Wiesel’s Speech and Susan B. Anthony’s

This essay will discuss two speeches “Perils of Indifference” by Elie Wiesel, and “On Women is right to Vote” by Susan B. Anthony. The difference between Elie Wiesel’s speech and Susan B. Anthony’s is lack of equal right where as Elie Wiesel’s is about WWII and the lack of humanity that existed during that time. The similarities between these two speeches and events are indifference or lack of concern or action, in both cases these events happened due to lack of concern for parties when it didn’t directly affect them. The nation had a lack of concern for those fighting for their lives in Europe for many years, as did men about women’s right to vote, many did not seem to care that women’s rights were not being exercised.

“Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment.” (Wiesel,1999). In both cases it seems that people ignored the problems until it got to the point where it could not be ignored anymore, when a woman had to do something illegal at the time to make a point to be heard and get results, and millions had to die before something was done in Europe. Susan B. Anthony discusses how that the government was hateful towards women as well as the poor. “The most hateful aristocracy ever established on the face of the globe; an oligarchy of wealth, where the rich govern the poor. (Anthony, 1872). Elie Wiesel also discusses how the governments failed those in Europe and instead focused on the rich rather than the poor.

As Mr. Elie Wiesel said, “It is so much easier to look away from victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, and our hopes.” (Wiesel,1999). Both speeches show the world what the consequences of ignoring a traumatic event that are occurring, we have learned as a nation that ignoring a situation is not the answer, we must nip problems in the bud and face them head on. Each of these stories tells us that it is not okay to sweep things under the rug when it doesn’t directly involve us because they can easily be taken to a point where people are hurt or even killed.

Another similarity was the strength in their speech as well as their strength of character. They were not silenced and were heard when many forces fought to silence them. This force was indifference and hatred. Without this strength and determination, we would not be where we are today when it comes to Human Rights in our world. We still have a long way to go, however, thanks to Elie Wiesel and Susan B. Anthony it is a little shorter.

Some differences about these speeches are the different themes ones about a man who survived the holocaust during which Jewish people were being killed by the millions and it took years for it to come to an end. One is about a woman who took a stand and voted when it was illegal for women to vote. Women were thought of as less or submissive to men just because of their gender. “Being persons, then, women are citizens; and no state has a right to make any law, or to enforce any old law, that shall abridge their privileges or immunities.” (Anthony, 1872). The difference between Elie Wiesel’s speech and Susan B. Anthony’s is lack of equal right where as Elie Wiesel’s is about WWII. The similarities between these two speeches and events is indifference or lack of concern for issues that don’t concern some and lack of action to correct mistakes. As Elie Wiesel said, “Denying their humanity is when we begin to betray our own.”

Reference

1. Anthony, Susan B. On Women's Right to Vote. Philadelphia, PA, 1872. https://www.sojust.net/speeches/susananthony.html.References
2. Wiesel, Elie. The Perils of Indifference. Washington, DC, 12 April 1999. https://www.sojust.net/speeches/elie_wiesel_perils.html.

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