Persuasive Speech On Encountering Conflict

In my study of the Context ‘Encountering Conflict,’ I have come to appreciate the complexity of the causes and responses to disagreements throughout history. I wish to write creatively in this piece to capture the unique reactions humanity has to that which is threatening; an unpredictability in response that perhaps could not be done justice in an expository form. I have written my creative/persuasive speech for an audience of educated scholars at a TED conference. A logical and measured tone will allow for the content of the speech to relate intimately with how my audience members understand their world of work. Moreover, the use of visual imagery in the piece will reach out to the more imaginative and adventurous nature often ingrained in
In order to reflect this idea, I have taken on the persona of ‘conflict’ and address my audience as ‘you’ who are essentially being addressed as mankind as a whole. In such a literary technique, somewhat similar to the narrator of Death in Mark Zusak’s The Book Thief, I hope to reflect the duality of conflict in humanity and the humanity in conflict. Furthermore, by addressing an audience filled with very different individuals as the entirety of the Homo Sapiens species, I aspire to emphasize the shared responsibility we all have for the actions of others. Within my speech, I offer the idea that conflict is driven by social orders, pride, and the fear of the unfamiliar, which in turn can foster an environment that cultivates the growth of ignorance and intolerance. More specifically, I explore how the human proclivity to form groups based on similar interests can create outsiders whom, in an attempt to feel a sense of belonging, can turn to
An adaptive trait, most prominently exemplified in your family units, that has obvious and immediate benefits. However, your ability to form collaborative groups automatically creates outsiders. Such potential for marginalization leads to individuals like you finding yourself on the boundaries of society; just one of my many abodes. I watch as resentment and disregard towards everything the greater part of society values grows within you. You are the product of social exclusion. You are the disenfranchised youth of ISIL. You find a sense of belonging in a minority because you don’t belong to the majority. This way, you are granted purpose and self-worth. You flout the principles upheld by law in many of your nations and at the very heart of your crimes lies a pleasure in pleasing a group that accepts you, in denying the painful reality of your previous rejection. You are Khaled Sharrouf, congratulating your little boy for holding a severed head of ‘the enemy’. But wait, you are the enemy. You are the human family. You are the people and you need not think alike to love