Elizabeth Glaser Mary Fisher Speech Analysis

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Elizabeth Glaser and Mary Fisher, in their informal AIDS speeches at their respective National Conventions in 1992, provide personal accounts of the effect of AIDS and additionally plead with American citizens to take a stand and quit ignoring the issue at stake. Their tones vary from a sentimental and personal tone to an engaging political tone consistently in their speeches directed at American citizens. A topic broadly discusses between the two women is the leader they had in 1992 - George H.W. Bush - and what should be expected from him and every other American leader. Elizabeth Glaser believed President Bush ignored the AIDS situation and neglected to help. Glaser makes a reference to President Bush’s ‘Thousand Points of Light’ speech, …show more content…

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was still widely believed only minorities (including homosexuals and people of color) could be infected with the AIDS virus. Elizabeth Glaser makes it clear that race and sexuality have nothing to do with your risk of contracting AIDS. She also addresses the reality of America unfair against these minorities: “poor people, gay people, people of color”. Glaser uses parallel structure to emphasize that minorities are highly discriminated against in society and it needs to change. It also adds to the overall message that everyone is at risk for AIDS. Glaser continues on to claim she is an unusual speaker for the men and women infected with AIDS: “a well-to-do white woman”. This demonstrates the idea most people had in the 1990s of white people not having the same problems as minorities. In Mary Fisher’s speech, she compares herself to the minorities and declares they are no less important than her. Fisher uses parallelism in back-to-back sentences, beginning with ‘Though I am…’ and then provides examples of minorities, including a “lonely gay man” and a struggling black infant. She compares herself to these minorities to emphasize the idea that everyone has an equal chance for AIDS and that minorities should not be any less loved than the