Pride is Ugly as Sin (latest draft)

President Ezra Taft Benson's talk Beware of Pride is replete with examples of Benson's command of our language and his knowledge of how best to address a sensitive subject like pride. Brandon also wrote a post analyzing the talk here. I will focus on the way Benson's use of language helps his persuasive power, but I won't shy away from his use of other rhetorical devices.

From the start, President Benson shows respect to his audience even though he will later call us to repentance when he says, "May I commend you faithful Saints who are striving to flood the earth and your lives with the Book of Mormon." When he segues into speaking on pride, he tries not to offend anyone by saying he wants to help us avoid the destruction in the Book of Mormon instead of accusing us of being prideful.

He also establishes his choice to speak on this subject as divinely ordained when he says "This message has been weighing heavily on my soul for some time. I know the Lord wants this message delivered now." Brandon wrote about how this associates him with ancient prophets as well. President Benson wanted to target all Church members, so anyone who wants to avoid destruction or believes in heeding prophets today or in the past is exhorted to pay attention.

To make sure we know what President Benson and the scriptures are referring to, he gives a definition of pride. "The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us." We can see how enmity is a part of pride in the rest of the examples he gives, and how if we are humble instead of trying to compete, we can "conquer... enmity toward our brothers and sisters, esteem... them as ourselves, and lift... them as high or higher than we are."

When Benson gave examples of what proud people do, one struck me as particularly powerful. Because "the proud depend upon the world to tell them whether they have value or not, ... pride is ugly. It says, "If you succeed, I am a failure."" He is justified in calling pride ugly, with the implications that both pride and its results should be repulsive to us. The attitude of "If you succeed, I am a failure" entails a lack of cooperation that has a terrible on us spiritually by damning us, or stopping our progression. In addition, temporally pride will lead to a lower average standard of living because of the lack of cooperation and the destructive competition that can happen if someone focuses on making others fail rather than seeking their own or others' success.

President Benson uses repetition to describe facets of pride, the benefits of humility, and how we can become humble. (I wouldn't dare to call it anaphora, because then it would look like I was just copying Brandon.) This is effective because it adds a rhythmic quality to his statements and helps them to be memorable. He starts off his descriptions of of what repenting of pride could do for us with the phrase "Think of" and all of his exhortations to be humble with "We can choose to be humble by..." By phrasing it this way, he avoids ordering us to do anything and follows the Lord's injunction relating to persuasion: "No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned." (D&C 121:41)

He also says, “Pride is the universal sin, the great vice. Yes, pride is the universal sin, the great vice,” and “Pride is the great stumbling block to Zion. I repeat: Pride is the great stumbling block to Zion.” This added emphasis on these particular phrases might indicate that President Benson wants all of us to realize we could be guilty of pride. It is called a universal sin and a stumbling block to Zion, which includes all those striving to do good. I imagine his goal in giving this talk was to warn us of the dangers of pride, but phrase it in such a way that we would not be offended and prideful because of his words.

Ra#4

Martin Luther King jr's "I have a Dream" speech is a clear demonstration of audience analysis, as well as language tools. Not only does it adress his literal audience (those gathered to hear him speak), it also adresses those who oppose him, and those who are neutrel. King knows that his audience, the ones actually there, want rights for colored people, so that's what he talks about (duh), but more interesting is how he talks about it. King knew that those opposed to his view would likely read or hear his speech and try to criticize it and disprove it, so he used very credible sources to make his point, sources that his enemies were familiar with. One of these sources was the Bible (amos 5:24, which deals with justice, and Isaiah 40:4-5, which says that "the glory of the lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together"), King knew most of his enemies were from the south, and were very familiar with the Bible, thus he quoted a source his audience was familiar with. In addition King knew that his audience would probably not criticize the Bible, and thus established for himself a solid source for his argument. King's quotation of the Bible also appealed to thise christioans who were undecided on issues of race. In addition to the Bible King also used sources from the American past. One of these sources is the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, which states "all men are created equal". King's opponents were all americans, who all certainly valued their independence. King's use of the Declaration of Independence shows that he correctly interpreted his audience and presented information that they accepted to prove his point, no american, against, for or, undecided on equal rights would argue with the Declaration of Independence. King also used the song "My country Tis of thee" in which one line reads "From every mountain side let freedom ring" to show his point. King also made great use of language tools. King's primary language tool was the allusion, to the past works mentioned above, the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, etc. These allusions while supporting his point also made him appear smart and well read, which he was. In addition to the obvious allusions to past events King also used a more subtle one, he began the main part of his speech "Five score years ago", comparing his speech to the Gettysburg address. By alluding albeit subtly to the Gettysburg Address king makes his speech an anthem for freedom similar to the Gettysburg Address in that the issue of race rights was at its height, much like the Civil War was at its height at Gettysburg. King clearly understood that not only his friends but his enemies, and everyone in between would see or hear his speech, and thus used documents from American History, and World history to prove his point showing his ability to analyze an audience and use language tools, particularly allusions.

Pride is Ugly as Sin

I read Brandon's post on President Ezra Taft Benson's talk Beware of Pride, and I thought that it deserved further analysis. I will focus on the way Benson's use of language helps his persuasive power, but I won't shy away from his use of other rhetorical devices.

From the start, President Benson shows that he's not trying to accuse and belittle us by saying "May I commend you faithful Saints who are striving to flood the earth and your lives with the Book of Mormon." When he segues into speaking on pride, instead of explicitly calling us prideful, he notes how he wants to help us avoid the destruction in the Book of Mormon, which might help us be willing to listen to him.

He also establishes his choice to speak on this subject as divinely ordained when he says "This message has been weighing heavily on my soul for some time. I know the Lord wants this message delivered now." Brandon wrote of how this associates him with ancient prophets as well. President Benson wanted to target all Church members, so anyone who wants to avoid destruction or believes in heeding prophets today or in the past is exhorted to pay attention.

To make sure we know what President Benson and the scriptures are referring to, he gives a definition of pride. "The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us." We can see how enmity is a part of pride in the rest of the examples he gives, and how if we are humble instead of trying to compete, we can "conquer... enmity toward our brothers and sisters, esteem... them as ourselves, and lift... them as high or higher than we are."

When Benson gave examples of what proud people do, one struck me as particularly powerful. Because "the proud depend upon the world to tell them whether they have value or not, ... pride is ugly. It says, "If you succeed, I am a failure."" He is justified in calling pride ugly, with the implications that both pride and its results should be repulsive to us. The attitude of "If you succeed, I am a failure" entails a lack of cooperation that has a terrible on us spiritually by damning us, or stopping our progression. In addition, as merely a temporal thing, pride will lead to a lower average standard of living because of the lack of cooperation and the destructive competition that can happen if someone focuses on making others fail rather than seeking their own or others' success.

President Benson uses repetition to describe facets of pride, the benefits of humility, and how we can become humble. (I wouldn't dare to call it anaphora, because then it would look like I was just copying Brandon.) This is effective because it adds a rhythmic quality to his statements. He starts off his descriptions of of what repenting of pride could do for us with the phrase "Think of" and all of his exhortations to be humble with "We can choose to be humble by..." By phrasing it this way, he avoids ordering us to do anything and follows the Lord's injunction relating to persuasion: "No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned." (D&C 121:41)