ipl-logo

School Shootings And School Shootings

1392 Words6 Pages

This paper will seek to determine why have school shootings become familiar media events. On April 20th 1999, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, two students of Columbine High School, equipped with multiple firearms including explosives went on a killing spree, before committing suicide (Kohn, 2001). Wounding more than 20 people and causing the death of 13 people, the Columbine High School shooting is considered as one of the most important school shootings in history. School shooting is the action in which ‘multiple intentional killings’ are carried out in ‘educational institutions’ by one or more perpetrators (Böckler et al., 2013, p.3). The devastating event not only appeared on newspapers but it has since been adapted into an Oscar-winning …show more content…

Other globally notable school shootings, since the Columbine High School shooting, include USA’s Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Virginia Tech massacre, Red Lake Massacre, and Northern Illinois University shooting, Finland’s Jokela High School shooting and the Kauhajoki school shooting, Germany’s Erfurt Massacre and Winnenden School shooting, and Brazil’s Tasso de Silveira Municipal School shooting (Brooks, 2014). School shootings are becoming familiar media events since the Columbine High School incident, and have since persistently been given a place in newspapers and magazines, among other media …show more content…

For example, The Hunger Games is a novel by Suzanne Collins, and have been adapted to award winning films, which plot revolves around the Hunger Games — a televised fight which requires participants aged 12-18 to murder one another to survive and ultimately win the game. The multimedia franchise is marketed mainly to youths aged 9-18 years old, and is under public scrutiny because of its violent content, thus further exemplify the ability of media violence to attract attention for both economical and social capital (Clavijo-Kish, 2013). As aforementioned, the Columbine High School massacre has also managed to acquire that same degree of, if not more, attention and have become a genre of media events. Oxford Dictionary defined media event as a ‘staged event to draw publicity’ (Oxford DIctionary, n.d.). Although school shooting is not fictionalised nor staged, school shooting may be structured accordingly to fit it’s purposes whether for financial or socio-political gain. This process is called ‘media framing’, the manner in which media industries ‘actively process events that happened, through the use of selection, emphasis, exclusion and elaboration, to represent reality and current issues’ (Ruddock, 2013, p.104; Muschert, 2006, p.354).

Show More
Related
83 Words | 1 Pages

This article by Wondemaghen analyzes the theory of claims-making in school shootings and how this leads to the creation of ‘social’ problems. He asserts that these social problems often become the main focus of public attention, omitting objective subjects found in mass shootings. I will try to renovate this theory to show that this distortion of societal problems occurs as a result of social media’s platform of ‘death drive’, which frames only the violent details of school shootings, inevitably leading to arbitrary

Read More
1578 Words | 7 Pages

On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold carried out an attack on Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. They fired guns towards students, killing thirteen people and injuring more than twenty. Afterwards, they turned the firearms on themselves. In his book ‘Columbine’, Dave Cullen analyses how and why Eric and Dylan massacred the victims at the school. When viewed in hindsight, events such as this are inspected to every minute detail; there are always ways in which the outcome could be changed.

Read More
1158 Words | 5 Pages

Shootings at schools, movie theatres, concerts and shopping malls. Now, because of the commonality, these things have stopped shocking Generation Z. This was not the case in 1993 when the Waco, Texas massacre occurred. This was something that shocked the whole country. We were riveted to the television as we watched the tragedy unfold.

Read More
563 Words | 3 Pages

Dave Cullen’s journalistic portrayal of the infamous school shooting in Columbine reveals the raw truth of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris’ murder spree while uncovering misconception surrounding it. Cullen dives deep into the heart of motive and recovery, offering a newfound understanding of both the victims and the killers. The tragedy at Columbine was planned as a series of explosions that would have killed nearly 2,000 students. The bombs failed, however, so the shooters abandoned their plan and went on a spree through the school instead, using semiautomatic weapons they acquired at a gun show, where background checks can be bypassed.

