Mary for direct advocacy in which knowledge

Mary Fisher was amother living her normal life, taking care of her children and home when shecontracted HIV in an infidel marriage. Some people see her as a hero, not ahero who defeated a villain or fought in war, but one who fought the everydaybattles in her life. Mary Fisher is a Republican who decided to share her storyof HIV infection to spread awareness of HIV/AIDS to people in the UnitedStates.

She believed awareness was the key to finding a cure. Her speech wasgiven at the Republican National Convention, in Houston, TX, 1992, and may havebeen seen as an expostulation of the Republican Governments disregard for theincreasing issue and lack of knowledge.             The understanding of the audience comes through therhetoric used in her speech. Without logos, ethos, or pathos the speech wouldjust be informative without any meaning to the audience or herself.

Througheach of these literal devices, we are able to identify her logic, passions, andcredibility. She calls for an audience–She calls for direct advocacy in which knowledgewill be shared. She does not want pity from the audience or to victimizeherself, but only for attention to the serious matter of HIV/AIDS. MaryFisher’s logic is very clear– without awareness we cannot move forward infighting the battle against AIDS.

We should fight with our words and notour silence, Mary is defined by her choice to share her story and spreadawareness not by keeping quiet of the matter.  If AIDS is viewed as ahomosexual disease then there is no hope in finding a cure.  Mary’s logicin her speech calls us “ to recognize that AIDS virus is not a politicalcreature.  It does not care whether you are Democrat or Republican; itdoes not ask whether you are black or white, male or female, gay or straight, young or old.”  This powerful logic helps redefine who the real AIDS’victims/survivors are; that this virus can happen to anyone.  In thebeginning of her speech, she uses statistics on how millions ofpeople are infected and how, “ two hundred thousand Americans are dead ordying.

”  Logically, one cannot ignore there is a present problem thatneeds to be addressed.  The fact that the presidential administration didnot want to address this issue is controversial, but the courage that Mary Fisherpossessed to share her story is very admirable. AIDS is not adisease trapped only in the poverty burdened countries or in therealm of gay men. This disease can be anywhere transmitted to anyone. Thisdisease “ is the third leading killer of young adult Americans today,” infecting mostly women and children.  Mary changed the entirestereotypical profile in contracting HIV by being a white, married, heterosexual woman with two small children.

Mary’spathos is evident in her startling statistics for example: forty million peopleworldwide are dying from AIDS, while two-hundred thousand Americans, “ are deador dying.”  Mary’s first appeal is fear. She explains how AIDS, personifying it as a killer, knows where you live andwhere you like to hide.  By dramatizingour fear to speak out, she appeals to guilt. Her appeals move the audience to feel responsible for not speaking outagainst the prejudices which prevent the cure.

Our, “ bold initiatives, campaign slogans, and hopeful promises” are notdoing anything to promote awareness:  Ourignorance is killing innocent children and mothers; our ignorance is not savinglives. She even states, “ It is not you who should feel shame.  It is we..

.” We are the ones capable of changing public policy. The people as a wholeshould be standing up and changing the ideal that the people who havecontracted AIDS or HIV are at fault.

But, Mary’s pathos does not stop with guiltand fear.  She goes on to say, “ I am onewith a black infant suffering with tubes in a Philadelphia hospital …, I am onewith the lonely gay man sheltering a flickering candle from the cold wind ofhis family’s rejection.”  Mary appeals tosympathy which relates to logic. It is not logical to sit back and not fund forHIV/AIDS prevention when it directly helps us all.

An act of compassion is thecure and is a ripple which will lead many more to spread awareness andeventually affect us all. Themillions who watched on TV and those who saw Mary Fisher speak in person knewhow she had contracted the HIV virus; she contracted it from her secondhusband.  Never in the speech did sheblame her husband.  Never in the speechdid she accuse her husband of giving her this disease. Mary Fisher that nightwas the epiphany of ethos.

Mary Fisher is most definitely an activist and herethos is unmistakable: She is a mother, Republican, and fighter of the HIV/AIDSvirus.  She establishes her credibilityby telling her audience in paragraph one, “ I want your attention, not yourapplause.” This is a solid line that was very outstanding to the audience.

Sherepresents the community, “ whose members have been reluctantly drafted fromevery segment of American society.” She represents the people who she is fightingfor: her father, mother, children, and friends.   Would the speech have been as powerful ifMary Fisher did not have HIV?  If Marywas a healthy woman talking about AIDS the urgency to help would not have beenthere.  It would have been another AIDStopic or informing discussion.  Mary wasthe topic, the embodiment, the reflection of the AIDS/HIV community as a whole.

Thesaying “ Silence is Golden” does not demonstrate itself in the speech given by MaryFisher. It establishes the exact opposite; silence on the matter of AIDS/HIVwould only keep people from knowing the truth about the virus. Appealing to theaudience helped to encourage the people to not diminish people who have thisdisease and to be supportive of finding a cure.  The emotion, logic, and deep sentiment putinto her speech were distinguished through the use of pathos, ethos, and logosto reflect the severity and importance to, not only the United States, but on aworld-wide scale.