Topic > Media surrounding the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting Park, Florida. Students between the ages of 15 and 18 who wake up and get ready for school without knowing what they are about to face that day. Some call it mentally deranged, others find it an act of pure madness, but Nikolas Cruz has become one of the most talked about and atrocious 19-year-olds in the world. This is apparently the result of a number of factors coming into play, but the most obvious of all is the power of the media. . It is the most distinct factor that brought this interesting controversial character into the spotlight. Discourse consists of the “paradigms or eras of understanding that are communicated through texts and the use of language, which organize knowledge and social power.” What surrounds this controversial figure is simple but complex at the same time. The discourse that circulates regarding his ideologies is simply related to his position on parts of his actions and how or why he decides to do what he did. When you think of a 19 year old kid, there would never be a thought of someone who would be willing to shoot up a high school for fun. The question arises of how gun violence is addressed and how the media has helped in scenarios like this. What the consequences of this shooting were and whether it will ever end are all questions that need to be answered and can be expressed through the media. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Narrative/Story Nickolas Cruz's speech has a story behind it and this story can otherwise be called narrative. According to the textbook, a narrative is a “sequence of events that take place over a given period of time and are connected, primarily through cause and effect.” Cruz's narrative is complex, there is a lot of perception behind his shooting, why did he do it?, What was the motive behind it?. Who were his targets? etc. To get the answers to this question one would have to look at the publicized parts of his life and actually understand his upbringing. Cruz was an orphan whose parents had died but he was adopted by Roger and Lynda Cruz. His adoptive mother had died 3 months before the shooting and his father in 2004 and Cruz were living with family friends. He was an individual who faced behavioral changes and, according to the Washington Post, "engaged in the process of getting students help rather than referring them to law enforcement." This young man has been moved out of school six times in three years to address his problems. This narrative in the case of Nikolas Cruz, he and his use of weapons, has broken into new media and the media is responsible for giving rise to the discourse he adopts in his narrative. The narrative is made and grown around Cruz because he is the reason the media spread the news globally. As society wants to understand why this happened, it is clear to see two different perspectives in this scenario. One side is shown by the shooter himself Nikolas Cruz and his methods behind the shooting. Everything, up to the shooting, is shown from his point of view. The consequences are shown from the victim's side. For example, journalistic interviews were conducted with victims and families. In the Douglas High narrative, it is safe to say that there are several groups of people whothey influence the narrative in various ways. We have the shooter himself creating the narrative. The victims who had to face this horrible tragedy, the police officers who responded to the scene, the families of the students and the journalists present on the scene to cover the media. New Media We live in a world where social media evolves in one way or another. When it comes to new media, many options come to mind. Snapchat is one of the new media that has taken off. One of the best ways to let friends and family know what events are happening in your life quickly and efficiently. Thanks to the effect of digitalization as a “universal language that unites different communities around the world”, the student involved in the shooting was able to share Cruz's speech with a wide variety of people and this is easily seen in the creation of average. When referring to the Douglas High School shooting, these high school students tend to rely on Snapchat to let everyone know that there is an active shooter at the school. A terrifying video recovered by the news station shows children screaming and loud gunshots in the distance. When they uploaded it to their stories, more people around the world or in their friend circles were aware that a shooting was going on, so people watching their stories might call the police immediately. Social media is changing and so are the minds of the younger generation. Everyone wants to be famous nowadays, and there is no limit to what some people will do to receive that fame. This new era of media has given people the platform to post whatever they want to post without censers. Being famous matters more than their morals. For example, Cruz had his own YouTube channel, this in itself was a red flag as the content he would post would be related to his weapons. It had the nickname "school shooter", surprisingly this was not a problem for its viewers. He was not only active on YouTube but also on Instagram. Cruz's friends say he tends to post photos with guns and knives, with captions like "fuck you all" or post a photo with a knife and caption "It's blue." As you scroll through the comments you begin to understand how much an individual like Cruz was hated and why he didn't fit in well with his fellow students. Nowadays, children are raised in a world where they are exposed to violence in one way or another. For example, video games like first-person shooters or Grand Theft Auto are all PG13 rated games, but parents allow their kids to play them because it's hard for them to say no when they keep asking. TV shows influence most kids, for example 13 Reasons Why the plot is about a girl who commits suicide. In a way Cruz may have decided to kill people for fame because cameras would be on him and he would be talked about nationally because of his policies and actions. Celebrities Celebrities are not just human beings nowadays they are known as role models for majority relationship of people. They are able to influence people in many ways, including negative ones. Some celebrities even influence kids' minds to follow them or be like them, which in other words means being famous. “A well-known and highly visible public figure, whose private life and public appearances frequently attract media attention, often for reasons other than his professional position or abilities,” when it comes to the shooting, only one person has had a spotlight media life. The victims have been remembered but will soon be forgotten by theirsfamilies and once loved ones. The name Douglas High will be remembered by the school