Some Brief Thoughts on Young

There are quite a few ways of examining Andrew Young's speech, as evidenced by the class discussion. For me, the main aspect that made it effective to me was the context of the surrounds speakers. I will grant you, Young seemed unfocused and rambling at times. However, when viewed against the backdrop of so many others who came of as overly mechanical and detatched, this came off as more of a strength than a weakness. The kid before him was remarkably organized and well spoken, but he sounded like he was addressing a group of judges instead of a live audience. Young was the only speaker there who seemed to be addressing people as people. So, in that light, I can forgive a fairly loose format. I don't particularly want to retreat issues of how a sense of urgency was achieved and the use of pathos and ethos. Instead, I would simply point out how Young managed to challenge ideas that, if they were not held by the audience at large, were at least things that I had not considered in the way he put forth. An attempt to redefine the way in which people think about MLK was the most striking. An overt call for nonviolent humanitarianism that was at the heart of the civil rights movement but has almost been overshadowed by the issues of black/white race relations is something that I didn't expect at all. When added to the fact that he considered increased consumerism to be one of the driving forces that could help achieve that goal, the speech took a turn into territory almost certain to challenge the previously held ideas of the audience. Granted, the kid also spoke in a provocative way, but Young spoke in the moment. A somewhat unfocused speaking style serves to project an air of personal appeal to the audience that is lacking in an overly rehearsed and organized speech.