450 Response for week 7

Response to “Communicate. Create change. Love” Blog Question #1:

Question 1) Think of a well-recognized speech that you are familiar with or would like to read/listen to such as Martin Luther king JR’s I Have a Dream or Cesar Chavez’s Commonwealth Club Address (May be interesting to analyze a speech given in recent history). Each of these speeches had a tremendous impact on a large portion of the population and helped move the respective cause each speaker is fighting for a number of steps further towards its success. In the third chapter of the text “Persuasion and Social Movements,” the authors quote William Gamson who classifies social movements as “struggles over the definition and construction of social reality.” How does the speech you are analyzing construct the social reality at the time it was given? What is the exact problem the speaker addresses and how is language used to create the way the intended audience views the given problem?


I choose to analyze Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address given on January 20, 2009:

For an actual copy of the text please go to http://obamaspeeches.com/P-Obama-Inaugural-Speech-Inauguration.htm

The background for this speech is fairly straightforward. Barack Obama is the first African American president to take the oath of office in the history of the United States and he is coming in at a time when our country has been at war in Iraq at a tremendous cost that is literally beginning to tear the US economy apart. The speech president Obama gives constructs the social reality in several different ways. First I want to discuss the music chosen for the ceremony because as chapter 3 discusses, “Institutions have long utilized music for a variety of persuasive purposes, and they are leery of its use in the hands of social agitators” (Pg. 54). Plato even said that, “any music innovation is full of danger to the whole state, and ought to be prohibited” (Pg. 54). While President Obama is not an institution, his organization and campaign was centered around the idea of social change in America. It is due to this respect that I feel the music selection at the Inaugural Address is very important. The bands chosen to perform at the address were as follows: The United States Marine Band, The San Francisco Boys Chorus, The San Francisco Girls Chorus and Aretha Franklin. I feel that these were definitely chosen for a specific reason to construct a social reality during President Obama’s address.
The United States Marine Band is known for performing at formal events and ceremonies celebrating Americas tradition of independence and honoring those that serve. This group was chosen for the specific purpose of preserving the classic tradition of what every single American President has enjoyed as a formal ceremony performed by the fighting men and women of this country. The band played four “ruffles and flourishes” as they always do followed by “Hail to the Chief” after Obama gave his address.
The next two choices in the San Francisco boys and girls chorus were much different in nature. The chorus is known for singing in front of presidents and political officials. Together the boys chorus of 200 boys ranging from ages 5 to 18 sang with the girls chorus of 300 girls ranging from 7 to 18 years old. Together they sang “America The Beautiful”. This was another serious performance that is formal in nature and neutral in terms of what anyone would expect to occur at a presidential Inaugural address. It was with Aretha Franklin singing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" that a different kind of message was established.
There is not doubt in my mind that Aretha was chosen to represent the African American heritage of soul music and bring an aura of something new and refreshing to what has always been such a formal occurrence. She was also chosen to show the merging between a traditional white, Anglo-Saxon culture and Americans of color. This is the kind of image Barack Obama has created and maintained throughout his presidential campaign. He was serious enough to talk about serious, hard-hitting issues such as terrorism, the economy or the Iraq war but also likes to hoop it up on the weekends, walk the dog and spend time with his family. This also became part of the image he projected of himself all throughout the campaign. He literally was a representation of the kind of change that America needs and he is an outstanding example of why American can provide opportunities that can not be matched any where else in the world. That is the image and social reality that he created through his climb to the presidency. A serious man that is also down to earth and realizes what issues the American people struggle with on their level.
I am running out of room but I want to talk about the speech briefly. The word humble was carefully chosen. You would think that for the first African American president of the United States “humble” would hardly be the word that would be used. He also says to be “mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors”. Again this has multiple meanings, it could mean all the American men and women that have made the USA what it is and it can also refer to African Americans that endured slavery. The one word that comes to mind in reading this is that President Obama is classy. It is this classy, outspoken, serious but humble man that represents the new face of the United States and that is the social reality he is creating.
He is creating a place where everyone can relate to him and that your ancestors regardless of race, class and history have earned a place to make the USA the wonderful place that it has become. This is the social reality that Obama is creating in this speech as well. The speech is 3 pages long and this analysis is only based on the first several paragraphs but if you continue to look at the content of the text, the combination of music and the way in which it was delivered this is the social reality that Obama is defining. He is defining a unified, harmonious United States that is willing to work together to solve the problems that lie before him. He also puts the responsibility to create this social change on “this generation of Americans”.
Then Obama goes on to discuss economic hardship and that no matter what class you may be in, what industry or job you are in, everyone is feeling the pinch of the economic crisis and we must take action now. Part of the persuasive functions of social movement mentioned in chapter 3 is that, “Social movement persuaders portray a vision of the future that instills a sense of urgency in audience to organize and do something now before it is too late” (Pg 55). These themes are interwoven all throughout Obama’s speech and it is truly a masterpiece that would require many pages to fully break down. With that being said, I feel this is a good start in looking at this speech in terms of how Obama created a social reality and has been successful in getting people to take action and make changes.