Kevin Durant a Myth?

This is the video of Kevin Durant, who plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA accepting his MVP award in the 2013-2014 season. This award is the most prestigious award in the NBA aside from the NBA title. Only a handful of people have ever won this award throughout the history of the game. During his acceptance speech, Durant uses one of Larson'y myths to create an effective consequence. The myth he creates is that of "Wisdom of the Rustic" which implies that Americans value humble beginnings, and that difficulty teaches".

In this video Durant begins talking about how people doubted him and that no one believed in him, which he said from an early age created much difficulty for him to succeed. He talks about all the long days he spent at the park playing pick up games against older people and people that were bigger then him. All because he was trying to get better at basketball with the tools that he had available to him at the time. In the next portion of the video he talks about how it was just him and his mom. He didn't have a Dad that was there for him to support him. His mom had to work two jobs, day and night in order to provide for the family. The family never had any money and they were always in need.  Durant talks about how his humble beginnings taught him appreciation for the value of money, the appreciation of his mom, and the appreciation of hard work. He said that he saw how hard his mom had to work for him and that it inspired him to be a better person and a harder worker.
Durant talks a lot in the speech about how not having certain things, and having to adjust to being poor or his mom being a single parent, made him work harder, it made him want to be better and to have a more successful life for him and his family.

In the video, Durant uses the myth many times throughout the speech suggesting that because of his humble beginning, he is the man he is today. Whether on purpose or not, he is making it out to be that for him, that was the only way he was going to turn out this way, and I guess that is where the myth arises. Do Americans really value a humble beginning and think that difficulty can be a good teacher? In Durant's case he obviously does think that and he does a good job of portraying this myth as anything BUT a myth. For him, that was the way, for him, that's how he was able to turn out the way he did, and for him, that's why he is successful in the NBA now.

Durant uses his words in such a way that it appears he is persuading the audience to believe that because of the humble beginning, he turned out this way, which to me as I watched the video is trying to tell me that there is no other way to come about success. You have to have a humble beginning and you have to have to face much difficulty and much adversity in order to succeed. However, there are many people in the world, and since we are speaking specifically about Kevin Durant in the NBA, there are many NBA players that came from money from the beginning, they were able to go to all the camps, all the clinics, get all the professional help they needed,  and many of them would argue they turned out just as successful and hardworking as Durant did.

What Durant is saying is that for him personally, he buys into this myth. He believes that because of the difficulty he faced growing up, the poverty, the one parent home, the lack of money, all of those things made him who he is today. If you were to take a man like Christian Laetner, who was born wealthy, went to Duke university, had everything given to him according to many people, he would likely say that it is just as Larson suggests, a myth. He came from money, went to the nice school, was an NBA superstar, and though he may of had his own difficulties growing up, he definitely wasn't poor, he had two parents, and lived a very privileged life, yet he would still consider himself hard working and successful. So really, it all comes down to how you were brought up, to some people it is obviously a myth, for others like Kevin Durant, its the myth that made them who they are today.

Obama Meets Fogg

This speech is of one of Barack Obama's victory speeches. What this video effectively does is it makes the audience feel like they are the ones who are responsible for the change in America. They are the people who are responsible for electing Barack Obama as President, and these same people are the ones who will benefit from this the most. In the video, he portrays his success as a win for everybody, not just a win for him and his political party. He is using his ability to speak very fluently and effectively to persuade the people to believe and buy into what he is saying. In Fogg's model, Fogg states three things must occur at the same time in order for the speech to be effective. Motivation, ability, and triggers are the things people must experience simultaneously in order to be affected by the speech. In this speech, he does a good job of making all three of these things happen; he gets the people to really buy into what he is saying and by using this model he was able to make the people believe in the change he is promising.

Motivation - A big part of this speech comes from him telling the people this time must be different. This next term for the presidency must be different. It cannot duplicate what has been done in the past. As he has said over and over again what we have been doing before, simply has not worked and it is time for a change. It has to be different. He empowers the people throughout the speech by repeatedly using the phrase, "yes we can" which he implores the people to believe they can. They can make the change; they can voice their opinion; they can be recognized; and they can make a difference. He tells the people, "we are ready". He takes away the question: is the country ready for change, by telling the people they are ready. He tells them they need the change and they need the difference. When he gives them the power of telling them they are ready for change, than the people feel empowered and they feel like they are ready, they can do it, and things do have to be different.

Ability - In this speech, he is very good at giving the people the ability to make the change and the ability to see all the different things that need to take place. One of the big issues he tells during the speech is "you made it happen". By telling the crowd this, he makes them feel like they did it. They are the ones who made all this happen and they are the ones who are responsible for all of this. Something he has made them believe, which has not been the case with the other former presidents as of late in the country. One of the big issues he presses is that he does a good job of personalizing the minority. By trying to tell the "little guy" they can now become the "big guy" makes them feel very important, wanted and needed, something they have not felt in the past. He makes the minority feel like they have a say, an opinion and a vote, and not only that, but they will be listened to as well. He tells the people they have the ability to unite the party's. There does not need to be separation and distance between the people any longer.

Triggers - The Triggers he uses in this speech is what really gets the people excited. When Obama tells the people change is whats happening in America, they love it. They want change, they want to see the difference and just the mention of this gives them the energy and the excitement to support Obama. He tells the people it will not be like it used to be, the big company's will no longer run everything and have control over everything. This means the smaller people, the smaller companies, and the smaller businesses will now be able to prosper and have a say in the country. They will not have to just sit back and take a back seat any longer. He tells the people the minority will now become the majority. The people at this speech loved this. They loved hearing they are going to matter and they are going to count for something. What Obama tells these people, whether it comes to pass or not, the people love the idea and the thought of becoming a somebody from now on in the country, whereas before they have felt neglected and unappreciated.

This speech was a great example, I think, of a speech that uses Fogg's theory to near perfection. He had the motivation, he provided the ability and brought up several triggers the people were really willing and to support him. He made points known he knew the people wanted to hear and he knew would get him the support he needed. When he gives a speech like this with the intentions of gaining the people's support, using Fogg's theory was the perfect way to do it. He shows the people what they were getting by telling them they are the ones who made it happen and then telling them what is going to happen is what they have wanted to happen all along. He delivered the speech accordingly and proved it to be very effective for the people who were there to listen to it.