I must give two persuasive speeches for a course I am taking at the university, and I do not know what theme to choose for them. They must be related to my major, animal sciences, so any debatable topic about animals (or veterinary medicine, my career choice) is a possible option. So far, my ideas are:
Why not to do “cosmetic” surgery to dogs and cats (like cutting the tails, the ears, declawing cats, etc.)
Why to spay your pet(this one is too common, any suggestion to make it more interesting is appreciated)
Why it is better to adopt a pet from the pound instead of buying a purebreed (again, common)
And then I run out of ideas…any new theme or suggestion will be appreciated…thanks…
Does this have to take a stand, or can it be descriptive of something? The thought that occurred to me (in the wake of a thread here) was to disucss, or take a position on, animal euthanasia. The decision is such a hard, emotional one for owners and vets need to know how to address it. It seems like the kind of serious topic you may want to be persuasive about.
Hey Zebra, your two first options are interesting, thanks…I won’t comment on the last one though…
gigi, the speech must be construed in such a way that you will try to persuade or alter the beliefs of your audience. In my case, a bunch of undergraduates students many older than me (I’m a freshman). It must contain descriptions, but the main focus should be influencing the audience.
The problem that I have with choosing euthanasia is that it is a controversial problem that deals with life and death, and may be influence by someone religious/spiritual beliefs. It is a very serious topic, and if I choose to do it, then I must give up doing the other speech about needless surgery in pets. How can I talk about not doing certain kinds of surgery to pets, while at the same time I believe in euthanasia(and sometimes euthanasia for the owners, but that’s another thing…)? My projection and background will be doubtful if I do either one of them after the other.
Why healthy pet checkups are like well-baby care.
Pets are helping humans to heal/lower blood presure.
You can have a pet in your busy schedule—make the commitment, make time.
I dunno, I think the world of speech classes is sorely lacking from bestiality arguments (or, should I say, zoophilia which is more indicative of love and mutual respect :eek: ;)).
When I was still in speech class, I gave it my all and made my speech an argument in favor of Modern Satanism as an acceptable religion. (And one which few people understand)
Controversial topics really can make more people pay attention to you if you carry the topic maturely. (It may depend on your audience as well)
With that in mind–I think a comparison between Bestiality (animal rape) and Zoophilia (animal love) may work out pretty well.
That may be more of a psychology topic than an animal sciences one, though.