For class today, I will need to my book, pen, paper, and gun. Find this sentence strange? Well, it is. But it hasn’t deterred lawmakers from trying to pass bills that allow college students to have concealed guns on campus. The debate is a hot topic right now with gun enthusiasts claiming that guns could help protect students in case of a shooter. For my visual argument, I make the claim that college students and guns are not a good combination.
I chose the first image of the student holding the gun with the books to show the oddity of the situation. The viewer may have a hard time processing the picture because it is hard to get your mind wrapped around the concept of guns and college life. This shows that the idea of students and guns is already negatively engrained in us. The belief is probably instilled in us through college shootings we have heard about or witnessed. When we start going back to those memories, it brings up the negative feelings we felt at that time.
The second image represents the partying/drinking environment which is prevalent in college life. With the gun on top of the six pack of beer, the viewer gets the association: guns around intoxicated students. College students do regrettable things when they are partying or drunk. So having a weapon in an environment where people’s thinking is unclear is not smart. Viewers may feel emotion from the fact that they can remember a time where they regretted something they did after drinking.
Picture number three shows the other atmosphere of college, stress. Some handle stress better than other. But the image demonstrates the negative routes that individuals who are stressed can take with a gun. Emotions will be provoked in the audience because we are all know what is like to be stressed. And we have the memories and negative feelings of what happens when stressed college kids have guns.
The last picture’s message leads to the fourth and fifth image. The picture of Colton Tooley is an example of what happens when a stressed student is in possession of a gun. Tooley would remind the viewers that guns and students are not a good combination. Next is the image of the caution tape over the UT tower. The picture is to depict how easy our campus can become a crime scene when guns are around. Both images provoke emotion because the audience is most likely going to remember how they felt the day Tooley took his life.
Picture six is the ultimate case of why guns and college students do not mix well. The student shooter from Virginia Tech is probably the worst case scenario of a stressed student with a gun. Because the image shows the shooter pointing the gun straight at you, emotions are sure to be riled up in the viewers.
Image seven and eight supports the claim by showing the chaos and tragedy that can result from students with guns on campus. The image of the police officers carrying the student evokes emotion because the scene looks like it could be from a war. But the sad fact is it was on a normal college campus. With the image of the dozens of individuals who were murdered that day, emotion comes from the fact that these were people who were killed doing what we do every day, going to school.
The last image displays, again, the abnormality of guns and college together. Emotion comes to the viewer from the fact that all the negative emotions the other photos provoked are now going to be tied to the concept of guns and college. So the picture of the gun and the word college together are now going to carry these negative feelings and associations.
After viewing the slideshow, the emotions I want the audience to feel are fear, sadness, and alarm. By provoking these negative emotions, I hope to get people to take on the view that guns should not be permitted on college campuses. The audience may feel alarmed about stressed individuals being able to carry guns on campuses and think that is unsafe to allow this. But when they see the image of those that were murdered at Virginia Tech, they may become sad and take on the belief that guns do horrible things to innocent people. Finally, when the audience becomes fearful after seeing the images of Colton Tooley and the Virginia Shooter, they may just think that guns on campuses or guns in general, are just too dangerous for anyone to have.
Photo Credits
Image 1: Student with books and gun
http://www.flickr.com/photos/_borna/2412858578/
March 29, 2011
Image 2: Beer with gun
http://www.crimefilenews.com/2008/11/disarming-off-duty-police-officers.html
March 30, 2011
Image 3: Student with gun to head
Photographer: Tono Balaguer
http://www.123rf.com/photo_4417163_unhappy-sad-student-suicide-gun-metaphor-stacked-books-over-white.html
Image 4: Colton Tooley
http://law.rightpundits.com/?p=2303
March 28, 2011
Image 5: Tower with caution tape
Image 6: Virginia Tech shooter
http://www.associatedcontent.com/topic/61535/virginia_tech_shooting.html?cat=9
March 28, 2011
Image 7: Police officers carrying student
http://www.virginiatechmassacre.com/virginia-tech-massacre-pictures-1.html
March 28, 2011
Image 8: Those killed in Virginia Tech Massacre
http://womenofcaliber.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/are-you-a-%E2%80%9Cgun-free-zone%E2%80%9D/
March 28, 2011
Image 9: I gun college
http://www.thishappenedintexas.com/
March 29, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment