Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook.
All of these locations house a similar underlying connection: violent video games. Following the April 1999 Columbine High School shooting, the April 2007 Virginia Tech rampage, and the December 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, considerable debate has emerged regarding the impact of hyper-aggressive, violent video games as a causal agent for such murderous behavior by young adults. In a videotape recorded before the Columbine shooting, Eric Harris, one of the two teenager shooters, expressed enthusiasm for the planned shooting, saying it would be "like [profanity] Doom.” Seung-Hui Cho, the twenty-three year-old who killed thirty-two people at Virginia Tech University was a big fan of violent
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The social learning theory of highly-reputable psychologist Albert Bandura has been applied to understand the correlation of aggression and video games. Bandura’s theory emphasizes the importance of observation of human behaviors, ideas, and personalities of one’s environment. Bandura claims that human beings are more likely to act aggressive after observing models that commit aggressive acts. However, the only way that humans will emulate the aggression seen in the model (e.g., video games) is if the act goes unpunished or rewarded—a component saturated by video games. In the case of violent-oriented games, the gamer is rewarded directly. Whether it is receiving an extra hundred points aiming from the head of a zombie or simply receiving a kill streak when you kill a certain amount of people, the promotion of rewarded, violent behavior are highly identifiable in violent games. Additionally, the aggression-enhancing effects might be too powerful for a teenager’s mind that is unable to recognize the difference of “video game life” and real life. Players who are consistently and directly punished for violent behavior learn that this violence is not acceptable and, therefore, reconstruct their behavior to gain rewards. However, beholders who play games that reward violence may consequently learn that violence has a positive consequence of extra points, more achievement medals, and higher status among peers. Teenagers transcend this belief of rewards and violence when they put down the controller and live their life. Developmentally, teenagers are less able to discern reality from fantasy and are more likely to be emotionally and cognitively affected by the violence they observe, which can result in the increased likelihood of committing a violent
Hundreds of studies have been done to determine whether violent video games will really make juveniles more violent. Randomized experiments were used in several studies to examine the short-term effect of violent video games (Anderson and Berkowitz et al. 90). In these studies, children were randomly assigned to play violent or nonviolent video games and then were observed when given an opportunity to be aggressive. The result was that children who played violent video games usually behaved aggressively.
Major events have crafted the United States and other nations into what they are today. Going from world wars in the 1940’s, to civil rights movements in the 1960’s, to extravagant national debt today, have all played a part in shaping our nation. Being from rural Mississippi, world news being made here is uncommon. We see all of our major news from televisions or newspapers, and this “news” is all happening elsewhere, far from here. Whether it is a good thing that we do not make the big news or not, the fear of uncertain events still lingers. From shootings in schools to bombings in cities, we are fortunate for being seemingly far from these dangers. Even though no physical effects pertain to me, mental pain and fear stays and leaves doubt
It was 11:19 am when the first set of gunshots pierced through the walls of Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. In 49 short minutes, two high school seniors, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 12 students and 1 teacher, and then killed themselves. Months prior, the pair planned out the attacks in a series of journal entries and video diaries. The attack at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999 raised many questions; the biggest one being, why did they do it? While the common media misconception is that the Columbine shooting was a war against jocks and outcasts, the shooting was actually perpetuated by psychopathy and depression in the shooters.
It’s difficult to believe that two high school students could enter their school and begin firing on classmates, but that’s exactly what happened at Columbine. The country was riveted by the news that something so evil could happen by two of their own. Columbine High School, located in Littleton, Colorado, had an enrollment of 1,136 in April 1999. Eric Harris (seventeen) and Dylan Klebold (eighteen) entered Columbine High School on April 19, 1999, at approximately 11:19 AM and began shooting. Due to Klebold and Harris being bullied, the two boys planned an attack to shoot students and staff.
