this day.

That's it for tonight. Now it's your turn. The microphone is in your hands, and your favorite media outlets are waiting to hear from you. I know you have something to say. So say it! And don't forget to leave your links!

Karen

Weekend Assignment Results: Modern Oratory?

For last week's Weekend Assignment, I asked whether anyone since Martin Luther King Jr had been able to inspire us with a masterful and memorable speech. Unsurprisingly, most (but not all) of the respondents ended up writing about this year's U.S. presidential candidates, while pondering whether speeches have been largely replaced by sound bytes:

Saqib, writing directly in the comments thread, said... "I feel like sitting this one out. But if I were to add my two cents I would have to agree with you in that I found Obama's speech inspiring. I found solace in his words as he touched upon an important issue in American society.

Oratory as an art form can't die down. Humans need regular doses of inspiration just to keep hope alive. Most of the time I am recieving the dose as my shy nature has hampered my public speaking career!"

Mike analyzes the public speaking styles of the three major candidates.

Duane ponders the negative effects of speechwriters and focus groups.

Carly gives props to Chelsea Clinton for grace under pressure.

Florinda points to great speechwriters... like Aaron Sorkin.

Sarah, who has given speeches about turning off cell phones, checks out a recent speech on YouTube.

Kristi Wachter appreciates an Obama speech on habeas corpus.

Kiva writes about an uplifting "Last Lecture" by a dying professor.

Interesting stuff, folks, thanks.

Next Weekend Assignment follows shortly.

Karen

Weekend Assignment #210: Speechifying

Forty years ago, a famous clergyman, civil rights activist, antiwar dissident and advocate for the poor was murdered as he stood on a hotel balcony, the day after giving one of the most famous and electrifying speeches of the 20th century. Exhausted, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had tried to get out of making a public appearance that night, but the people gathered at the Mason Temple in Memphis would not settle for hearing Rev. Ralph Abernathy instead.

So King was sent for. He roused himself to speak of great moments in history, and that if God offered him a chance to live in those times, he "wouldn't stop there," but instead would ask "to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th century." He said that "It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence." He spoke out on behalf of the striking Memphis sanitation workers, walking the picket lines with signs that read, "I AM A MAN." He exhorted the audience to act with a "dangerous unselfishness" toward the strikers, following the example of the Good Samaritan.

He talked about having been stabbed in the chest with a letter opener years earlier, and a newspaper report that if he had sneezed while awaiting treatment, he would have died. He then told of a letter he received days afterward, from a girl who said she was glad he didn't sneeze. He told of the civil rights triumphs he had been able to witness because he hadn't sneezed. Then he assumed the metaphorical role of Moses in his unforgettable concluding words:

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop.

And I don't mind.

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!

And so I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!

Then he sort of collapsed, and his friends helped him into a chair. The next day, after years of threats and attacks (including a bomb, thrown stones and police brutality), he was shot to death. He was 39 years old.

Which is my longest intro yet to a Weekend Assignment:

Weekend Assignment #210: It's been 40 years since the Mountaintop speech, and even longer since the great speeches of John F Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and others. Are the days of great oratory behind us, or have you drawn inspiration from some recent public speaker? If so, what was the speech? Do you remember any actual quotes from it?

Extra Credit: Have you ever given a speech, other than in a classroom?

My answer: I was extremely impressed with Barack Obama's speech at the Democratic Convention four years ago, and mildly impressed with the one he gave last week on race relations. And I'm inspired by sermons at St. Michael's on a regular basis. But no, I can't quote from any of the above. I just know that Obama spoke of red states and blue states in the earlier speech, and his grandmother in the later one; and that Father Ireland considers the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to be sick and twisted. Oh, and to be fair, I should also mention that I loved Hillary Clinton's bowlathon announcement on April Fool's Day.

On the other hand, I can quote verbatim from speeches by a number of fictional characters on tv. What does that say about me, and about the state of oratory today?

As for the extra credit: no, I've never given a speech except as a class assignment. But I think it would be fun.

Your turn: tell us who, if anyone, has inspired you while speaking in public. Write it up in your blog or journal, along with a link back here. Then leave a link to your entry in the comments thread below. I'll be back in a week with a roundup of everyone's entries.

Karen