For my persuasive speech I decided to talk about the death penalty. In high school I took a contemporary problems class which briefly went over a controversial topic every week. We focused on the death penalty, but I was stil interested in it even after we had moved onto another topic due to the convincing arguments each side had. This is a great topic to revisit because it brings out strong emotions in people, and is something the audience will already have a good understanding of. There is also a lot of information and statistical data that can be used to make my point, which is that the death penalty should be abolished because of how it is unfairly applied, the cost, and it doesn't deter crime. Using testimonials from innocent people who have been let off of death row I will appeal to people's emotions. A lot of attention has been brought to this controversial topic after the U.N. asked the U.S. to abolish the death penalty just last week.
http://www.gbfranciscans.org/peacemaking/images/RIPDeathPenalty.jpg
The death penalty is definitely a controversial topic. I'm really interested to hear what your view and argument is! There are so many views to the death penalty that it's always an interesting topic.
ReplyDeleteDeath is already something that people are attracted to. Making your point and finding data should be relatively easy. There are definately many perspectives and it is a very intereting topic to dicuss about. Well goodluck! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm really interested in this topic. I took a moral issues class last semester, and with every argument made from both sides I could see their point. Since you have chosen to argue against it, there is definitely a lot of statistical information you can use, and I am interested to see how you use emotional appeals.
ReplyDeleteThe trick with this topic is that is is controversial, but always has been. You have to find a way to make it relevant for our class but not by repeating the arguments that have been up for debate, but by making it resonate with your specific audience. Think of ways the death penalty affects us DIRECTLY and then persuade us from that perspective so that we will feel more compelled to care and become aware.
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