Other-directed protest : a study of Galen Fisher's anti-internment rhetoric

Abstract

This study seeks to show how a member of an empowered group is able to argue on behalf of a disempowered group. Other theorists in the field of other-directed protest have claimed that these protestors have a negative effect on the disempowered group and only serve to raise their own positions. But this thesis seeks to show that this position is not always accurate. The rhetoric of Galen Fisher, a protestor of the Japanese internment during World War II, is an example of a protestor who was largely successful in having a positive effect on the Japanese and not seeking to raise his own status in society. I found that Fisher's history with the Japanese, as well as his method of placing praise and blame on various members of the empowered groups contributed to a successful, if not immediately effective, other-directed protest.