Gun violence overstated

The condemnable act of violence carried out on Purdue campus last month dominated the local media and gripped the minds of our neighboring Boilermakers.
With several friends studying at Purdue, the news grabbed my attention — as it did much of the IU community.

Although this was indeed a heinous act of murder involving the use of a gun, the way the media continued to title the situation as a shooting was bothersome to me. It was misguiding the public and representing our exploitative culture of fear.

I can’t evade the technicality that what had occurred is a shooting because of the fact that shots were openly fired. What I am arguing is that labeling the particular event as a shooting is a hyperbolic statement with political consequences.

In the past, the media would have probably used the shooting label only when considering public exchanges of fire or the rages of evil gunmen targeting random victims. Nowadays, even common instances of gun violence such as the one suffered at Purdue are being stamped with this energized label.

With American gun violence now under the media’s microscope, individual cases are being increasingly blown out of proportion. No other form of murder or violence generates the same paralyzing waves of fear and despair that gunshots do, especially in academic settings.

How the Purdue suspect specifically targeted only his victim before quickly surrendering leaves significant doubt that any other students’ lives besides the victim’s were truly endangered that day. This makes me think that the community’s dramatic reactions both at Purdue and IU were driven by classic hysteria.

It’s not that the compassionate communal responses are unfounded. It is discomforting news for all college students and the heart wrenched loved ones of the victim need all the support they can get.

My point is that this murder wouldn’t have touched our communities in the same fashion if a gun hadn’t been used to carry it out. It certainly wouldn’t have made national news.

Fear is probably the most important political tool used to prod populations into different forms of subjection. For people must believe in what they fear, otherwise they wouldn’t have a reason to fear it.

It seems that the media wants people to believe in an imaginary gun violence epidemic through the fear they’re cooking up in order to facilitate anti-second amendment agendas.

The media has their right to bring attention to whatever stories they choose. I just oppose how it’s manipulating the public into subconsciously buying the idea that an armed maniac is likely to be right around the corner on any given day.

If students are seriously worried about becoming an innocent victim of gun violence, then they should also worry about getting hit by a car or getting struck by lightning on their way to campus.

If students aren’t feeling safe already, the scheming media is to blame.

­— edharo@indiana.edu