Gold's Gym: Encounter

***The other day I investigated a membership at Gold's Gym and was introduced to a very over-zealous personal trainer turned salesman...

1. The goal of Jason's sales pitch was to get me to sign a contract with Gold's Gym for 24 months so that Gold's Gym could make that much more money and so that he could make commission. He wanted me to sign a contract that very same day.

2. His argument was that if I signed the contract that day (and that day only) I would not have to put money down, and I would have a low monthly payment. He said it was a deal that they only offered once a year, and that I was so lucky to have come in when I did. He said that there was no better time than now to get in shape with swimsuit season just around the corner.

3. The audience was myself, someone interested in joining a gym to get into shape in a safe, cool environment during the summer. I care about fitness, about health, and self-improvement is important. I'm also a poor college student.

4. His sales pitch used pathos in that he brought up swimsuit season, which he knows will go straight to a girl's emotional response. No one wants to be self-conscious or embarrassed in a swimsuit, and he appealed to that fear. He also used logos by arguing that it was the smartest decision to sign up that day instead of wait until the next day. When I told him I wouldn't be here in Provo for two more years, he pulled out his calculator and used logic to say it would still be cheaper to sign the 24 month contract instead of one for less. Go figure....

5. His sales pitch was effective because I ended up joining. I was already planning on doing it anyway, so maybe that influenced my decision more than his sale, but he was willing to work with me, and that helped convince me that I wanted to do it.

STAR:
His evidence was relevant. He talked a lot about payments, which is something a poor college student would be very concerned about. His evidence was also typical, since it connected with me and he talked about things I would expect at other gyms.

Speech: The Perils of Indifference by Elie Wiesel

1. The goal of this speech that Wiesel gave at the White House was to inspire the American people to act in times of human suffering, injustice, and violence, in order to prevent future events like the Holocaust. He says, " ...together we walk towards the new millennium, carried by profound fear and extraordinary hope."

2. His argument is that indifference is worse than anger. He argues that while indifference may seem easier than disrupting our own peaceful lives, it ultimately reduces the Other to an abstraction, and allows the bad things of the world to occur. He says that indifference is always the friend of the enemy,because it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment. 

3. The audience is the President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton, members of Congress, Ambassador Holbrooke, "Excellencies," and friends at the White House. At the same time, he is addressing the American people.

4. This speech uses mainly pathos. He appeals to human emotion by talking about the suffering and injustices. He uses guilt to make people aware of their indifference in the past. He says that so many knew about the Holocaust and didn't do anything - "And now we knew, we learned, we discovered that the Pentagon knew, the State Department knew." He also uses ethos. He holds a huge amount of credibility being both a survivor of the Holocaust, as well as a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

5. I find this speech very inspiriting and thought-provoking. I would say it was effective. I know it made an impact at the White House.

STAR

I think the evidence was very relevant, since he used examples illustrating indifference in the world. 

The evidence was also typical. He used many American illustrations, and he is talking to an American audience. They will have already been aware of these things. 

Word Count: 324

SPEECH: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ewieselperilsofindifference.html