Persuasive Essay On Columbine High School Shootings
The Columbine Memorial lies silently in Clement Park, ten minutes’ drive from my aunt’s home. Nine years ago, two students in Columbine High School killed twelve students and a teacher before committing suicide there. Even today, many people regard it as a nightmare and don’t want to talk about it. Unfortunately, this tragedy is not alone, and during the last two decades, numerous school shootings have happened around the whole nation, and hundreds of people have died during the school massacres. Why do so many tragedies happen one after another? We couldn’t avoid the buskins unless we understand the disturbing reasons behind them. Gun culture displayed by media seems to be one of the most important causes for those shootings. As a journalist mentions, “Considering countless gun movies and video games in our daily life, how could we forget violence”. Somehow, violent movies could either remind us of the bloody cruelty or lead us to violence; it depends on how we display brutality. Unfortunately, perhaps the media chooses a wrong way. As soon as we compare the advertisements of Kill Bill and that of Schindler's list, we could know movie makers’ attitudes on violence. Advertisements for action movies seem to be more appealing, which leads to a situation where
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children think gun violence is cool rather than cruel. What is worse, some adolescents feel so absorbed in the movie that they cannot tell apart between story and reality. Psychologists have a strong suspicion that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two killers in the Columbine massacre, were affected by the movie Matrix, because their clothing and behavior remind people of a scene where Neon and his partners kill all the people in a building. In a movie culture that appreciates violence, youngsters tend to love blood, and it’s just where tragedy begins.
Parallel with the responsibility of the media is the unsatisfactory education, both in family and at home. Although teachers and parents have successfully raised the majority of teenagers, their works are not all satisfactory. Actually, tragedies are always caused by the minorities. But were they born the minorities? No. In fact, if they received more care, many tragedies wouldn’t happen. First of all, some shooters, who were affected by the movies, make the massacre just because they want to be famous. If they knew how valuable life is, they perhaps would not open fire. In the case of Columbine massacre, those two boys may not have killed so many people providing that they cherished others’ lives. Secondly, many student shooters kill others because they feel depressed and hate their schoolmates. If we help students respect others and themselves, fewer people may feel lonely and depressed. Since they had fewer psychological incentives, they may not have killed others. Perhaps many adults would say that they do tell teenagers about the value of life and importance of respect, but we’d better realize that those characters couldn’t be told by words, but be taught by our hearts. No matter how youngsters were affected by violent movies, they wouldn’t kill others if they were well morally educated.
The third important reason may be our gun law.
Although guns provide a good way to protect us, they also offer an effective method to kill others. Perhaps many people may argue that gun is just one of the numerous tools killers use, they believe that gun control can’t eliminate murder. However, “The biggest problem with firearms is they kill quickly and they kill efficiently. The problem there is the instant impulse leads to death” (Schoener). Even though the government set up several restrictions for owning guns, killers can easily get them. What is worse, with the gun culture, people are more likely to release their anger by shooting. These entire make the gun law the most dangerous law we’ve ever
have. The reasons behind school shootings have been discussed many times. However, tragedies still happen year after year. We’d better pay more attention to our culture, laws and the methods for educating our children. Whether we like it or not, we still have a long way to go before avoiding school shootings.
children think gun violence is cool rather than cruel. What is worse, some adolescents feel so absorbed in the movie that they cannot tell apart between story and reality. Psychologists have a strong suspicion that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two killers in the Columbine massacre, were affected by the movie Matrix, because their clothing and behavior remind people of a scene where Neon and his partners kill all the people in a building. In a movie culture that appreciates violence, youngsters tend to love blood, and it’s just where tragedy begins.
Parallel with the responsibility of the media is the unsatisfactory education, both in family and at home. Although teachers and parents have successfully raised the majority of teenagers, their works are not all satisfactory. Actually, tragedies are always caused by the minorities. But were they born the minorities? No. In fact, if they received more care, many tragedies wouldn’t happen. First of all, some shooters, who were affected by the movies, make the massacre just because they want to be famous. If they knew how valuable life is, they perhaps would not open fire. In the case of Columbine massacre, those two boys may not have killed so many people providing that they cherished others’ lives. Secondly, many student shooters kill others because they feel depressed and hate their schoolmates. If we help students respect others and themselves, fewer people may feel lonely and depressed. Since they had fewer psychological incentives, they may not have killed others. Perhaps many adults would say that they do tell teenagers about the value of life and importance of respect, but we’d better realize that those characters couldn’t be told by words, but be taught by our hearts. No matter how youngsters were affected by violent movies, they wouldn’t kill others if they were well morally educated.
The third important reason may be our gun law.
Although guns provide a good way to protect us, they also offer an effective method to kill others. Perhaps many people may argue that gun is just one of the numerous tools killers use, they believe that gun control can’t eliminate murder. However, “The biggest problem with firearms is they kill quickly and they kill efficiently. The problem there is the instant impulse leads to death” (Schoener). Even though the government set up several restrictions for owning guns, killers can easily get them. What is worse, with the gun culture, people are more likely to release their anger by shooting. These entire make the gun law the most dangerous law we’ve ever
have. The reasons behind school shootings have been discussed many times. However, tragedies still happen year after year. We’d better pay more attention to our culture, laws and the methods for educating our children. Whether we like it or not, we still have a long way to go before avoiding school shootings.