It was far more effective than any voice synthesiser. Mr Diamond wrote with pauses, rushes and other tricks of the calligrapher's art, drawing wit and feeling from the intimate act of handwriting. I felt I could hear Mr Diamond's voice in his pen. Over in seven minutes, it was one of the most moving short speeches I have heard. It was completely silent.
Rhetoric is now all but dead.
To command an audience by the power of speech was considered an accomplishment equal to the power of argument or the power of the pen. Now oratory is an old-fashioned word and rhetorical is a term of abuse. Few people distinguish between a speech and the reading of text. Few people can write text that reads well in public. Even fewer can read it.