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  • Essay / An analysis of Martin Luther King's speech on the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War

    Dr. Martin Luther King, a remarkable man known for speaking out against society's problems, once spoke to a crowd of hundreds about the problems created by the Vietnam War. King gave his speech on April 4, 1967, with the intention of putting an end to what the government wanted to continue, and he did so using a certain approach that persuaded his audience. By applying negative connotation, cruel irony, and logical reasoning in his speech, King proved to the crowd that American involvement in the Vietnam War was unfair to all Americans, and this helped persuade everyone in this crowd to also follow their beliefs. to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayKing's views on the Vietnam War were not positive, and so to describe his feelings he used a connotation negative as first lines. King defined the Vietnam War as “a demonic and destructive suck tube…” and “an idle political toy of a society…”, which illustrated his true feelings for the war (King, 1). However, the beginning of his speech shows that he is also describing something with positive connotations. When King used the positive connotation on this different topic, he illustrated to his audience that he felt totally different on both topics, creating opposing opinions in both cases. Once King aired his views on the war, he then presented facts to support his views. So, in a way, King uses the negative connotation as the foundation of his argument, which allowed his claims and evidence to come to the forefront (King, 1). Without the negative connotation, however, King's argument would not be strong enough to convince his audience that his claims were true. Throughout King's speech, King uses cruel irony to emotionally interact with his audience. During his lecture, King referred to it as a "tragic recognition of reality...", and referred to it by listing all the reasons why the Vietnam War could be a huge case of cruel irony (King , 2). While it may seem like King was simply pointing out the wrongdoings of our government, he actually resonated with the crowd by speaking on the subject. King, with cruel irony, mentioned racism, which was how he had connected and caught the attention of many people in the crowd (King, 2). John Corcoran, a lawyer and former Clinton White House writer, once wrote an article about connecting with an audience. He said: “A speaker (must) connect with his audience so that they are more receptive to accepting and retaining your message… Do it, and your audience will never forget you or your message” (Corcoran, 11). Just like Corcoran mentioned, King connected with his audience by using cruel irony, which made them become more accepting of whatever he had to say. King used a lot of logical reasoning to prove his points in the middle of his speech. He succeeds in convincing his audience that his statement is correct through logical reasoning, just as one would convince his audience with supporting evidence. To support most of his arguments, he uses evidence that (most likely) the entire audience would have witnessed. For example, to support his cruelly ironic claim, he uses the fact that the war is broadcast on national television and everyone has the freedom to see it for themselves (King, 2). Another example of.