Orators

[Tez3]

Obviously you have people on the campaign trail in America and there's always elections for something or another all over the place so what do people think about the standard of speech making in these modern times?

Totally disregarding party politics and only looking at the technical ability of politicians to deliver a good, interesting and even inspiring speech, do you feel that the days of rousing speeches is over? Replaced by 'sound bites' and those screens they read from? I enjoy a good speech given by someone who can speak well in public, I may not agree with a word of it but listening to someone who knows the nuances and cadences of public speaking is a joy. It also seems that debating is a dying art. A good debate between opposing views well put is also a pleasure. While disagreeing with the content you can also admire good delivery. Both public speaking and debating used to taught in schools. Debating sepecially raises confidence and teaches how to listen to other views as you can be given a subject to debate and are told whether to argue pro or against regardless of your own views. It forces you to be articulate and coherent something that seems lacking a bit today.

 

[Sukerkin]

I utterly concur that the arts of speach-making and debating are lost arts.

Blair was considered a fine modern exponent of these tools of politics, for example but I'm sure that he had a team of writers behind him creating the phrasing to be used in answers to expected questions in the house or in interviews.

Winnie he was not - a politician who can outwit his opponents whilst three-sheets-to-the-wind is a hard yardstick to live up to.

At a lesser level, I see every day that I'm on-line that the ability to carry an argument in a reasonably whole bucket is rarely seen.

When I was at university, part of what we were taught was how to advance a proposition and defend it under questioning - is that not done anymore? After all, it appears that about 90% of the population have degrees these days ... or is it that, as I've often contended, standards are a pale shadow of what was expected when I earned my 'letters'?

 

[Big Don]

When he is without a teleprompter, Obama is lost. It is as if he isn't able to speak well without one, without a teleprompter, he gets into a lot of "uh's" and "Ah's" and other non words.
Ronald Reagan wasn't called "The Great Communicator" for nothing... having come out of Hollywood, he was a great orator. Bill Clinton, giving the devil his due, was also a fine public speaker.
Neither of the Presidents Bush have excelled in public speaking. But, judging a politician solely by his public speaking ability is problematic, Adolf Hitler, by all accounts was a fabulously charismatic speaker, but, that hardly made him a good person.

 

[Nolerama]

Good public speaking skills should be an integral part of a politician's arsenal. They should be, at least.

That kind of skill, figures into a politician's charisma, and his/her ability to lead and convince the masses that policy X is good for them.

However, I do think it's becoming a dying art. I think it's considered "Political Suicide" to hold a speech without the support of a teleprompter. Even the speeches themselves are not written by the politician, they have speech writers for that.

It's sad. Even our politicians (bipartisan, Big Don) have outsourced INTELLIGENCE.

 

[Tez3]

The Ancient Greeks judged a man by many things and his ability to give a speech in public was one of them. I think they are right to be honest. A good speech written and given by by a man won't tell you whether he is good or not but will tell you how well he's educated, how he thinks and whether he's quickwitted enough to cope with hecklers therefore can think on his feet. It's probably one of the great losses of political campaigning that hecklers aren't allowed anymore due of course to 'security issues'.
Speaking well in public as any preacher will tell you gives people confidence in you. It means you have taken the time and learnt a skill to represent yourself well in public and hence be able to represent your electorate/country well which is what people want.
I saw Bill Clinton give his speech the other night, he has got the knack of appearing to enjoy speaking in public so therefore his timing and rhythm were excellent. As mentioned Ronald Reagan came over well, he'd learnt the art of delivery as had the Ancient Greeks. They spent a long time learning oratory.
A speech I enjoy hearing is Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' obviously for the content but listen to the rhythm of it flowing, washing over you and back, it has a preacher's rhythm and cadence calling up emotions and feelings. I once heard a Welsh padre in the RAF preach and it was like listening to music.
This isn't a speech as such but a magnificent piece of writing read by one of the most magical vioices in the world. It's how a speech should be written and read, it draws you in, dances with you, plays with your mind and hypnotises.
http://www.undermilkwood.net/prose_umw1.html enjoy, I almost cry when it ends I'm left almost bereft when the words stop.
A good teacher for would be scriptwriters everywhere.

 

[Live True]

Sadly, I think public discourse has two main enemies today.

One is the insidious nature of a plugged in society that wants to be entertained constantly and does not spend time in contemplation. If you are consistently looking for the next fix, next fad, next proffered cliché.... you are less likely to linger over nuances of phrase and rhythm or to consider if there was more than one meaning behind what was said.

The other, at least in the US, is a beleaguered school system that has to choose what gets added/dropped from the curriculum with inadequate funding and little chance of lengthening the school year/day.

In middle school, we won’t go into how many years back, I was part of a wonderful extra-curricular program for public speaking, from dramatic interpretation to debate and exposition. We had some very talented speakers in our group. I admit to being more of a dramatic interp. person, but I did try my hand at debate and found it challenging and refreshing. We were required to argue both sides of a topic, even if we had very strong personal feelings for a particular side. It made us better critical thinkers as well as speakers.

So, I think orators still exist, but they are not fostered, society-wide, as they once were. It’s now a hobby or extra curricular activity, instead of a core fundamental skill. I am often appalled at how one sided and loosely constructed arguments catch the popular imagination. I have a friend who is attending toastmasters, and while her speaking skill has improved, her ability to construct a logical argument has not….:erg:..shrugs