What I Learned
I realized that a lot of what I thought were facts about mass shootings, is actually completely false. I had not realized how much I was being influenced by the image social media and news outlets were painting in regards to mass shootings. Things like how frequently mass shootings occur, the best preventative methods, and the negative influence our media has on the perpetuation of mass shootings. Also, the warning signs mass shooters exhibit, and the danger of generalizing those characteristics too broadly. It truly shocked me how wrong I was about the leading events to a mass shooting, and the aftermath of them. Mass shootings, although rare, are extremely tragic and unimaginably painful events. And what I had not realized before was how little focus and attention our news outlets give the victims and the victims' families of these events. Those who have suffered through these unimaginable tragedies are not receiving the proper support from the government, the public, and the media. Instead, our news outlets choose to focus on those who have caused this pain. It is true that the public has a fascination with mass shooters. And the news outlets know this. So, instead of considering the consequences of their coverage stories, the news continues to divulge in in-depth stories about these mass shooters. This is something that I wish the general public would try to understand more about. Ideally, they would try to recognize every other misconception about mass shootings. But, then again, I had not known they were misconceptions before taking this class too.
Point is, the news outlets are contributing to the mass shootings of the future. They do this by choosing to cover every detail about the shooters using cover story after cover story. To the point where shooters like the Columbine shooters become household names. Which, in return, confirms to individuals that may be considering committing a mass shooting, that they will receive all of that fame and attention as well. If not the same level, more, as many future mass shooters try to “upstage” past offenders by making their plans even more heinous and violent. That is how they know they will gain the fame they desire. There is no doubt in my mind that news outlets will continue to perpetuate the level of fame these offenders receive because of how many views they will then receive. Which is why I wish the general public knew about the consequences of this. If the people stop viewing the stories, they will not continue to be made. Which could discourage a future mass shooter in the future. If it only ends up deterring one mass shooter from following through with their plan, it would be well worth it.
This was a very interesting blog! One of the biggest takeaways I learned from this course is how much of an influence these mass shooters and schools shooters have on our younger generations. I really never realized that when younger kids see these shooters plastered all over the news and social media some of them actually start to look up to these people and think of them as role models. This of course can create the copy cat events where kids try and follow the same steps as previous shooters. I think the media has a huge role in that because these people want views and likes so they release the shooter's motives, their personal notebooks, and even their strategies. When younger kids feel like outcasts and feel that they have nothing they see how much recognition mass and school shooters get so they start to believe the only way to get seen is to commit some kind of crime. I feel that parents need to sit down with their children and show them the seriousness of these actions and try to make them realize that these people are not who they should be looking up to as a hero or a role model. Overall this was a great post. I really enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that news outlets are helping create mass shootings in the future. The coverage of these shootings portrays the mass shooter as a villian, then we talk about every detail about the shooter's life. This give the shooter the attention that they desire and this desire is appealing to some other kids as well. This is inadvertently fueling mass shootings.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that news outlets make it easy to incite panic in people regarding things. I learned in this class that the news outlets have a lot of say in what people think about things that pertain to major events. I do think that with this class I realized just exactly how much we as a society needs to talk about the stigmas behind mass shootings as a whole.
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