In his hourlong speech to anti-abortion activists, Franky Schaeffer reached the political highpoint of his presentation with this statement:
"There is no way that the truth about abortion can be told to the American people without causing a general insurrection."
In the preceding section of this essay I have sketched out the steps in Franky Schaeffer's presentation which led to this remarkable statement. Now I propose to look at the audience's response, moving on from there to assess the effectiveness of his speaking style, imagery, and ability to persuade and inspire.
One method of judging the audience's response to Franky Schaeffer's speech would be to try to estimate the number of times they applauded, how long the applause lasted, and to note whether they rose to their feet on occasion, or shouted "Bravo!" or "Amen!" Our playback medium causes some problem here --it is apparently set somewhat high-pitched and fast. So if we estimate that applause lasts 15 seconds, perhaps it was actually 20 or 25 seconds in fact.
That said, I believe we can fairly conclude that our speaker was interrupted a few times for applause that lasted as long as 15 seconds, with the longest applause coming at the end of his speech, and perhaps lasted 30 to 45 seconds, maybe being truncated by the end of the tape. There was throughout very little energetic shouting or any ecstatic outbursts. The speaker paced his statement about "causing a general insurrection," quoted above, in such a way as to leave no breathing room for the interruption of applause, and indeed there was none at that point.
Merely from the standpoint of its content, this statement could rightly make a claim to the pivotal moment of the speech. Yet it is worded weakly. I know Brother Franky is unlikely to summon me to join his speech writing staff, yet I must point out how much more powerful his declaration would have been, had he expressed it like this:
"When the American People learn the truth about abortion, they will rise up in general insurrection!" (Notice that the awkward "no way ... without" phrase is gone.)
Pause right here to take a breath and let the people commence to cheer madly. Another thing: when speaking to the home schooled, eschew those torturous Churchillian perorations, and avoid the passive voice like the plague. Furthermore, choose your imagery from sources more familiar to your audience, such as:
Bible Heros,
Evil, ugly proaborts,
and
Stars of the NFL. Reggie White is Pro-life, don'cha know?
And once you've delivered your number one, tub-thumping, evil-denouncing call to arms, pay attention. If you get 15 seconds of warm applause, don't expect the troops to put on their caps and storm the Bastille.
They ain't ready yet.
