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 the speech, titled “The Perils of Indifference,” Elie Wiesel showed gratitude to the American people, President Clinton, and Mrs. Hillary Clinton for the help they brought and apprised the audience about the violent consequences and human suffering due to indifference against humanity (Wiesel). This speech was persuasive. It was also effective because it conveyed to the audience the understanding of …show more content…
The speech, Mr. Wiesel showed to the audience that he knows of these events firsthand because he shared his own personal suffering and established ethos by telling the story in first person. He argued about the guilt of past violent events and proclaimed that said events could have been avoided if humanity had been less indifferent. He stated that had someone have intervened earlier, these events could have been avoided. Nonetheless, Mr. Wiesel still showed gratitude to those who intervened and fought those responsible for the hardship of himself and his people. However, he still did not understand why they did not do an intervention at an earlier time to avoid the suffering of thousands of people. He also questioned if we, as humanity, have learned from the past and became less indifferent. Mr. Wiesel, brought an emotional hook to the audience by giving details regarding his suffering. At the end of the speech