Speech

This is a speech i've written for a public speaking competition in two days time! its supposed to be about 8 minutes long.

I need some feedback on it, what do think?

any comments would be greatly appeciated and sorry about the length, thanks

-Bevo

Speech: Man’s greatest enemy
Good evening, Tonight I shall be addressing the idea of Man’s greatest enemy.​

When the need for a definition of this term comes up many people have different opinions on what it is, however it is my opinion that man himself and how he treats other humans, is our greatest enemy.

History through the ages has proven that man is the cause of most of our problems, with wars, fights, gross mistakes and many other problems contributing to this theory.

The idea that there is one people in possession of the truth, one answer to the world’s ills, or one solution to humanity’s needs, has done untold harm throughout history — especially in the last century.

The highest political bodies like the Untied Nations all speak of the creation and preservation of harmony and equality when the rest of the world says otherwise with riots in Pakistan, Kenya and Palestine, Nationalist violence in Tibet, Rebellion in the Darfur region of Sudan and oppressive authoritarian regimes in countries like China, Burma, Iran, Laos and Zimbabwe.

In these countries the liberties of the people are suppressed and beaten down by others who are motivated by power and greed. Where the dignity of the individual has been trampled or threatened — where citizens have not enjoyed the basic right to choose their government, or the right to change it regularly — conflict has too often followed, with innocent civilians paying the price.

Often small conflicts escalate into full scale genocide. A Genocide begins with the killing of one man — not for what he has done, but because of who he is. A campaign of 'ethnic cleansing' begins with one neighbour turning on another. Examples of these atrocities include: Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge in 1975-79 with 1.7 million killed, Rwanda over 100 days in 1994 with 937,000 killed and Armenia under Ottoman rule from 1915-1923, with over 2 million Armenians murdered; something the Turkish government has refused to acknowledge.

Through neglect and ignorance, half the world's population, nearly three billion people, live on less than US$2 a day and over 800 million people do not get enough food to meet their energy needs.

One of the biggest problems faced by many people is social and gender discrimination. Everyday people face sexism, homophobia, class differences, anti-Semitism and many other forms of discrimination targeted at distinct groups.

Sexism is the belief that one gender or sex is inferior to or more valuable than the other, chauvinism and the attitude of misogyny. Females in the past had been often seen as less important than males but this has changed dramatically in the last hundred years with women’s suffrage and liberation movements contributing greatly to the movement of gender equality.

Another issue of man’s treatment of other humans is homophobia. Homosexuality had been considered a mental disorder by the psychiatric community around the developed world and was illegal in most countries until the mid 1970s. After the 1970s, societies at large began and are beginning to remove discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
However, sexism and homophobia still exist not only in societies that do not adhere to egalitarian principles but they are also evident in Australia, the U.S. and other nations of the developed world.

When the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed on the 10 December 1948 by the nations of the world in the aftermath of world war two in the very first article it stated that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

People of different religions and cultures live side by side in almost every part of the world, and most of us have overlapping identities which unite us with very different groups. We can love what we are, without hating what — and who — we are not. We can thrive in our own tradition, even as we learn from others, and come to respect their teachings.

What every human on this planet has to recognise is that until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to who they are; until the oppressive regimes of the world have been toppled; until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and goodwill; until all humans stand and speak as free human beings, equal in the eyes of everyone; until that day, we shall not know peace.

We must mobilize all our resources in a systematic and organized way and tackle head-on the grave issues that confront us.

In the words of American president from 1981-1989, Ronald Reagan:
“I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose and worth to each and every life.”​

 

Thanks for the advice and support everyone!

I'm due to do my my speech in a few hours time so i'll let you know how it goes.

P.S. The speech transcript above is not accurate as i have vastly improved it since then.

-Bevo

 

I got second place which means i'm in the running for the next round

I got a lot of very positive remarks and some people felt i should have won but whatever.

If anyone's interested here is the last and finished version:

Good evening, I shall be addressing the idea of Man’s greatest enemy.

When the need for a definition of this term comes up many people have different opinions on what it is, however it is my opinion that man himself and how he treats other humans, is our greatest enemy.

