Demagoguery: Powerful Revolutionaries
Over the
past decades, The United States has been battling the issue about the equality
of the American people. Looking back at segregation verses integration, anyone
can agree that this ongoing topic can get very personal. Just like Martin
Luther King representing his people and the KKK representing their people, both
opposing parties made an affect on the nation as a whole. During this racial
era, famous speeches were made by many revolutionary people like the notorious
leader Hitler who is one of the biggest demagogues known in history.
Demagoguery is a kind of discourse that
undermines the quality of public argument, particularly by creating a situation
in which dissent is dangerous/closing down discussion. In Patricia
Roberts-Miller, “Democracy,
Demagoguery, And Critical Rhetoric”, Roberts-Miller claims that in order for
democracy to work correctly, there has to be specific guidelines. She states
the argumentation rules that inherit such behavior for the critical rhetoric
speakers. This relates to the demagogue, George Wallace and his Inaugural Speech
as Governor of Alabama, January 14, 1963. Wallace’s goal was to persuade to the
people of Alabama to choose him as Governor. He represents himself as an equal
giving man whose cause is to give society the freedom of integration. To his opponents,
he bashes on communism and states that the federal government does nothing but
fear the people. In this paper I will analyze one element of demagoguery in George Wallace’s Inaugural speech,
one fallacy Wallace uses and how it relate to Roberts Miller’s text, and apply
Roberts Miller text to an outside text by Adolf Hitler.
In George Wallace’s Inaugural speech, many types of demagoguery are used sporadically. Like I said before, demagoguery is a kind of discourse that undermines the quality of public argument, particularly by creating a situation in which dissent is dangerous/closing down discussion. One element of demagoguery that Wallace uses during his speech is Scapegoating. When he says,
In George Wallace’s Inaugural speech, many types of demagoguery are used sporadically. Like I said before, demagoguery is a kind of discourse that undermines the quality of public argument, particularly by creating a situation in which dissent is dangerous/closing down discussion. One element of demagoguery that Wallace uses during his speech is Scapegoating. When he says,
“It is a
government that claims to us that it is bountiful as it buys its power from us
with the fruits of its rapaciousness of the wealth that free men before it have
produced and builds on crumbling credit without responsibilities to the
debtors, our children,”(Wallace, p.3)
he is
blaming the federal government for taking the freedom away from the American
people and is taking no responsibilities for their actions. Wallace believes
that the children’s future will be ruined if they continue control the American
people. Also, he is saying that the government is fearing the people and not
protecting the people Wallace states that the government is taking credit away
from the American people and is raising police power, making them masters of
the people instead of servants of the people. By bashing on his opponent, making them look
like the bad guy, Wallace makes the federal government seem like the core of
the problem. He used this type of demagoguery in the contexts to persuade the
audience that the federal government is responsible for the situation and that
scapegoating is a unifying tactic that gives Wallace a sense if righteousness.
Not only
does Wallace use many characteristics of demagoguery in his speech, he also
uses many types of fallacies. A fallacy is an argument that uses weak meaning.
One in particular that I noticed was the Straw Man fallacy when Wallace does
not accurately represent his opponent’s argument. During his speech he holds
the federal government responsible for the societies dilemma and also name
calls them. He talks
about how the government is taking over the people by becoming their God.
Wallace is trying to persuade the people of Alabama that if he is Governor, he
will bring back God giving them freedom so that the government will stop being
the master of the people and go back to being the servant of the people. Although
he is trying to explain to the people that the federal government is the bad
guy in the sense, he is calling them names and holding them responsible for the
freedom being taken away from the southerners. By presenting a weak and
caricatured version of the argument by not backing himself up with facts, this
makes Wallace look unprofessional and unfair. Instead, Wallace should be
focusing on himself and how he can personally benefit society on an individual.
