School Shooting Research Paper
Ramzi Doudar
Daniel Ante-Contreras
English 1B
18 May 2014
You Have the Potential to Shoot Up a School! In the eyes of news media, whenever a travesty such as a school shooting occurs all other forms of news cease to exist. News stations spend days reporting on the same exact story regardless of any updates. Every time a school shooting occurs the media attempts to establish that the shooter is psychologically ill. Media outlets bend the truth, exaggerate quantitative data, and appeal to unqualified “experts” for information. The utilization of these tools is meant to convince the viewer that the shooter is an outcast of society. The media typically portrays school shooters and other terrorists as socially incompetent, autistic individuals that are psychologically incapable of emotions. This is meant to differentiate a school shooter from what society deems to be normal person; this differentiation is to reassure the public that any normal member of society would not even …show more content…
Since they are too preoccupied with ratings and statistics they cannot accurately address the cause. It is crucial to see how the media is incorrect in its assumptions. Once an individual comes to the conclusion that school shooters are not exclusively autistic, ostracized individuals, but rather normal everyday people that feel left out or want their demands to be taken seriously, it is reasonable to assume that school shootings have the possibility to occur a lot more frequently. This is because the number of potential shooters would be much greater if any normal individual could be considered a potential shooter. The causes that the media attributes to school shootings are inadequate because they assume only a very small population of people have the potential to commit school shootings. The false sense of security that the media gives the viewer is very misleading and should be
Daniel Ante-Contreras
English 1B
18 May 2014
You Have the Potential to Shoot Up a School! In the eyes of news media, whenever a travesty such as a school shooting occurs all other forms of news cease to exist. News stations spend days reporting on the same exact story regardless of any updates. Every time a school shooting occurs the media attempts to establish that the shooter is psychologically ill. Media outlets bend the truth, exaggerate quantitative data, and appeal to unqualified “experts” for information. The utilization of these tools is meant to convince the viewer that the shooter is an outcast of society. The media typically portrays school shooters and other terrorists as socially incompetent, autistic individuals that are psychologically incapable of emotions. This is meant to differentiate a school shooter from what society deems to be normal person; this differentiation is to reassure the public that any normal member of society would not even …show more content…
Since they are too preoccupied with ratings and statistics they cannot accurately address the cause. It is crucial to see how the media is incorrect in its assumptions. Once an individual comes to the conclusion that school shooters are not exclusively autistic, ostracized individuals, but rather normal everyday people that feel left out or want their demands to be taken seriously, it is reasonable to assume that school shootings have the possibility to occur a lot more frequently. This is because the number of potential shooters would be much greater if any normal individual could be considered a potential shooter. The causes that the media attributes to school shootings are inadequate because they assume only a very small population of people have the potential to commit school shootings. The false sense of security that the media gives the viewer is very misleading and should be