Walter Lippmann develops his argument of everyone has a right to have opinions and hey should be expressed and respected by using imagery, anaphoras and diction to create a sense of pride within the audience, create a direct relationship to the audience and improve his credibility by quoting a famous French writer in order to persuade his audience.
Lippmann used the imagery of a baby crying in order to evoke the emotion of pity. Furthermore, he stated, “…tolerate a howling baby next door…” in order to have the audience imagine a screaming and crying baby. Babies often symbolize innocence since they have just been brought to the world. Lippmann uses the description of a crying baby to emphasize how much people can tolerate. A baby’s screams are loud and obnoxious, so if people can stand that, then they should be able to listen to a different perspective. Additionally, Lippmann believes that people should respect any opposing sides in order to improve one’s personal opinion. He thinks people should listen to opposing viewpoints and have discussions in order to expand their knowledge and thought processes. He also creates a sense of pride within his audience because, he explained how everyone has learned to respect the voices like babies. They are prideful because he described them as “good natured” since they were able to tune out a baby’s cry.
Walter Lippmann establishes a direct relationship with the audience by repeating clauses that would connect them as a whole. For example, when Lippmann explained, “because we are magnanimous or because we are lazy” he used the word we rather than singling out the audience. He uses the phrase “because we are” in order to prove to the audience that this is something of human nature. By describing the people as generous followed by describing them as lazy, the author establishes a bit of a contradictory claim. However, they are both common traits in people, which makes even him seem a little flawed. Therefore, this establishes his credibility because he accepts his faults and proves himself to have these flaws so the audience can relate more to him. In doing this, Lippmann explains that all opinions should be expressed. By creating this relationship with the audience, he has their trust so they can be more willing to convey their opinions. Walter wanted the public to deliberate and share their opinions in order to prove his claim that opposing views are just as important as one’s personal views.
The author uses strong and meaningful words in order to emphasize the importance of his claim and establish his tone of urgency. By explaining “…not on its substantial, beneficial and indispensable consequences”, Walter proves that it is a significant claim since he uses three words with similar meanings and connotations. Lippmann is trying to explain to the audience that defending one’s opinion is not because of the consequences, but the strong attachment to their personal ideas. Using three similar words evokes the emotion of stress and determination. He used these words in order to exemplify how important, great and necessary the consequences of not voicing one’s opinion would be. However, he pointed out that these consequences are not what drive people to share their opinions, but instead it’s their devotion to the opinions. By using diction, the author explains how drastic and crucial the consequences of not voicing one’s opinion may be. This relates back to his original claim that everyone has a right to their opinions and should express them freely. The audience understands the importance of his words because he emphasizes the main claim with descriptive adjectives.
All in all, Lippmann believes that everyone should express their opinions as well as respect opposing views as seen by his use of imagery, anaphoras and diction that emphasize emotional appeals towards the audience and create a relationship with the audience to improve his credibility. He used imagery in order to get the audience to understand how simple it is to respect other voices, so they should be able to do the same for opinions. Next, he used anaphoras in order to establish a relationship and trust with the audience, so he could improve his credibility and reliability. Lastly, he exemplifies his tone of urgency and importance when discussing how crucial the consequences of not voicing one’s opinion may be. Overall, Lippmann wants the audience to understand that freedom of speech is key to having a good life and even opposing viewpoints are important, even though people try to dismiss them.
