Paul Keating Unknown Solider

Distinctive voices offer a variety of perspectives on the world.

Compare how this is achieved in your prescribed text and one other related text of your own choosing.

Distinctive voices speak through the ages, powerfully communicating their messages to the audiences through effective language to challenge our perspectives on universal issues and develop our relationships with others around the world.  This embodies the values of the composer and continues to be timeless as both past and modern audiences are impacted by the personal and professional voices. This concept can be explored through the speech of Severn Cullis-Suzuki’s ‘Address to the Plenty Session, Earth Summit’ (1992) and Pinks song ‘Dear Mr President’ (2006). Within their voices, rhetorical devices are combined with their purpose to explore and help persuade the audiences of their arguments relating to the global issues.

Both speakers have a strong awareness on global issues as they both try to persuade the audiences on the problems and what society should do and how to solve these global issues as one. Severn Cullis- Suzuki speech represents as she blames the older generation for the environmental disgrace that has occurred and brings out her voice to her audience on this point in order to encourage action and ideas to solve this global issue. Similar to this Pinks song as she sung about how if she was to talk to the United States President George W. Bush what she would say about these global issues that are a concern to us but not the president and how his not doing anything about these issues.

Recognising the responsibility and individual in society holds towards a certain issue that society is able to progress in a positive direction.  As shown in Severn Cullis- Suzuki’s speech, Address to the Plenary Session, Earth Summit she addresses her strong opinion to her audience that she wants adults to recognise that they are the reason to these problems in the world and henceforward, on her behalf of all afflicted children in her generation. In her

message, Suzuki’s strong statement “I am here to speak for all generations to come”, increases her importance as she speaks on behalf of an innocent and unborn audience.  Suzuki’s furthers her argument to her audience as she states through the exclamation “if you don’t know how to fix it please stop breaking it!”, this represents her disapproval of the adults, whereby she promotes understanding and awareness of the decay of the natural world. Later on, Suzuki’s closing analogy “parents should be able to”, utilises the experience of being able to care for a child as an adult and as a way of reinforcing the need to address the problems in the world cause by the lack of care and respect of others. This conveys the Suzuki’s initial responsibility, for they are the reasons of the global issues. She portrays through her distinctive voice a different perspective on the world, as shown through a child’s perspective. Suzuki enforces the audience to encourage thinking and change and what perspective she is coming from and to change the audience’s idea about global issues and to wake up and look at things in different ways and take responsibility.

Issues concerning war and peace, human rights and environmental concerns have significant international and universal relevance, ensuring that these messages continue to impact audiences and challenge their response to these complex matters. Pink’s distinctive voice addresses criticism to the President and the policies of his administration. She describes it as one of the most important things she has written. The purpose of Pink’s song is to touch on emotional social issues such as the No Child Left Behind Act, the gay rights issues, the war in Iraq and the lack of empathy towards working middle class citizens. This song is directed at George Bush himself but also catches the attention of a wide audience such as American citizens and individuals who have listened to the song as the issues addressed in the song happen all over the world. The song starts with the line “Dear Mr President, Come and take a walk with me, let’s pretend we’re just to people and you’re not better than me” Pink is trying to close the social gap between the president and everyday people while voicing her opinions to him and inviting him to listen. The lyrics to “Dear Mr President” are bold statements represented by using continuous rhetorical questions as well as metaphors and the use of first person. Pink uses questions such as “What kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay” referring to his opinions on same sex marriage and his push for the Marriage Protection Amendment that defines a marriage between a man and woman. In the lines “How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?” and “How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?” Pink in confronting the president on how he feels about these global issues and to rethink on how how people lives are like and how his sitting back in chair watching the world surfer.  Pink also uses juxtaposition by having screens behind her showing images and videos of people suffering in the world. In one scene a powerful contrast in images shows a homeless man holding a hand written sign on a cardboard box saying “PLEASE HELP. ANYTHING WILL HELP” on the central screen, with the President Bush sitting comfortably at his desk within his push and luxurious office on each side of the screen. This represents on people that are suffering and how we are like the president and not doing anything to fix the problem on global issues. Through Pinks voice she try to encourage thinking and change as well as getting the audience and the President to view her perspective on global issues and what we should be doing as a society to help the world that are in need and to improve these issues that are getting fixed. Throughout her song she also confronts the President and ask what he thinks about these global issues and what he should do about them.