Does The Ted-Talk 'What It Means To Be A Citizen Of The World'

The Ted-Talk, “What It Means to be a Citizen of the World” given by Hugh Evans was seemingly directed towards those individuals who “self identify first” as a “member of a state, nation, or tribe” and therefore are focused solely on the improvement of their closed-community rather than the improvement of the entire “human race”. Therefore, centering his audience at those individuals who remain outside the lines of being a global citizen. The main idea that Hugh draws up throughout his speech is the impact that the actions of a single individual; no matter how small, can have when one acts with the purpose of combating “extreme poverty, climate change, and inequality” on a global scale rather than a local one. In order to do so, Hugh introduces the stories of a few individuals who have been able to impact people that are “not [themselves], not in [their] neighborhood, [their] state, or even in [their] country” and along the way reveals his own journey to becoming a global citizen.

Hugh’s speech was given with the intention to both persuade and inform the individuals within the audience as he clearly illustrates the mindset in which global citizens hold towards the concept of fighting global issues, talks about the importance of approaching issues from a global rather than local scale, and constantly reiterates the fact that small actions can produce large outcomes. He does so through the use of ethos and pathos as he first establishes his role as a global citizen; in which provides him with credibility in terms of the topic, and uses his experience alongside the experience of others to draw upon the emotions of the