Conclusion: In Search of Authenticity

Abstract

The resilience of the political speech remains a marvel. In the age of Twitter, where attention spans are short and political disenchantment great, politicians with something important to say invariably still turn to the oldest method we know — the speech. Aristotle and Plato — or senators at the Roman Forum — were they magically transported into the twenty-first century to listen to a prime minister addressing the parliament, would immediately recognise the activity taking place. It is an act of persuasion using nothing more elaborate than the tools of ethos, logos and pathos that Aristotle divined more than two millennia ago. So how can this be? The sophistication of the human race has produced newspapers and computers, printing presses and soap-boxes, media management experts and representative parliamentary democracy. Yet, why have we not managed to perfect a better or more useful art for marking out what is important in politics than the political speech?