Ethics and Public Speaking

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Ethics and Public Speaking
An ethical speaker strives to deliver speeches that contain data that is accurate, helpful to their audience, and fair. They should not impart information that only benefits them and should make moral conclusions about their material. Brandi Chapman has had consistent positive results during her term as State representative and has the Good Government Bureau’s (GGB) votes to prove that. However, her opponent, Cal Stateman, has taken a dramatic stand that involves no taxes. Chapman should maintain her opinion about taxes and be truthful during her campaign speeches about what she thinks. To support her claim that taxes need to be raised to keep the state solvent, she should conduct extensive research on the benefits of paying taxes. Consequently, Chapman can address her potential voters using these supporting materials, and also convince them using logical reasoning. Since her audience comprises the state’s constituents, she should appeal to their collective interest – maintaining the debt-free status of their state – when explaining the need for more taxes. She should be honest because it is her moral obligation as a speaker to accurately inform her audience. Moreover, by carefully crafting her words and emphasising specific phrases, her message will be internalised and then repeated by others. Therefore, helping in the acceptance of her narrative and claims. If I were in Chapman’s place, I would be honest about my opinion on taxes, and use statistics to support my stand.

In doing so, I would be appealing to their safety needs by concluding that taxes are instrumental in helping us maintain our sovereignty as a state. I would do this because my message would be for the benefit of the audience, and would promote positive ethical values like honesty and hard work. Paying taxes is a sign of integrity and interest in maintaining and developing one’s community. In summary, Chapman should be honest about her thoughts about taxes because being truthful is her ethical duty as a public speaker. She should endeavour to convince her audience by using facts and reasoning to support her arguments about the need for more taxes.