School Voilence

School violence has escalated from one-on-one weaponless fights for personal disagreements with said person. This is no longer the case. Due to the media, video games, and society in general, this has escalated into all-out, deadly weapon assaults on innocent lives for reasons they themselves are usually unaware of.

The media, specifically movies and television, have had a major affect on our society as a whole. The gruesome murders shown on such shows as CSI, and Criminal Minds, are shown in such detail and with so much information that we, as was attempted by the creators, feel and see the crime from all angles. The news also shows stories about murders or heinous activities to obtain good ratings. These viewings occur many times per night, every night. After a while, wouldn’t it make sense that our views of the despicability of these acts would dwindle to the point where they almost seem commonplace in everyday society? And, if murders happen on a daily basis, wouldn’t it make sense that a mass-murder would stand out beyond the mesh of these average, everyday murders? Forty years ago, the “extreme” that was seen in schools was the uncommon fist-fight between two select individuals. This stood out above the times as the war was completely censored, and Batman and Robin was the extent of violence shown. Now as more extreme violence is shown so prominently and graphically in everyday life, it only makes sense that an escalation in school violence by the impressionable youth that watch and learn from it should follow.

Grand Theft Auto is a series based on “real life” where you must venture through the world with your arsenal of weapons, killing people as if they are there to be killed. Carmageddon is a racing game where the objective is to race around a track in a certain amount of time, but more time is awarded for causing damage to other players’ cars, and running over pedestrians. First-person shooters are all about shooting or stabbing people to gain points for the kills. Some people play these games to such an extent that the line between game and reality becomes increasingly blurred. The idea that shooting someone causes that person no pain and causes his or her family no pain if they die, is an idea that is unknowingly plaguing the subconscious of these youth to the point that they lose the idea of the magnitude of shooting someone. Killing multitudes of people at a time becomes a worthy challenge which has been overcome many times before. Since schools are full of unarmed people and some of which may have a negative history with the intruders, it seems like a fairly easy place to kill a number of people easily.

Society itself has changed dramatically. It is much faster paced, causing more stress.