Read More
2130 Words | 9 Pages

The book “Rampage The Social Roots Of School Shootings” written by Newman et al, offers many different views and theories behind the issues of Rampage school shootings. In this paper I will give the reader an in depth overview and evaluation of the aforementioned book. Offering researched based reasons to why these school shootings actually happen. They explore the communities of Heath and Westside, the grounds of two horrific acts of rampage shootings by Michael Carnell, Andrew Golden and Mitchell Johnson. They explain various angles of there research such as identifying an issue, how signals given by children can be misinterpreted, the effects of social capital and how mental factors play a role in the acts of the shooters.

Read More
889 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
899 Words | 4 Pages

294 days in the past year have had one specific theme in common. Each of them has been the setting for a mass shooting, on campuses or in public places that resulted in the injury or death of multiple bystanders. Through social media, the most gruesome details are often the only information to ever reach the public, causing issues such as gun-control policy and tighter security in public places to rise to the top of the list on political agendas. This has forced mass shootings to become the backdrop for constant ideological media battles. In addition, the consideration of other issues found in shootings, such as mental and social disorders, become smothered by the debate of gun control and similar measures.

Read More
179 Words | 1 Pages

Many investigators have found examples of mass killers emulating their choices from media. Media has had a huge impact on today 's society, but the statements of media are having a connection with mass shooting that have been proven false. Mass shootings occur for various of reasons, but as many believe the main problem is "copycatting". The FBI and other threat assessments experts have found evidence that shows that plotters have looked at past attacks both for operational details or inspiration from the executioner. On the other hand, several mass shooters desire fame in comments and manifestos, making media have a huge connection with mass shooting.

Read More
724 Words | 3 Pages

Not only has it been shown that mental illness has been a factor for these mass shootings, but trauma in one’s life, drug or alcohol abuse and lackness in basic skills; respect for the authorities, adults. There’s so much one person can experience and take with in the future, like trauma. In any age, trauma’s been shown to impact one enormously in ways one can’t fully

Read More
1227 Words | 5 Pages

Sandy Hook Elementary school, it was a cool brisk day with nothing going wrong. That all changed in two and a half minutes. Imagine a classroom full of twenty children from ages six to seven, and a few teachers that just got out of college all in one room. The police had been called, but they couldn 't arrive fast enough to save twenty-six lives. Now imagine being the police officer that came into that room and saw twenty-seven dead bodies laying on the ground with the shooters head blown off (Sandy Hook).

Read More
932 Words | 4 Pages

Informative Speech Going Out with a Bang General Purpose: To inform. Specific purpose: To inform my audience about the causes of school shootings in America. Central Idea: The main causes for school shootings are easy access to guns, mental instability and trauma. INTRODUCTION I. (Attention Getter)

Read More
1031 Words | 5 Pages

These acts of violence make school a place of fear rather than a place of safety. When did school become a place to worry and feel unsafe? Not only that but this event is a vicious cycle and as of right now it is unable to be contained. The news stories on the media of these events may be aimed to show people how tragic they are, but the shooters take the news stories as inspirations and school shootings continue to be on the rise.

Read More
1264 Words | 6 Pages

School shootings are a reoccurring problem in the United States. As of 2018, there have been over 18 school shootings in America (Cuddy). However, this is nothing new to us. Every year they are countless reports of school shootings ending in injury or death. It should be obvious that schools are the safest place for parents to send their children during the day, the sad truth is, it is not.

Read More
1487 Words | 6 Pages

On April 20, 1999, students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shook North America when they attacked Columbine High School. Thirteen people were killed and twenty-four others were injured, attracting attention from media outlets all over the world. Afterwards, the media increasingly covered violence in America’s schools; mainly violence in the form of school shootings. Panic swept the country, and debates had emerged questioning the safety of school children in America. Many people strongly agree that these recent events were the worst in decades, and education in the 1960’s and 70’s were much safer than now.

Read More
1460 Words | 6 Pages

School shootings are startling to consider, however there are approaches to help keep the deaths from consistently happening once more. The first known school shooting was at the Texas Tower at the University of Texas in 1966 where Charles Whitman shot and slaughtered 16 individuals while harming 31 others. Since then there has been over 1,000 deaths due to school shootings. There is certainly an issue with school brutality today. The most recent three years have demonstrated to us that brutality in our schools society is more typical today than ever previously.

Read More

More about School Shootings And School Shootings

Related Topics

Open Document