Gun Control: Let's Talk About the Talk - Log 3, 12/4/18


Gun Control: Let's Talk About the Talk - Log 3, 12/4/18
  Gun control. We've been hearing about this for a long time. From Virginia Tech to Sandy Hook to Parkland to Las Vegas to Thousand Oaks. Guns are a largely polarizing subject. Some say it's under our 2nd amendment right as it reads we have the right to bear arms. Others want to put restrictions on who can have a gun, what kind of gun, and how one can get a gun. In "Persuaders", they talk about not even mentioning a candidate's stance on this issue because of it's strong feelings. They also mention a lot about the language found in politics. Certain words are used to provoke a certain feeling. Such as "pro-life" instead of "anti-choice". Being "pro-life" sounds like it has
a positive feeling. Who wouldn't want to be against life?
That's why we are here. But "anti-choice" sounds negative as if it's a dictatorship and someone is determining right and wrong for you. We see these positive and negative connotations when talking about gun control as well. The Huffington Posta left-leaning news source, and the Washington Post, a

 more right-leaning news source, have both reported on this issue. And the first thing that caught my attention was HuffPost's use of "gun epidemic" while Washington used "gun control". This is similar to the "pro-life" versus "anti-choice". The use of epidemic highlights how guns are the problem, which would be agreed with the left. Also, when there is an epidemic, it's always something that needs to be solved as if it was a disease. People want to have a solution and treat the disease at hand instead of letting it spread further. When using "gun control", the use of control can stop people in their tracks. As Washington is a little more right-leaning, a group who typically wants to stand behind the 2nd amendment, we can see a trace of their political view as control has a strong negative connotation as mentioned before. People don't want to be controlled by other or have their property controlled by others. When talking about victims of mass-shootings, HuffPost uses "innocent children and adults" yet Washington used "people" or "victims. Not only does adding the adjective innocent but specifying children are victims can tug at the heart strings of a reader. Children are seen as beautiful creatures that should never be hurt or exposed to the disgusting world. So putting the gun epidemic with it's effect on innocent children evicts a negative emotion towards these guns and people side with the article. And to me, Washington is just trying to give less life so to speak to mass shooting victims. It's not that they don't feel bad, it just doesn't prove the authors point. They talk more about the suicide rates that use guns. They use more descriptive terms like gender when talking about those statistics instead of when HuffPost added these words with connotations. These connotations als
o stretch out to the left-leaning news station use of "dictate" and the right-leaning side using "laws" when talking about how certain people want to put or not put in stricter gun control. "Dictate" was used to explain how the NRA can persuade or convince others to not research the gun's health problem that goes with it. This word is associated with people like Hitler. Those with extreme and harmful amount of power are those who dictate. Countries with a dictatorship are looked down upon. "Laws" is how gun control will be put in control. This word has a more positive connation as laws are what usually guide us in society. They are what keeps us from killing anyone we want and extreme violence. They kee
  These safe words are what keep us from unwanted chaos. That's why sexual partners have "safe words" to indicate when they don't like something. This reminds me of an argument I have leftist needing to make when explaining "gun-control" does not mean "gun-ban". Gun ban takes away from the gun owners who use their guns for protection and keep it locked in a safe. It's a dangerous territory for them. They don't want their rightful property taken away from them as nobody would.
However, gun-control, the left says, is to put stronger regulations on who get guns t











































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































o threaten people or do a wrongful crime.
  The gun control debate is certainly an interesting one. Whichever side you agree with or believe, we can all see the difference in word choice and how it can affect one's view of this issue. The difference between certain words to give them positive or negative conations are strongly used between both sides and their expressions definitely matter.

Huffington Post article: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-undeclared-gun-epidemic_us_5a02287ee4b0b422a3c5cd45

Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-used-to-think-gun-control-was-the-answer-my-research-told-me-otherwise/2017/10/03/d33edca6-a851-11e7-92d1-58c702d2d975_story.html?utm_term=.cd78978f6590

Source picture for news stations' political stance: https://www.adfontesmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Media-Bias-Chart_4.0_8_28_2018-min.jpg


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