History through the ages has proven that man is the cause of most of our problems, with wars, fights, gross mistakes and many other problems contributing to this theory.

The idea that there is one people in possession of the truth, one answer to the world’s ills, or one solution to humanity’s needs, has done untold harm throughout history — especially in the last century.

The highest political bodies like the Untied Nations all speak of the creation and preservation of harmony and equality when the rest of the world says otherwise with riots in Pakistan, Kenya and Palestine, Nationalist violence in Tibet, Rebellion in the Darfur region of Sudan and oppressive authoritarian regimes in countries like China, Burma, Iran, Laos and Zimbabwe.

In these countries the liberties of the people are suppressed and beaten down by others who are motivated by power and greed. Where the dignity of the individual has been trampled or threatened — where citizens have not enjoyed the basic right to choose their government, or the right to change it regularly — conflict has too often followed, with innocent civilians paying the price.

Often small conflicts escalate into full scale genocide. A Genocide begins with the killing of one man — not for what he has done, but because of who he is. A campaign of 'ethnic cleansing' begins with one neighbour turning on another. Examples of these atrocities include: Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge in 1975-79 with 1.7 million killed, Rwanda over 100 days in 1994 with 937,000 killed and Armenia under Ottoman rule from 1915-1923, with over 2 million Armenians murdered; something the Turkish government has refused to acknowledge.

One of the most prominent of what could be considered genocide was in Soviet Russia under Josef Stalin during the ‘Great Purge’ where an estimated 50 million Russians died at the hand of the soviet government. It was kept so quiet that even today we may never know how many died in Stalin’s purges.
Stalin and his fanatical supporters, used extreme methods and mass repressions at a time when the when the Soviet state was strong and thus there was no logical reason for such a mass persecution.

It is clear that Stalin showed in a whole series of cases his intolerance, his brutality and his abuse of power. Instead of proving his political correctness and mobilizing the masses, he often chose the path of repression and physical annihilation, not only against actual enemies, but also against individuals who had not committed any crimes against the Party and the Soviet Government. Here we see no wisdom but only a determination to use brutal force, which demonstrates the ability of one man to destroy so many lives.
Today, through neglect and ignorance, half the world's population, nearly three billion people, live on less than US$2 a day and over 800 million people do not get enough food to meet their energy needs.

One of the biggest problems faced by many people is social and gender discrimination. Everyday people face sexism, homophobia, class differences, anti-Semitism and many other forms of discrimination targeted at distinct groups.

Sexism is the belief that one gender or sex is inferior to or more valuable than the other. In the past Females had often been seen as less important than males but this has changed dramatically in the last hundred years with women’s suffrage, liberation movements and prominent activists like Germaine Greer contributing greatly to the movement of gender equality.

Another issue of man’s treatment of other humans is homophobia. Homosexuality was considered a mental disorder by the psychiatric community and society at large until the mid 1970s. After the 1970s, societies began and are beginning to remove discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Many governments throughout the world uphold laws that ban homosexuality. Repealing these laws would reduce discrimination against gay and lesbian people, and would go some way to encouraging societies to embrace the diversity of different sexualities.
However, sexism and homophobia still exist not only in societies that do not adhere to egalitarian principles but they are also evident in Australia, the U.S. and other nations of the developed world.

When the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed on the 10 December 1948 by the nations of the world, the very first article stated that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
People of different religions and cultures live side by side in almost every part of the world, and most of us have overlapping identities which unite us with very different groups. We can love what we are, without hating what — and who — we are not. We can thrive in our own tradition, even as we learn from others, and come to respect their teachings.

What every human on this planet has to recognise is that until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to who they are; until the oppressive regimes of the world have been toppled; until bigotry, prejudice and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding, tolerance and goodwill; until all humans stand and speak as free human beings, equal in the eyes of everyone; until that day, we may never know peace.

What you and I must do is just be kind and acceptant of everyone, include them and make them feel welcome and part of our society regardless of who they are, what they do or what opinions they have. If we all do this, a positive future for everyone is assured.

The American president from 1981-1989, Ronald Reagan, once said:
“I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose and worth to each and every life.”​