Intruduction Essay 2

Demagoguery is "polarizing propaganda that motivates members of an in group to hate and scapegoat some out group(s) largely by promising certainty, stability, and what Erich Fromm famously called 'an escape from freedom'"(Miller 462). Patricia Robert Miller, author of "Characteristics of Demagoguery", gives the reader the idea of "good public discourse" by illustrating how decision making and debating is effected by standards given to evaluate an argument. LaPierre, spokesman for the NRA, gave a speech in 2012 discussing the shooting of an elementary school in Connecticut. LaPierre's speech discusses how we need an immediate fix for the issue to prevent shooting such as this from happening ever again. LaPierre's target audience was the parents and staff effected by the tragic event, but he also forced it towards all schools who do not have a security force on campus to protect staff and students. In this paper I will use the demagoguery standards mentioned by Robert Miller to evaluate the effectiveness of LaPierre's speech.