Are We Desensitized Analysis

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Recommended: Influence of the media in public opinion

In her article “Are We Desensitized?” Nastacia Goodwin expresses her frustration with the media and her peers by contrasting her own reaction to the Virginia Tech Massacre against the reactions of people she knew in school. Goodwin’s reflection on her experience brings her to the conclusion that the peoples’ mass exposure to violence has converted them into apathetic monsters. She starts by laying out expectations of her school’s reaction to the Virginia Tech Massacre, believing that the school will be troubled and paranoid, only for her to find that life is continuing as usual in high school. Goodwin goes through the rest of her day in a state of silent disgust while observing people’s lukewarm reactions to the massacre. Goodwin makes an appeal to pathos by refuting her friends’ statements with her emotions, rebuking them for their lack of genuine sympathy. Goodwin’s personal experience relays an intense feeling of disappointment and frustration of her insensitive peers via hyperboles and cacophony. With that in mind her anecdote also shows how people …show more content…

Davich reports from his interviewee, U.S. Bureau agent David Colson, that only 20% of firearms incidents are reported in eastern Chicago. Davich also cites from the Chicago Tribune that gunfire violence rose 66% in Chicago this year and claims the fault, in the rising gunfire violence in Chicago, is in northwestern Indiana. The argument is supported by agent Coulson who notes “many of those guns purchased in Indiana are used by criminals in Chicago”. Davich then concludes by warning readers of how much people have become desensitized to crime. Davich’s approach to warn the reader relies on experienced figures such as senior agent David Coulson and the Chicago Tribune. Furthering his argument, he uses statistics of the mass deaths in Chicago caused by gunfire

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