Fallacies and Demagoguery in George Wallace 1963 Inaugural Address - Report Example

Fallacies and Demagoguery in George Wallace 1963 Inaugural Address In the infamous 1963 speech, George Wallace asserted, “segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!”(Wallace 2). The repeat of words such as ‘segregation’ defines his cause and is a tactic to ensure that the people believed and understood what he stood for. In his entire speech, he gave various examples of what can be considered as demagoguery and misleading notions. Patricia Roberts-Miller in her definition of demagoguery affirms that it is, “…the process whereby skilful speakers and writers seek to influence public opinion by employing the traditional tools of rhetoric with complete indifference to truth” (460). Therefore, demagogues use clever tactics for instance polarization in order to twist arguments and opinions. The ultimate goal is to gain favor with the public and to make a clear cut between ‘us versus them’. The scholars’ definition of what demagoguery can help in analyzing the speech that was presented by Wallace and how other world leaders uses similar tactics to blindfold their audience. Wallace, who was the governor of Alabama, had shown his opposition towards issues of integration. It is reported that two African -American students had attempted to have an entry in the University of Alabama but were frustrated by Wallace. However, the president helped the students get admission in the school; hence, Wallace used his platform to maintain his position, revealing clearly that he was against racial segregation. In order to comprehend his speech, we need to get a better picture of his background. Wallace received his degree of law from the same university in the year 1942 and later went to the United States Air Force. After that he was married, became an attorney general, then a judge before running for governorship, hoping that his firm belief on racial segregation would help him to win. Later on, he gave up on his stance against the black people and he was elected for the fourth time as the governor, where he got black support. His speech persuaded the public to keep him in the office and it is undoubtedly that he used fallacies and demagoguery to trick his audience into supporting what he believed in (Webb and Armbrester 266-267) It is easy to spot some of the fallacies that have undermined Wallace’s arguments in his inaugural address. He misleads the audience when he calls the government ‘communists’ and believing that they are just like the ‘Nazi Germany’ (Wallace 4). He emphasizes that the American government is a major bully and the only victims are the Southerners. However, considering that he was also in power, it was rather a cowardly act and an ill fetched tactic to point fingers at others and assume that he was the only one who was doing the right thing. He criticizes the federal troops, declaring that, “instead the South was set upon by vulturous carpetbagger and federal troops; all loyal southerners were denied the right to vote at the point of bayonet” (Wallace 6). In this case, he is recounting on the civil war and making the audience believe that the troops do not in any way respect loyalty and the only reason they went into battle was to deny the Americans the right to vote. In that case, he indefensibly and groundlessly attacks the government and the people who work under it, making his arguments weak. For a leader whose views are considered by many, it is reprehensible to attack other people simply because they do not agree with you. Wallace uses fallacies by attacking particular people and not necessarily their point of view. Instead of rationally debating the arguments and stances made by the opposition, he says demeaning things about them. When he is talking about the governing leaders, he criticizes the officials such as the judges by stressing that, “let those certain judges put that in their opium pipes of power and smoke it for what it is worth” (Wallace 2). He directly attacks their personality and character, alleging that they are wicked and power hungry. By making the audience believe that indeed the judges are wicked, he is also in a better position to make them think that the government is equally crooked. By using Roberts-Miller’s text on ‘democracy, demagoguery, and critical rhetoric’ it is easy to analyze how Wallace used demagoguery in his speech in an effort to convince people that his viewpoints and reasoning was indeed sound. One of the examples is on how he portrays his belief and cause as Godly and perceives the opposition as evil. In his speech, he talks of the South by using dignified terms such as ‘courage’ and ‘freedom’ whereas he speaks against the government with words such as ‘antichrist’ and ‘ungodly’ (Wallace 3). He makes it look like the American government is repressing its citizens and discounting their freedoms and rights. He avows, “the ungodly core of their philosophy is forbidding little school children to say a prayer” (Wallace 4). He also wants to convince the audience that the government has been prohibiting children from worshiping God, making it look like they are being denied their rights; thus, making the government appear as if it is wicked. Therefore, he is trying to make people loath those people in the government by alleging that they will not let their children love the Almighty. That is an irrational tactic since he could have explained the reasons why he thought the government was ungodly without simply criticizing it without solid facts. In addition, it would have been better to present his case on what he was determined to do for the people of Alabama without making the opposition look bad and leave the people to decide on who they wanted to elect. Wallace also creates an opposition between the founding fathers and the government to prove that he is on the right and the government was wrong. In that case he claims that the government took phrases such as ‘in God we trust’ from the dollar bills, which reflects its ungodliness (Wallace 4). He goes on to explain that the founding fathers asserted those words and the government was trying to make them disappear. For that reason, Wallace is simply trying to make the audience think that everything that was done or said by the founding fathers was apt since they were the apex of the American history and if anyone was against them, then they were not true Americans. For that reason, his demagoguery is clearly seen. In his speech, he also perceives the government as the ‘bad guy’ and contends, “…we find that we are becoming government-fearing people, not God fearing people” (Wallace 5). He uses such terms and tone to align words such as ‘fear’ and ‘government’. By doing so, he establishes associations between the two terms, making the people believe that they ought to detest the government and refrain from siding with it, since it wants the people to fear. Unfortunately Wallace is not the only leader who has used demagoguery to persuade people to believe in his cause. For instance, just like Wallace, Hitler’s address when he was proclaiming war against the US was full of fallacies and demagoguery. He victimized the Germans, claiming that the Soviet Union had wronged Germany (Hitler par.8). Consequently, by playing victim, he was able to rally his army in thinking that they were attacked and bullied. He criticized former presidents such as Franklin Roosevelt, since they were the American icons during that era and instead of addressing his mistakes, he pointed fingers, alleging that American was a bully; thus, weakening his argument. Demagoguery is a powerful technique that is used in the argumentative speech and literature to persuade the audience. People who do not give a lot of thought to what they read or hear tend to be blindly misled into believing something that is neither true nor right. In Wallace’s case, his fallacies and demagoguery was successful and persuasive enough since he was elected for a period of four times as the governor of Alabama. Similarly, Adolf Hitler use of fallacies and demagoguery helped him in killing innocent civilians and begin a war. Robert- Miller clearly points out some of the weaknesses that are found in people’s arguments when they use fallacy and demagoguery. By using her prior work, it is possible to analyze some of the assertions that were made by George Wallace that can be susceptible through critical analysis. In that case, demagoguery can help in creating convincing arguments when not analyzed and at the same time can persuade people to take appalling actions; hence, should be closely considered when assessing point of views. Works Cited Hitler, Adolf. Speech Declaring War against the United States, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. Roberts-Miller, Patricia. “Democracy, Demagoguery, and Critical Rhetoric.” Rhetoric and Public Affairs 8.3(2005):459-476. Print. Wallace, George. Inaugural Address (1963); the “Segregation Now, Segregation Forever” Speech, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. Webb, Samuel and Armbrester, Margaret. Alabama Governors: A Political History of the State. Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 2014. Print. Read More