Amanda+E’s+Final+AmEx+2014+Speech

=Title of Speech= "Isla Vista Shootings"

=Text of Speech= It feels almost too real. Knowing it happened; where and when and why it happened. Knowing the circumstances and the facts of the shooting makes it real. As most of us know, two weeks ago, a spree of shootings took place on the streets of Isla Vista, just beyond the UCSB campus, leaving 3 dead and 13 others wounded. The shooters’ main motive for his act of violence was his rejection by females, attitudes which he deemed unfair and which he responded to in violence.

Before this event took place, Isla Vista was just another community, whose perhaps biggest claim to fame was Deltopia. But now its name is tainted, just as the likes of Sandy Hook, Columbine, and Virginia Tech are all stained with the blood of devastation. However this time, it just feels too close for comfort.

Now I am not here today to talk about gun control, only the fact that we each possess it inside ourselves to become a weapon. To take small, negligible actions to heart and to respond in anger and violence. But to properly respond to others requires a certain level of respect for them, without the looming threat of vicious attacks. This instance in particular was not set off by some major disturbance in the shooters life, but by the accumulation of small rejections from women, coupled with his lack of social acceptance. While most would probably react to these things by reflecting and changing themselves, he didn’t. He choose to seek “retribution”. For him this involved methodically planning to murder innocent people in the streets.

Let’s simply acknowledge the absurd ways he seemed to justify the act.

If you watch some of the videos he and skim the manifesto he posted you can see that he was obsessively vain. He was just a college student and he drove around in his BMW, putting on pretentious airs, and complaining about how other guys had girlfriends, which wasn’t fair because he “deserved it more”. And yes, if you listen to the things he says about women, it is clear that he did not see them as people but merely as objects; a pretty thing to be owned, not valued as another living person.

But worst of all I think is he felt entitled. Entitled to them: their bodies and their lives. He did not see them as people but as //things//, things which he didn’t understand nor seemed to attempt to understand. So he got upset and in a superiorly childish way, began to blame them for his own shortcomings. By projecting his problems, he created a host for his hatred and let it fester.

And then he began to lash out. He did so in videos, he wrote his manifesto, and he planned. This was no spur of the moment act of violence; it was premeditated mass murder. And nobody saw it coming. That night he walked to a sorority and shot a few outside, then took to his car, where he continued to attack and eventually took his own life. What really irks me is that this guy grew up in such a privileged environment: a wealthy family, with access to good education, in a safe community. Nonetheless, even with all the opportunities to find fulfillment by other means he instead saw no other way out of his loneliness and depression and chose to go on a psychotic rampage, simply because girls didn’t want to date him. In some way he seemed to believe he was entitled to them, that because he was just //so// “awesome” that they were the ones in the wrong for turning him down. And that makes me uncomfortable. Mainly because in that situation I’d like to think that if someone said no, that would be the end of discussion and they wouldn’t have go about fearing for their well-being. This point has been made before and is still somehow rebutted by the people who think the shooter was somehow justified in his motives. That he had right to feel anger toward being rejected because //for some reason//, women these days have a choice as to who they want to date. These people do not have a clear and well-mannered attitude toward the victims because they lack the respect and understanding deserved by the horrendous situation.

This event really brought out to me how much attention we pay to the perpetrators’ of crimes but not the victims themselves. We like to know the “story” behind the devastation, not just the fact that so many people were victimized, and the media delivers. They give coverage to the shooters’ family and motives and ignore the true tragedies of the horrific events. Only, plastering the names across news articles gives the aggressors the fame they wanted. And now by letting this happen, we are allowing his story spread, and he is winning. He gets the recognition and his name sparks the debates, not the victims. The people who lost their lives or were injured are disregarded in favor of propelling the assailant to infamy.

Respect for others isn’t just some quality that can be acquired through passivity; it requires an active and bright attitude to try and work with people while giving them the proper value they deserve as a human being. Reacting in rash acts to trivial matters never helps solve any problems. But trying to see others perspectives does serve to prevent further damage and promote sympathy.

In the America I wish to grow old in, I want to see society’s conscious effort //not// towards teaching people how to avoid becoming victims but //instead// focused on encouraging and preventing against victimization. To respect each other and not treat people like another object to have in order to attain status or inflate egos. I want to see understanding and compassion between people, with a common goal of unity. I want to see an America where people work towards bettering themselves through acceptance and humanity.

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