In all honesty, an orator is just someone who has great
skill in public speaking. Nowadays, one could consider politicians to be a sort
of orator due to the fact that they constantly speak in public and are able to
rally those to their cause. Even though a majority of this is simple lobbying,
it doesn’t change that they are orating in this way. Although I wish the Greeks
were correct, I truly do not believe that an orator needs to be morally good,
because politicians have earned the infamy of being liars and not holding true
to the promises they make in oration. Despite this, politicians can be argued
as "bad orators" anyway.
Even then, there is also the “good” that one can have behind
their speeches. Most of the time nowadays, the main intention behind the speech
is to get people to follow them and nothing more. In modern times, orators are
mainly there to get the word out and hopefully rally a group of people to a
common cause. Therefore, I conclude that an "Orator" does not need to be morally good or honest to be considered an orator, but merely be able to get the desired word out into the public in an efficient and powerful manner.
I would agree that an orator does not necessarily need to be morally good. Many politicians will tell half truths or just strait up lie to us to get elected. They make campaign promises that they know that they can not keep. We are often told by politicians that are taxes are going to be lowered and the government is going to expand some program for us. This rarely happens and because of their public speaking skills they convince enough of us to vote for them. After the election we become distracted by the newest political scandal or a celebrity being unfaithful to their partner. The politicians are forgotten and if someone brings up the lie then they are playing partisan politics.
ReplyDeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteYou guys are almost convincing me to change my opinion on this issue. Well, almost. We all seem to agree on the main points, just not necessarily the conclusion.
Yes, the world is filled with talented people that can give great speeches. In the end though, people will not take an orator seriously in the long run if he continually lies through his teeth. This is why the public at large is so fed up with the scoundrels in both parties. They lie, we know they are lying and we vote for the one that lies the least. What a dysfunctional system...