what makes a good political speech in new zealand?

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Observations by Dr Bernard Cadogan Friday, 8 May 2015 at the McGuinness Institute, Wellington

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Observations by Dr Bernard Cadogan!!Friday, 8 May 2015 at the McGuinness Institute, Wellington !

Do’s  

•  ‘fess  up’      as  Helen  Clark  memorably  put  it.    

•  Tell  it  as  it  is    as  the  public  keep  telling  us.  New  Zealanders  are  s;ll  late  Victorian  posi;vists  in  their  tests  for  the  truth.    

Don’ts  •  Don’t  pretend  to  superiority.    

You  will  affirm  your  authority  by  disloca;ng  it,  and  by  not  making  yourself  the  issue.    

•  Don’t  be  moralis6c.    Don’t  make  yourself  out  to  be  poli;cally  or  ideologically  correct  in  terms  of  disciplines  that  are  not  epistemologically  verifiable.    

•  Don’t  whip  yourself  up  into  zeal.    People  hate  dogma;sts.    

•  Don’t  be  a  prig.    People  hate  PC.    

•  Don’t  be  gnos6c,  as  if  you  alone  have  access  to  special  insight  and  knowledge.    People  hate  sorcerers,  witches  and  wizards.    

•  Don’t  be  a  personalist.    It’s  not  a  poetry  reading.  You’re  not  reading  out  diary  excerpts  of  your  extra  special  wannabe  celebrity  life.    

•  Mislay  the  self,  and  don’t  worry  about  it.    

Two  threefold  structures  for    rhetorical  architectonics    

•  The  first  threesome  is    Mimesis1,  Mimesis2,  and  Mimesis3.    •  The  second  triune  structure  relates  to  Poli;cal  Philosophy  itself.  It  consists  of  technique,  cri6que  and  mys6que.    

More  don’ts  

•  Don’t  say  you  are  passionate.    Be  passionate  by  doing.  Passion  like  Love,  is  something  you  do,  nothing  you  say.    

•  Don’t  say  you  are  thrilled  or  excited.    The  audience  wants  to  see  that  you  enjoy  being  with  them  and  that  you  like  your  job.    

•  Don’t  be  horrible.    Don’t  do  anything  to  put  a  bullet  through  the  pressurised  hull  of  reasoned  New  Zealand  civil  discourse.    

•  Don’t  preach.  Don’t  be  moralis6c.    Don’t  let  the  spiMle  of  zeal  fly.  Don’t  pretend  to  moral  advantage.    

•  Don’t  pretend  to  superiority.    You  will  affirm  your  authority  by  disloca;ng  it,  and  by  not  making  yourself  the  issue.    

•  Don’t  be  moralis6c.    Don’t  make  yourself  out  to  be  poli;cally  or  ideologically  correct  in  terms  of  disciplines  that  are  not  epistemologically  verifiable.    

•  Don’t  whip  yourself  up  into  zeal.    People  hate  dogma;sts.    

•  Don’t  be  a  prig.    People  hate  PC.    

•  Don’t  be  gnos6c,  as  if  you  alone  have  access  to  special  insight  and  knowledge.    People  hate  sorcerers,  witches  and  wizards.    

•  Don’t  be  personalist.    It’s  not  a  poetry  reading.  You’re  not  reading  out  diary  excerpts  of  your  special  extra  special  wannabe  celebrity  life.    

•  Mislay  the  self,  and  don’t  worry  about  it.    

List  of  Speeches  Copies  of  these  speeches  can  be  found  at  www.na;onvoicesnz.org    

•  Sir  George  Grey  ‘Millions  Yet  Unborn’  (8  March  1878)  

•  Sir  Apirana  Ngata  ‘The  Gospel  of  Equality’  (25  July  1939)  

•  Rt  Hon.  Simon  Upton  ‘Too  Young  –  Too  Old’  (13  December  2000)  

•  Rt  Hon.  Helen  Clark  A  series  of  comments  (2002,  2003  and  2004)  

•  Dr  Don  Brash  ‘Na;onhood'  (27  January  2004)  

Thank  you  

 An  ini;a;ve  of  the  McGuinness  Ins;tute.  

A  video  of  the  event  will  be  published  on  the  website  www.na;onvoicesnz.org  as  well  as  the    

McGuinness  Ins;tute’s  YouTube  channel  in  early  June  2015.