Born on November 9th, 1970, Lisa Vanderbeck grew up in a very close knit neighborhood, always doing things with her neighbors, whether they were thirty years older than her, or ten years younger. One person who she was extremely close to was a friend of her moms, Mrs. Louis, who lived five doors down from her. Lisa, her mom, and twin sister would go over to her house at least once a week for “Avon Lady Day”. They would drink coffee, and hang out with the other neighbors who attended.
On April 19, 1999 at approximately 11:19am in Littleton Colorado Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, 17 and 18 years old, went to Columbine High School to shoot students and staff. It was speculated that Harris and Klebold carried out the shootings as a retaliation for being bullied.( History.com Staff. "Columbine High School Shootings." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 20 Sept. 2017.) Due to Klebold and Harris being bullied, the two boys planned an attack to shoot the students and staff, with the population of 1,136 people in the building.
I thought that the massacre at columbine high school was a horrible thing to happen. i think it could have been easily prevented if someone would have just talked to them about it and how they could fix their social problems. Dylan and Eric were very troubled teens who didn’t know what to do and did they oml thing they could think to do. then only thing that they thought would end the pain. to me it could have been prevented very easily.
On April 20, 1999, two high schoolers attacked Columbine High school using guns along with bombs. There were 20 people injured as well as 13 people dead. Nobody knows the real reasoning behind this act of terrorism. Many people believe that the boys did it due to lack of attention, while others believe the boys did it because they played violent video games. These two boys go by the names of Dylan Klebold, and Eric Harris.
as gruesome as the Columbine massacre was almost unheard of. Society as a whole would
“The planet does not need more successful people. The planet needs more peacemakers, healers, restores, story tellers and lovers of all kind.” ~ Dalai Lama
It was a warm spring morning in the little town of Littleton, Colorado. The birds played beautiful music while small beams of sun slowly escaped from behind the clouds and through the kitchen windows of all the houses. Classes were starting at seven-thirty just like any other day, however at eleven- twenty a bloody massacre began at Columbine High School. “ There was a girl crouched beneath a desk in the library, and the guy came over and said, ‘Peekaboo,’ and shot her in the neck,” said Kirkland, a 15-year-old sophomore. Two seniors who belonged to a group called the Trench Coat Mafia, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, entered the school with guns, knives, and bombs hidden beneath their trench coats and started opening fire on their classmates and teachers.
When tragedies occur, we always ask ourselves how and why did such a thing happened and what we could have done to prevent it. The Columbine High School massacre, perpetrated by two local high school students, was the worst school indecent to have ever occurred at the time. The Columbine High School massacre illustrated the issues that this country still retains such as gun control, bullying, violence, Internet use, and drug use by teenagers. This incident caused our society to reevaluate and to reconsider steps that we should take to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again. After the Columbine High School massacre, our nation would not be the same again.
On april 20, 1999 in Colorado at Columbine High School, two students Dylan Klebold and ERic harris shot and killed 13 students and killing themselves. It was one of the worst tragedy in school shootings ever. What made them do this monstrous thing? There has been many speculations why, people say they were bullied, gothic and part of a gang, but those rumors was not true. They seemed like normal high school but who were they really.
The subject of student rights has caused a lot of confusion and anger for decades now. There are two different sides that everyone seems to fall into. Some people want the constitutional rights of students to be fully protected within the school. The other side believes that, as a public institution, schools should regulate what is said or done by students to protect everyone involved. This is where it gets confusing, because it is hard to draw the line between what is allowed or not. The three most interesting topics that I chose to cover are a student’s right to free speech, religion within the school and student privacy.
School shootings have grown and become a big problem for the United States over the past four to five years. The issue is a hotly debated topic and has divided people because of their views. The truth is, there isn’t just one answer to this problem and people are so worried about their views and their guns they are slowing the rate of change. To truly reduce the number of shootings we need to, stop bullying in schools, improve support for the victims of bullying, make the ability to obtain a fully automatic weapon more difficult for the mentally ill, create a checklist or steps for schools to identify and deal with the problem, ban certain weapon accessories, and improve school safety.