Emma Gonzalez “We Call BS”

Emma Gonzalez “We call BS” The speaker The presenter is Emma Gonzalez, a young woman who was born and raised in Florida. Emma is a survivor of the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in which 7 students were killed. During the ordeal, she was held in the auditorium for two hours. Three days later, Gonzalez gave this 11-minutes speech at a gun control rally in Florida, which came to be known as the “We call BS” speech. Even before the shooting, Emma was keenly aware of the problems caused by the gun law and ownership in the US. This is evident when she states that she has been “having debates on guns for what feels like our entire lives.” She grew up in the US which is a country that has the political culture of allowing people to voice their opposition to the government. This factor greatly influenced Emma, and therefore helped her gain courage to make a stand against the gun violence caused by the US government and the NRA. The appeal Ethos is the most powerful appeal which Emma employs to persuade her audience. The appeal of ethos, which is used when the speaker wants the audience to trust them, is used by Emma because she is a survivor of the school shooting. This is evident at the beginning, when she identifies herself and everyone on the stage as being survivors who “should be mourning”. She is also knowledgeable about the US gun law as she states that she has been having debates on guns for “her entire life”. Her massive amount of research on gun ownership helps her persuade the audience about the importance of changing the gun law in the US. When Emma tells the rally about the gun law that is already existed, she positions herself in a position as someone who knows what they are talking about. The speaker draws on her status as a survivor and knowledge of Florida gun laws and the gun man to win the trust of her audience and at the same time, deliver the message about changing the gun law. Context To understand Emma’s speech, it is important to examine the context in which it was given. This speech was given in response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. Emma delivered this speech in front of the Broman county courthouse on 17 February 2018, which was three days after the school shooting happened. This shooting was a huge news around the world. In the wake of this shooting, rallies where people demanded the government to change the gun law were organised all around the US. Before this shooting, it was extremely easy to own a gun in America, as Emma states that to buy a gun you “do not need permit or license”. Shooting is also one of the leading causes of death in the US. People in America were so frustrated with the government as they had done nothing to change the law. Therefore, these rallies became tremendous and Emma’s speech went viral. Understanding these circumstances around Emma’s speech makes it even more powerful listening to it today. Purpose The purpose of Emma’s speech is to pressure the government to change the gun law in the US immediately. This is evident when she proclaims: “we are going to be the last mass shooting”. Her multiple attacks on the US politicians including the president Donald Trump is also evidence of Emma pressuring the government. When she closes her speech Emma also encourages her audience to take action to facilitate the change of the gun law by telling her audience to “register to vote” and give their local congresspeople “a piece of your mind”. Emma clearly wants to pressurize the US government to change the law and at the same time, encourage her audience to participate to facilitate the change. Audience Emma wrote the speech for the Americans attending to the rally who wants to change the gun law in the US. In The audiences there would have been family of the victims of the school mass shooting who wants to make a change and members of the public who want to support the victims on changing the gun law, this is evident when Emma stated that the people on the stage “should be home grieving”, but instead “up here standing together”, because it is “time for victims to be the change that we need to see.” During the speech, Emma’s audience cheered and chanted “shame on you” and “we call BS” to show their support. When Emma wrote the speech, she knew her words and ideas would be supported by her audience as people were there to pressure the lawmakers to change the gun law. Language technique Several persuasive techniques are employed in Emma’s speech. Inclusive language is used at the beginning and the end of the speech when she utilises words such as “we”, “our” and “us”. For instance, “we are going to be in the textbook”, “we call BS”. These words effectively persuade the audience by uniting them together and thus creating a sense of solidarity. Repetition is the persuasive technique used most frequently in the speech. Emma repeated terms such as “the student”, “the people”, “shame on you” and “we call BS” to reinforce the idea of changing the gun law. For example, Emma repeats shame on you when criticizing the politicians who support the NRA, this effectively helps Emma persuading her audience that the politicians are not doing their job. Repetition also ensures that Emma’s point of view on the American politicians stay strongly in her audience’s mind. In addition, Emma also utilises analogy to describe the current statue of gun law in the US. This is evident when she says it is “harder to make plans with friends on weekends than to buy an automatic or semi-automatic weapon”. By comparing making plans with friend and buying guns, Emma uses this analogy to highlight how senseless the gun ownership laws are.