Malcom X Vs. Martin Luther King

In Malcolm X’s also uses logical fallacies as his evidence and his reasoning. One of the fallacies in his speech is a hasty generalization. This fallacy is defined as a “conclusion based on too little, faulty, or misunderstood evidence” (Alred 345). The way he uses this fallacy in his speech is by saying that all of the races except whites make up a majority. He follows through this fallacy by saying that whites “might out number us in this country but do not outnumber us all over the earth” (Malcolm 232). His redefinition of the term “minority” is the fallacy. Malcolm X says that all of the people in the world care about the injustice the black people are going through in America. X is falsely reporting that his people care enough to rise with the African-Americans in this revolution that Malcolm X talks about. He refers to this as a “world-wide powder keg” that will explode into a major race war (Malcolm X 232). This is a false cause fallacy. A false cause fallacy “wrongly assumes that because one event happened after another even, the first event somehow caused the second” (A-Z 345). Malcolm X believes that all the other races in the world will unite with the African-Americans, which will lead to the explosion of the powder keg. Malcolm X does not know this for a fact, but assumes that this will happen. Because of the fallacies in Malcolm X’s speech, all of his metaphors and meanings lose their power in swaying the audience to believe him. Although is might bring fear to the audience at first, they will disregard the whole speech as being logically false.

X is implying that the white community treats all of these races as minorities, but if you put all of the minorities together, the whites turn into the minority. All throughout his speech, Malcolm X continuously talks about a bloody revolution that is to take place in America, which sticks to the minds of his listeners.

Martin Luther King Jr. uses quotes from the bible and other authority figures to strengthen his argument in the letter to the eight clergymen. Martin uses quotes from the bible because the eight clergymen were bishops, pastors, and rabbis. Martin felt that if he was to persuade these eight men, he needed to show examples that would relate to their beliefs, such as the bible. Martin also uses authority figures and their actions to show that his actions are for change. Martin uses these authority figures in a response to the clergymen accusing him of being an extremist of the injustice toward his people. Martin goes on to quote Jesus and other biblical references by saying, “Was not Jesus an extremist for love: ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you’”(Martin 225).

Some topics in this essay:
King Jr, Malcolm X’s, Black Revolution”, Birmingham Martin, Human Rights, Luther King, Jr Malcolm, Thomas Jefferson, Bus Boycott, Lord Jesus’”Martin, martin luther, martin luther king, luther king, eight clergymen, luther king jr, king jr, authority figures, malcolm x’s, malcolm x’s speech, racial equality, word “revolution”, quotes bible, letter eight, letter eight clergymen, quotes bible authority,