This leads to “Democracy, Demagoguery, And Critical Rhetoric” by Patricia
Roberts-Miller and van Eemeren and Grotendoorst’s basic assumption that argumentation
is discourse oriented toward resolving a dispute, and there certain rules inherent
in such behavior. The first rule is “Parties must not prevent each other from advancing
stand- points or casting doubt on standpoints”(Roberts-Miller, p.466). In
Wallace’s speech, he uses various strategies by personally attacking the
federal government and discrediting them. Wallace portrays himself
as if he represents the southerners. So, when Wallace makes assumptions about
the federal government, he is making more of a personal opinion with no
statistics to back him up. Wallace is generalizing his opponent, which is a
violation to Roberts Mills guidelines. Wallace engages in personal attack by blaming
the federal government, calling them ungodly, and holding them responsible for
freedom being taken away from the American people. The government is supposed
to represent the American people as their protector and with what Wallace is
representing them is completely opposite. Thereby, this is all fallacious,
which shows a weak side to Wallace’s speech.
In the
history of time, many demagogues revolutionized themselves impacting people all
around the world. A demagogue is a political leader who gains their power by
fearing the public people and appealing to the popular prejudices. One
demagogue in particular is Adolf Hitler, a Nazi leader of Germany who’s
corrupted his country killing off anyone who was not his blonde hair, blue eye
ideal race. In his speech at the Berlin Sportspalast January
30, 1940, Hitler talks about the lessons of the First World War, democracy. He
believes that before his time in power, when democracy was present, the people
of Germany begged and hoped for a new world. Hitler disrupted democracy by
taking over Germany turning it in to a Nazi Party believing it was more
feasible within the framework of the constitution. In his speech he is making
the “new Germany” superior to his opponents who believes in the ideas of
democracy. Hitler states that the others have to learn their lesson about
democracy just like the people of Germany did themselves. He makes his audiences
feel bad for him for the League of Nations not making him feel “welcome”
because they disagree with Hitler’s stand points. Hitler makes his country seem
like the insiders, which make the rest of the world outsiders. All of these elements relate to Roberts-Miller’s
text and the characteristic of demagoguery. In Roberts-Miller’s text she says,
“Demagogues polarize a complicated (and often frightening) situation by
presenting only two options: their policy, and some obviously stupid, imprac-
tical, or shameful one”(Roberts-Miller, p.462). Roberts-Miller believes that
demagogues always insist that people who don’t agree with them are their enemy.
Hitler wants the people of Germany to know that the outsiders who want
democracy are against Germany, wanting war. Just like when Roberts-Miller says,
“The notion of an embattled and victimized Germany against all others predated
Hitler,”(Roberts-Miller, p.462) she is talking about now Hitler makes people look
at him as innocent. Also, when miller says,
“That is,
demagogues rely on a common way for people to view the world: there are some
people whom we think of as “like us” in some important regard, and others who
are very different from us in some equally important regard,”(Roberts-Miller,
462)
she is stating that
demagogues believe that they are the insiders and the rest are outsiders just
like how Hitler believes the democrats are the outsiders. Over all Hitler uses
polarization through out his speech making life seem very black and white.
All in
all the characteristics of demagoguery and fallacies play a huge part in George
Wallace Inaugural speech. Wallace was and still is seen as a revolutionary man
who strived for segregation for many years. No matter what, he kept fighting
for what he wanted and was confident that he could change the way our nation
was working if he were governor of Alabama. Looking back at his speech and the
reaction of the people, many could say he was successful with persuading the
southerners to vote for him. Anyone who participates in politics or is
fascinated towards it would be drawn to George Wallace’s speech. Because he was
a notorious man, most people already know about this event even though it
happened decades ago. With that said, I have learned so much from his speech. I
personally already knew about the argument about segregation against
integration but, after reading, writing, and reflecting George Wallace’s speech
made me understand this issue more in depth. For what happened to George
Wallace, he was eventually elected governor of Alabama in 1963-1967, 1971-1979,
and 1983-1987. He continued to be a rallying cry for the people opposing
integration and the civil rights movement. Wallace didn’t only influence many people
in both positive and negative ways during his time but was also remembered for
the rest of his life.
