Rhetorical Analysis Essay On Mary Fisher

While the world seemed to become a safer place as the cold war ended and efforts towards reducing global warming begin, a deadly virus was killing millions while hiding behind the ignorance of the nation. This ignorance allowed the infection to spread and the death toll to skyrocket. The virus, known as HIV, remained unacknowledged as a serious threat until brave individuals broke the silence and came forward to raise awareness and try to save the nation from letting itself die off. One of the brave people who stepped forward to pierce the ignorance was Mary Fisher, a brave woman who dedicated her life to preventing others from receiving HIV like she did. She addressed the Republican National Convention in 1992 and gave her speech “A Whisper

Pastor Niemöller was one of the many poor souls imprisoned in the death camps of the Nazi regime, and when he emerged from the nightmares and misery of the camp, he gave a short speech about how when the Nazis came after certain groups of people, such as Jews and Communists, he did not protest because he was not one of them. He then told about how when the Nazis came for him, “there was no one left to protest” (Niemöller). After quoting Niemöller’s speech, Fisher proceeded to tell the audience that one of history’s greatest lessons is, “If you believe you are safe, you are at risk” (Fisher). Fisher teaches the audience that ignoring AIDS raises the “risk” of causing a death toll to equal that of the Holocaust. She also models part of her speech like that of Niemöller. The audience is told about her previous belief that, “because I was not hemophiliac… gay… inject drugs, I was not at risk” (Fisher). The style of this speech is mimicked by Fisher to further her message that no one is safe from AIDS, just like no one was safe from the