John Leo When Life Imitates Video Analysis

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Rhetorical Analysis of John Leo’s article, “When Life Imitates Video” Throughout his article, John aims to convince his audiences that violence in gaming has an adverse effect, rippling through children and jeopardizing their well-being. From the beginning, he utilizes vivid imagery to portray horrifying scenes into the Colorado massacre. Along with a chilling description, he indicates that two shooters indulge in the simulated killings which desensitize themselves to actual violence. His purpose is to demonstrate greater correlations between playing murder games and aggressive actions. To further strengthen his insight, he cites Los Angeles Times that address their aggressive behaviors by imitating murder-violence modeled on the game. Associated with ethical, emotional…show more content…
In order to persuade them, he takes advantage of leading question to guide his audience to his way of thinking. “Did the sensibilities created by the modern, video kill games play a role in the Littleton massacre?”(44) The question assumes that the audience will believe such aggression associated with the simulated violence. By means of sentence words “Yes” and “No”, he makes a point of bringing up the rational arguments to his audience. It illustrates that “there isn't any direct connection between most murderous games and most murders,” but “responsibility for protecting children from dangerous games lies with their parents, many of whom like to blame the entertainment industry for their own failings.”(44) The use of “Yes” and “No” aims to deepen the audience understanding of the truth that “We are now a society in which the chief form of play for millions of youngsters is making large numbers of people die.”(44) With appropriate language and clear articulation, it provides an account of his ethics that the audience will give the argument as much
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