Introduction 

Why do we always wait until it is too late? That is a question that spectators and victims of school shootings often ask themselves. Today, it is a major fear of many students and teachers, that they will be in such an event on what should’ve been another regular day at school. This exact feeling is what the victims of the Sandy Hook Shooting felt on and after December 14, 2012. These victims included 20 students and 6 staff members of Sandy Hook Elementary School (A&E Television Networks, 2013). As a result of this tragic event, the Sandy Hook Promise Organization was born. This organization was created by parents, students, and all other people who were affected by the event. This organization advocates against gun violence and for safety within all schools and communities. They want to push for a change so that school, once again, is a haven for all who attend. “How does this organization do so?”, you might ask yourself. There are many ways that the organization advocates these principles, but one of the most effective ways is through social media outreach. The program often releases videos through YouTube, demonstrating different portrayals of gun violence awareness. There have been many different video styles, but one of the most outstanding videos was “Evan” (Sandy Hook Promise Organization, 2016). This video, released on December 2, 2016, sends a powerful message to those who have seen it. It touches people deeply, showing them the warning signs of a school shooter that probably all viewers failed to see at first glance. This video sends an interesting message to its viewers, especially one relating to the video’s purpose in our society. The Sandy Hook Promise organization video sends a visual message to viewers by using the lens of the rhetorical situation and pathos to provoke an emotional and reactive response.

Lens of the Rhetorical Situation

To create a means of understanding towards a topic, individuals may choose to provide a lens for their study. The lens of the rhetorical situation provides a unique strategy to help people understand a topic, idea, or concern. It is made up of three main parts: exigence, audience, and constraints (Firgens). In relation to the civic artifact presented, there are many parallels to connect between the lens of the rhetorical situation and Evan. First, exigence is very blatant in this video because it points to a very known topic in this generation: school shootings. “In rhetoric, exigence is an issue, problem, or situation that causes or prompts someone to write or speak” (Nordquist, 2019). According to Nordquist’s definition of what exigence is, is it very clear to identify it in this scenario. The Sandy Hook Promise Organization defines the clear problem that needs to be spoken about, which severely affects pretty much anyone who is involved even slightly in the school system. That being said, those who are involved in the school system define the next aspect of the lens of the rhetorical situation: audience. Audience is defined as, “those who are addressed in the act of communication” (Firgens). As such, the audience is very connected to the exigence in this topic. School shootings are dependent on school communities. That is, if there were no such things as school systems then school shootings would be nonexistent. However, due to the heavy weight that schooling has on society, there isn’t a theoretical scenario where schools would no longer exist. Therefore, these two topics coexist in the same realm of ideas. Lastly, constraints are the different obstacles that a speaker may face when presenting an idea to an audience (Firgens). In the topic of school shootings, the primary constraint has been the constant debate of what may be the best way to address school shootings. While some people think that the best response would be to make stricter gun laws, other people see this as an infringement on one’s rights (Stanley, 2018). This is a very common argument in the United States, but many people disregard the idea of it being a issue regarding one’s rights. Instead, they focus on the trauma that gun violence has had on the face of our nation and decide that it is best to terminate the idea completely. There are other people who really focus on the psychological research of young students, naming mental health problems to be the main contribution towards potential school shooters (Chatterjee, 2019). Regardless of what the reason might be that there are all these school shootings occurring, it can collectively be agreed that political changes can take long periods of time to go into effect. Therefore, instead of vigorously debating what the correct method of action might be in response to school shootings, people should focus on the fastest and most direct way to combat the problem immediately. The quickest way to respond to this issue is to understand the warning signs. Everyone must unite effectively rather than endlessly debate over an idea that needs to be addressed right now.

Using Pathos to Appeal to the Audience

Now that the lens of the rhetorical situation has been used to breakdown and analyze the issue at hand, it will be simpler to understand how this much this topic appeals to the audience that it is being presented to. The main way that the topic of school shootings appeals to an audience is through pathos. Pathos is a rhetorical device that uses emotion to appeal to an audience (Gayle 2021). School shootings have been one of the most traumatic occurrences in this generation. Students and staff members have genuinely been scared to attend school, in fear that their school would be the next victim of a school shooting. The civic artifact, Evan, displays a very relatable example of what a day-to-day school experience would look like. There are students, teachers, and all the same facilities that one would find in a traditional school building. Many people also have experienced their first love encounters in school. Since the boy in the video was so focused on his love encounter, this can make viewers realize that they too have been in a position where they are blinded by whatever big things may be happening in their life. Most people would be able to relate to this video, up until the gunman enters the building. Unfortunately, there are many people who can relate to the video to its entirety. This is the reason that the video displays pathos so well. It makes those who see the video assure themselves that they will never want to experience such a tragedy. In response, people will take the necessary action to prevent such trauma from occurring in their own lives, and in the lives of those around them.

Conclusion

There is no reason that we, as a society, should ever fail to see the clear warning signs of a school shooter. It is the least that we can do to contribute to the stop of school shootings, yet it would have such a heavy weight if everyone were to do so. Through the lens of the rhetorical situation, it was analyzed what the issue is, who is experiencing this issue, and what obstacles people are facing in understanding this issue. Furthermore, using pathos ties together the main points of the topic, as well as how the topic interacts with its audience to create a response. The goal of the Sandy Hook Promise Organization is to bring awareness and it is achieved through such videos that create so many different emotions for its viewers.

References

A&E Television Networks. (2013, December 11). Sandy Hook School Shooting. History.com. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gunman-kills-students-and-adults-at-newtown-connecticut-elementary-school.

Chatterjee, R. (2019, February 10). School shooters: What’s their path to violence? NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/02/10/690372199/school-shooters-whats-their-path-to-violence.

Evan: Sandy Hook Promise. (2016). YouTube. https://youtu.be/A8syQeFtBKc.

Firgens, B. (n.d.). Rhetorical Situation. CAS100: Keywords – WordPress. https://sites.psu.edu/keywords/2018/02/05/rhetorical-situation/.

Gayle, K. (2021, September 4). Pathos. Writing Commons. https://writingcommons.org/article/pathos/.

Nordquist, R. (2019, July 16). What is exigence in rhetoric? ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/exigence-rhetoric-term-1690688.

Protecting Children from Gun Violence. Sandy Hook Promise. (2021, November 1). https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/who-we-are/about-us/.

Stanley, J. (2018, July 17). A pro-liberty case for gun restrictions. American Civil Liberties

Union. https://www.aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/pro-liberty-case-gun-restrictions.

 

Speech Outline:

• Attention Grabber: Why do we wait until it is too late
• Introduction: Explain how school shootings have increased and the negative effects they have on society
• Identify the rhetorical devices being used in my civic artifact
• Explain how the lens of the rhetorical situation connects to the issue of school shootings
• Connect the 3 main point