John Kass Research Paper

John Kass is describing how America’s violence-dominated culture plays a prominent role in mass shootings. The intensely vicious nature of one of America’s favorite pastimes, football, encourages the demonstration of aggression and promotes a willingness to fight. Harrowing action films and irate song lyrics allow for audiences to idolize despicable acts of violence. Kass asserts that when a mass shooting occurs, many are quick to point fingers at the government for its inability to pass effective gun safety and mental health laws. These same people refuse to look in the mirror and see that they are part of the problem through their support of violence-glorifying entertainment. Kass argues that the real problem does not simply lie in the United …show more content…
Entertainment plays a huge role in the everyday lives of all Americans. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter was a frequent user of violent video games. In January 2013, Connecticut Senator Christopher Murphy stated that video games gave the shooter “a false sense of courage about what he could do that day”. The Newtown Elementary School shooter divulged himself in video games, spending tens of hours even week playing them. According to the novel Newtown: An American Tragedy, he racked up more than 83,000 “kills” on his video games, including 22,000 “head shots”. The shooter played one computer game called “School Shooting”, and copied the game’s premise through his murdering of twenty-six innocent children and adults. The shooter was inspired to take the lives of these twenty-six students and educators by these video games that promote mass murder and violence. After the tragedy, video games were created that allow users to reenact the events of the massacre. An example of one of these online video games is “The Slaying of Sandy Hook Elementary School”. These video games, inspired by the events of the massacre, will encourage other people to commit the same heinous act the Newtown shooter