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Rhetorical Analysis On School Shootings

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School Shootings: How We All Miss the Point... The aftermath of a school shooting is tragic, depressing, and causes hatred for the lives lost and the person who took them. Everyone, especially the media, tries to interpret why the shooter killed their victims, or why they felt the need to end others’ lives and their own. How We All Miss the Point on School Shootings, by Mark Manson, explains what and why these mass shootings happen. He starts by using examples of shootings and the murderer’s past. This article has great viewpoints, use of argumentative reasoning, and shows what truly happens in the hallways of a school shooting. The main person he explains is Eric Harris, who killed over two-thousand students and faculty in a Colorado high school in 1998. He set off bombs all over the school and used a semi-automatic …show more content…

He does not show much sympathy for the victims and their families. He does push more towards the view of the shooter’s life. He interprets these events and shares that as a society, we should have looked more at the shooter’s life to stop these events from happening. Manson includes: “Listening to those around you. Even if you don’t like them very much. We have come to live in a culture where it’s taboo or unacceptable to simply check in with people emotionally and offer some empathy and understanding. I’m not saying this would magically fix all gun violence. I’m just saying that all of these things — the lack of gun laws, the lack of health care, the inability to have basic conversations with friends and neighbors about what’s going on with them, these are all extensions of a callous and self-absorbed culture that lacks any real empathy.” He ends with these points to emphasize what society has become. It drives home his claims and allows the reader to pay attention to their life; what they may or may not be doing to help

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The author’s tone in this quote is violent and bitter. Eric saying that he “hated almost everyone “, would support the reader’s thinking towards what kind of person Eric is, and what Eric is thinking. Eric’s use of language almost immediately gives the reader a hint of what he is capable of, not in the sense that he would literally “rip is head off and eat it” but in the sense that he is capable of doing bad things. Given the fact that people throughout the United States have already heard of the mass shooting in Columbine, the reader would promptly identify Eric as the killer and they would be right. The author’s purpose could be to keep the reader thinking: who is the killer? , but also help the reader predict how will the killer’s next plans

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Banks expanded her argument with a strong pathos by providing coherent details on the scenarios she mentioned of police shootings, which may lead to feelings of disturbance, trauma, and beyond belief for the ones reading. Perhaps, the extensive detail she gave when she was describing the scene at Minnesota, "a police officer held the pair at gunpoint and her 4-year-old daughter watched from the back seat." (Banks) The author portrays the officer as a selfish, cold-hearted man because, regardless of the situation, a child should never be traumatized with such disturbing image as is witnessing a gun pointed at their parents. Pathos was used a long way, as Banks intended the audience to agree that officers lack consideration of others.

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In his article, Gladwell repeatedly elaborates his claim on the aspects of previous school shootings, by providing quoted interviews. Thus supporting his credibility and creating trust between the author and audience. Gladwell appears to have acquired the knowledge of such events therefore, exemplifying to the reader his credibility, adding onto and advancing his argument. Along with his credibility, Malcolm Gladwell uses several logical statements such as “But, beyond those facts, the great puzzle is how little school shooters fit any kind of pattern.” (Page 3)

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The Vicious Cycle School Shootings Create As school shootings are on the rise, so are students’ fear all across the nation. “According to Everytown for Gun Safety, there have been at least 149 school shootings since 2013, 52 this year alone” (Board). This shows that school shootings have become more prevalent over the years. Violent people who feel depressed, attacked, or alone, may become school shooters. While some feel these may be the causes, others think that accessibility to guns is the number one factor in these attacks.

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The authors discuss steps such as point of entry on to school grounds to be limited and controlled, wireless panic alarms, strategically placed telephones, the relationship between school officials, local law-enforcement and first responders need to be recognized before any sort of disaster that occurs, and teachers and students need to become “situation ally aware” (Duplechain & Morris, 2014). The authors also mention that creating a school shooter’s profile can help create a safe school environment. However many of the school shooters that were studied came from model families, were honor roll students, enrolled in higher level classes and very few disciplinary records. The one warning sign they discussed that should always be taken serious is any time someone no matter who it is talks about killing, whether it be an animal or in fantasy.

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It does not take long for a debate to arise after a school shooting to argue which side is to blame. However, the debate has done nothing but made it worse for the trend of school shootings as it typically results in nothing. With two opposing sides, they barely consider any reasonable solutions since they are more focused on worrying if the gun or the shooter is to blame for the death of hundreds of people. In an article written by the Gallups’ Lida Saad concluded, “According to two recent Gallup polls, from 2011 and 2013, more people believe that mass shootings result from a failure of the mental-health system than from easy access to guns.” Gun advocates are in favor of this reasoning because they believe that the system is failing to identify mental health patients in regards to gun violence.

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