in Florida that was shot by a 19-year-old teenager named Nikolas Cruz. The spotlight is basically given to the shooter, since he is the main topic of discussion. Newspapers, news channels, articles, interviews all involve a name, and if not his name, people will remember the name Cruz when it is related to the topic of "school shooting". Even after the massacre, the main focus was on Cruz and the station wanted news on Nikolas Cruz. Questions like why did he do what he did, or how long is he serving in prison, what is his verdict on that. There was a sequel according to CNN where they showed Cruzin custody telling the police officer "he wanted me to do it" while making a gun with his finger and pointing it at his chest and head. In the same video we also see Nikolas' brother talking to him and Cruz bursting into tears repeating the same thing "he wanted me to do it" probably referring to the devil. Dominant ideology and hegemony When you think about hegemony it all comes back to the aftermath of the Douglas High shooting. Students continue to protest brandishing posters that contain hegemonic meanings. As the MELBETA article states: “It feels like much longer has passed, as we have become accustomed to news cycles measured in minutes, and difficult conversations about American gun culture tend to collapse after the latest victims are buried.” While the posters are aided with words that say "Prayers and thoughts do not save lives, the reformulation of weapons will". Show the power of a hegemonic poster. “A worldview that supports the ruling class as dominant, the status quo, but shared by the majority of people.” In this case most of the society started protesting for gun control, students grieving for the life of their friends came forward to bring a change in this modern world. Another perfect example that fits this scenario would be Emma Gonzales' movement which brought multiple issues and affairs into the eyes of the media so that the government was aware of the main issue. It's not the shooter, it's a shooter's right to own a gun. Gender Ideologies When we think of active shooters anywhere in the world, the first instinct would be to think of male rather than female. The media tricked us into believing this was the case, because most school shooters in the 21st century were men. When it comes to school shootings, males tend to be more attracted to firearms and general violence, such as fighting, than most females. This can trace back to everyone's childhood hoods, as boys tend to like toy guns, action figures, and use their imaginations to let them roam free. While girls prefer Barbie dolls, mini kitchen sets where their imagination does not allow them to border on violence. “The physical body – hormones, innate instincts, genetic predispositions etc. – defines the essence of identity and determines personality characteristics, behavior and abilities”. Regarding the school shooting, police officers immediately doubted whether it was a man in a red sweatshirt and blue jeans. As a police officer speaks into the radio "I think it's a male in a red top and blue jeans." In this regard, panic is evident in the videos of witnesses, it can be seen from their screams and shouts "there is a boy shooting at our school", when in reality these students are hiding according to protocol without knowing who the killer is .“It sees identity as constructed by external social forces such as the media, family upbringing, religion, and the expectations of community members.” Emma Gonzalez, a Parkland survivor activist, defends her and her friends by blasting the media. A woman with enough power and compassion to make a change in gun violence. Participating in propaganda campaigns such as Obama's HOPE poster, this young woman was the face following the Parkland shooting. As for Nikolas Cruz himself, the shooting was not targeted at a specific gender because he had no particular motive behind it. Anyone who got in his way would be shot and the list of people killed included both women. Ethnicity, Ideology and Media In terms of ethnicity and media it relates to all the other world problems that has happened. “A policy or critical concept that celebrates unity in diversity by bringing together a range of cultural groups within a broader identity or community without privileging one culture over another.” Nicolas Cruz is a Caucasian male who decided to shoot a high school, the media and other sources believed it was the act of a mentally disabled and physically unstable individual taking care of himself. The media would not have portrayed this story in the same way if it were about a dark-skinned individual who might have been Muslim. Instead this would have been considered an act of terrorism, or the resentment of one religion towards another. The media would explode thinking it was another terrorist attack. The Oxford Living dictionary definition of terrorism is “The unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians.” Regarding this high school shooting, what differentiates Nickolas Cruz from a terrorist? What differentiates this Caucasian male from a brown or black one? The answer is, regardless of whether everyone in that school was dealing with terrorism that day, the media will never publish it as an act of terrorism because of the ethnicity of the individual who constructed the criminal activity. As police officers told CNN, “it was an act of a troubled young man struggling with his conscience.” Where as if he were of a different ethnicity, like a brown male, he would probably be related to Al Keddah, in the case of a black individual he would be, he would be part of a gang. According to the NPO article “Black students at Marjory Stoneham Douglas High School held a press conference last week to tell the world that the response to the February shootings – increased school police – is not making them safer and, in fact, it harms them.” students from different ethnic backgrounds came together to bring awareness. Postmodernism As a result of the general discourse surrounding Stoneman Douglas High, one might classify Cruz as a type of postmodernist individual. Postmodernism is an argument that states that “change driven by economic changes is changing the world and its culture.” As already mentioned, the definition mentioned above was used in the past tense, so it is normal to assume that as time passes, the change in a society's culture is not only linked to economic factors, because individuals usually retain different cultural styles a constantly evolving production. For example, Americans are entitled to own a licensed boy. The Gun Control Act of 1968 allows anyone over the age of 18 to purchase a firearm. An 18 year old can be greatly influenced to purchase a firearm. Not knowing the consequences of what a firearm can do will lead to mass destruction. Gun control is something that must/