Introduction and writers claim
The article ‘Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?’ was written by Marilyn Manson to caution the public against allowing such entertainments scenes that are responsible for all the violence being experienced in the country. The writer first introduces us to the earlier world where there were no literatures like books, movies and even television. During those times there was a different form of violence that is different from what is being experienced today. Violence and murder was not just something that was done and had serious repercussions. With the onset of literature, violence has become something that is more celebrated rather than condemned. All the interesting movies and especially to children involve gunshots and all forms of violence and deaths. It is mainly for this reason that children become criminals at a very young age.
The saddest is the fact that when a child is engaged in a crime, it is believed that some adult person has to be blamed. Despite the fact that there is rampart engagement of children into crime, we are yet to fathom that they do it out of internal influence rather than external. We fail to realize that when we alloy toys inform of guns in the market, allow children to watch video clips that are dominated by violence and exalt celebrities that are into violence, we are trying to tell children that it is ‘cool’ to be violent(Manson 1). The issue of violence and murder has become so normal and celebrated that even analysts of books and videos will use all the wrong assumptions to display that all interesting literatures talk about violence. There are usually little or no attempts at all do display literature in a positive and anti-violence manner. This is mainly because of the perception that everything that has a clue about guns and death is talking about the same. This has therefore made many authors to be mistaken for promoting violence when in the real sense they were discouraging it.
Analysis and rhetorical strategies
The author mainly wants to bring out the fact that the media and the current social structure have lead to the widespread of violence. A comparison has been done on the biblical days when Abel killed his brother Cain. There was an internal aggravation of jealousy that led to the sin and yet Abel did not get over it. This is something that haunted him and his generation. Comparing that to today’s scenario, we realize that children as young as five years are busy playing with guns and learning to shoot (Manson 2). All this is because their parents buy for them guns and toys and acquaint them with violence by watching clips that showcase violence. This implies that as they grow up, they know that guns and gunshots is not something that should be condemned but rather celebrated. By having such characters as their role models, it becomes obvious that crime will be a lifestyle to them.
The biggest mistake that adults and caregivers do is to assume that what the children are doing is harmless considering their innocent nature. They hence care less about discouraging them and instead decide to make them happy by buying for them guns as toys. As adults, we fail to realize that we are making children to grow up knowing that a gun is a toy that is used to play. As they advance, they will obviously require advanced toys and guns and subsequently want to won a real gun. It is mainly at this juncture that we will think of punishing them and blaming them for being engaged in violence when we did not discourage it at a younger stage.
Synthesis and conclusion
We are living in a world full of violence and all forms of evil. Insecurity has become the biggest concern of the nation and most of the taxpayer’s money is used in securing the borders. As the government looks for ways through which they can improve the state of security, they are ignoring the simple root causes that are likely to render their efforts meaningless. Intelligent officers are busy studying nuclear power and energy and making more guns rather than focusing on the subsequent generation. As such efforts are going on; movie stores are full of violent video clips which are the best selling. They are being watched by both young and old and it has become the most interesting thing to do. Citizens on the other hand are losing confidence in the government and consider that the best way of protecting themselves is by owning guns. We cannot cure violence by engaging in the same and it would be good if we changed our strategies. Peace begins with an individual and unless we purpose to use other measures to solve both our internal and external conflicts, we are far from solving the issue.
The best place to start from is by declaring a ban on all literature including video clips that encourage violence in the society. We should also ban the manufacture of toys inform of guns and the likes. Our entertainment scenes should be filled more with peaceful clips and novels. Children should also be made responsible for their actions and punished at a younger age. The fact that we become so lenient on children thinking that they are innocent makes them believe that they have a right to commit crime. As long as we do not deal with the root cause of the problem, then we will keep fighting a losing battle.
Work cited
Manson, Marilyn. Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?. 1999
