Malala Yousafzai: Nobel Peace Prize Speech

Last year, Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle against suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education. In her acceptance speech, Malala shows great knowledge about the subject, and through touching stories and comments on the assassination atempt by the Taliban, she reaches out to people from all over the world. The three rhetorical modes of appeal, ethos, pathos and logos, are all frequently used in Malala's speech. But what exactly do they mean, and how can we spot them?

Ethos is how the speaker establishes credibility. Naturally, we believe the people who we admire or respect. Thus, the speaker must convince the audience of their credibility, and that they are worth listening to. In the following sentence, we see an example of how Malala uses ethos in the speech: "Some people call me the girl who was shot by the Taliban. And some, the girl who fought for her rights. Some people, call me a "Nobel Laureate" now." In this quote, Malala builds on her personal experience from the Taliban assassination attempt and her title as a "Nobel Laureate" to present herself as a reliable person. She continues the speech by saying: "However, my brothers still call me that annoying bossy sister. As far as I know, I am just a committed and even stubborn person who wants to see every child getting quality education (...)". Through this, she creates a common ground with the audience and makes it easier for them to identify.

The second rhetorical mode of appeal, pathos, is about creating emotions. Malala  uses pathos frequently in her speech by speaking with conviction, using vivid language and varying her tone of voice. She also tells many stories, both from her own life and from other people who have experienced similar things as herself. Here is an example of how Malala creates emotion in the speech: "I had two options. One was to remain silent and wait to be killed. And the second was to speak up and be killed. I chose the second one. I decided to speak up."

Lastly, the third rhetorical mode of appeal is logos. Logos is the appeal to logic, and and centers around structure and logical argumentation. In order to to support her statements and conclusions, Malala several times uses concrete facts and logical argumentation. The following quote is an example of how she presents a conclusion and then underpins with facts: "When I was in Swat, which was just a place of tourism and beauty, suddenly changed into a place of terrorism. I was just ten that more than 400 schools were destroyed. Women were flogged. People were killed. (...)" In addition, Malala uses contrasts to create structure in her speech: "Education went from being a right to being a crime."

Through making good use of the rhetorical appeals, Malala really manages to get her message across. Without rhetoric, speeches like Malala's, Martin Luther King's or Lincoln's might not have been as effective and powerful. This might be something to think about if you ever want to persuade  someone of something, or maybe give a speech, in the future.

The Truth About Domestic Violence

In this TED-talk, the American writer Leslie Morgan Steiner talks about the secrets of domestic violence. Leslie is not a psychiatrist, a social worker or an expert in the subject. She does, however, have a story to tell. As a 22 year old Harvard graduate, Leslie had just moved into her own apartment in New York City for her first job as a writer and editor at Seventeen magazine. But she also carried a big secret: her husband had threatened to kill her more times than she could count. You might not think of Leslie as the typical domestic violence survivor, having a B.A. in English from Harvard, an MBA in marketing from Wharton Business School and having been married for 20 years with three children. This illustrates one of her main points: domestic violence can happen to anyone.

"Why did she stay?" is a commonly asked question when it comes to the subject. In order to give an answer, she starts talking about the stages of the "domestic violence pattern". The first step involves threat of violence to see how the victim reacts. In Leslie's case, her abuser bought several guns to "protect himself", although it was really a message for her. Secondly, the abuser strikes. This could be everything from small comments, pushes, punches or beatings, to severe cases of violence that in worst case lead to death. The last step is apologizes, promise of change and gifts. When this stage is over, the cycle repeats itself. So why did she stay? The answer is simple: she did not know he was abusing her. Leslie rather considered herself a strong woman in love with a deeply troubled man.

I find it simply shocking to realize how difficult it is for domestic violence victims to recognize that their relationships are abusive. And even if they do realize it, it might not make it easier for them to leave. Over 70% of domestic violence murders happen after the victim has ended the relationship, a number that makes it more understandable why victims choose to stay with their abuser. Other outcomes include long-term stalking, denial of financial resources and manipulation of the family court system to terrify the victim and her children. So how are you supposed to get out of an abusive relationship? In the talk, Leslie repeatedly emphasizes the importance of breaking the silence. By telling the police, your neighbors, friends and family or complete strangers, you protect yourself and make it more difficult for the abuser to continue with the abuse. However, not only the victims can do something to prevent this from happening. It is very important that we bring domestic violence to light, talk about it and make ourselves aware of all the visible signs and patterns that exist. It is EVERYBODY'S business.