Violence In America When Is The Right Time To Draw The Line
William Michael Sponheimer
SYP 3650
Tough Guise Essay
Violence In America: When is the Right Time To Draw The Line Tough Guise is a very informative and not only disturbing, but also disheartening, documentary that showcases the impacts that violence and masculinity can have on men and everyone else in society. Throughout my entire life I have always considered the extreme amounts of grotesque violence and gore associated with video games, movies, and even sports as a culturally acceptable reason of what it takes to “be a man” and while that is still true to some extent, our society as a whole needs to change and conform to the new ways that violence is negatively impacting our society. I had always assumed that men were most responsible for crime and destruction in our country, but after seeing the staggering statistics, it shows that violence in this country is a problem that there is no exact answer of how to fix it. The ideals, values, and norms of what true strength and toughness in our society has changed significantly over the last few decades and the increasing amounts of violence and crime have put us in a place where as a society we need to change or we will continue to see extreme acts of destruction often in our country and around the world.
One of the most resounding storylines throughout the entire video was the impact that the media has on this violence and the ways in which they portray these events to the public will directly impact the way we all think about violence as a whole. When there is an event like a mass shooting at an elementary school, politicians and businessmen alike will use this as a platform to pitch to the public their solutions to stopping these types of violence. For example, directly proceeding the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass murder, the CEO of the National Rifleman’s Association said, “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun”. Groups such as the NRA and big time Hollywood directors and
SYP 3650
Tough Guise Essay
Violence In America: When is the Right Time To Draw The Line Tough Guise is a very informative and not only disturbing, but also disheartening, documentary that showcases the impacts that violence and masculinity can have on men and everyone else in society. Throughout my entire life I have always considered the extreme amounts of grotesque violence and gore associated with video games, movies, and even sports as a culturally acceptable reason of what it takes to “be a man” and while that is still true to some extent, our society as a whole needs to change and conform to the new ways that violence is negatively impacting our society. I had always assumed that men were most responsible for crime and destruction in our country, but after seeing the staggering statistics, it shows that violence in this country is a problem that there is no exact answer of how to fix it. The ideals, values, and norms of what true strength and toughness in our society has changed significantly over the last few decades and the increasing amounts of violence and crime have put us in a place where as a society we need to change or we will continue to see extreme acts of destruction often in our country and around the world.
One of the most resounding storylines throughout the entire video was the impact that the media has on this violence and the ways in which they portray these events to the public will directly impact the way we all think about violence as a whole. When there is an event like a mass shooting at an elementary school, politicians and businessmen alike will use this as a platform to pitch to the public their solutions to stopping these types of violence. For example, directly proceeding the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass murder, the CEO of the National Rifleman’s Association said, “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun”. Groups such as the NRA and big time Hollywood directors and