My two artifacts are both related to the subject of gun control. They both represent a different argument within the conversation, but both play on a similar notion of emotion.
First, there is this political cartoon created by Phil Hands for the Wisconsin State Journal in May 2022. This political cartoon was published on May 25th, 2022, just a day after the Uvalde school shooting in Texas; it was published along with the article with the name “Hands on Wisconsin: Texas mass shooting is every parent’s worst nightmare” (Hands, 2022). It invites people to think about the recent shootings both from the perspective of a worried parent and an innocent child.
Next, there is an advertisement run by Bushmaster Firearms International. Bushmaster is a firearms manufacturer and distributer that ran this ad for about two years. The company would issue “Man Cards” to people who bought a Bushmaster gun. Furthermore, “visitors of bushmaster.com [would] have to prove they’re a man by answering a series of manhood questions. .. they [would then] be issued a temporary Man Card to proudly display to friends and family” (Gray, 2012). Not only that, friends and family could report the Man Card recipient if they have violated their manhood in anyway. Despite the controversy, they only decided to stop running the ad after the Sandy Hook shooting in which the shooter used a Bushmaster .223 rifle.
Both of these artifacts encourage action in different ways. While the political cartoon plays on this notion of love to encourage people to see the issues with all these school shootings, the Bushmaster ad encourages the consumption of firearms as a necessity of manhood.
I chose these two because they are so starkly different. The thing that they have in common is this play on emotions, but that play is manipulated in different ways. While the political cartoon plays on the fear a parents may have sending a child to school, the ad plays on the evidently fragile masculinity that can be seemingly bought. To me, it’s a no brainer to see so many shootings and to wants stricter gun laws; I didn’t know what kind of arguments the other side could have, but arguments like the one that Bushmaster ran with do not hold up.
Additionally, the juxtaposition of associating masculinity with guns, but then also having a father cry for his daughter as a result of a shooting can make for a great analysis. Even though they both represent opposite ends of the spectrum, I think that’s what makes them interesting. The relationship between how both arguments have grown as a result of this common denominator will be interesting to explore.
https://madison.com/opinion/cartoon/hands-on-wisconsin-texas-mass-shooting-is-every-parents-worst-nightmare/article_29c59f3c-7f9f-5c7c-8b49-1b932ebbc644.html
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bushmaster-rifle-ad-masculinity-gun-violence-newtown-adam-lanza_b_2317924
September 22, 2022 at 10:20 pm
I really like how the topic of masculinity plays into both sides of the spectrum. I feel it is often overlooked how being a father and caring about family is an expression of manhood (though maybe less in-your-face than the right to own a powerful weapon.) I look forward to your speech!
September 26, 2022 at 2:05 am
I love the artifacts you chose. This is a very interesting topic and I love how your artifacts are contradicting each other. It addresses a really big issue that we currently face and peaks interest.
September 26, 2022 at 2:51 pm
I love your choice of artifacts and topic. Since both have references to masculinity and courage, I think that making the comparisons between the two will be powerful, especially as admitting fear for a child and vulnerability is arguably more manly than possessing weapons.