Using Freytag's methodology, let's look at the events of the past week in FL, and the aftermath.
Act 1
A 19 year old enters a High School and systematically shoots many students and staff/adults, killing 17. He is arrested, a rarity anymore.
Act 2
Students and parents react swiftly, condemning the shooting, the ability of a teenager with documented mental health issues to obtain a assault rifle and large magazines. The governmental reaction is to condemn the FBI for not acting on information they had been given. After a day's silence on the issue, the president goes down to FL and stops briefly in the town on his weekly trip to his resort. He poses at bedside of a wounded, large grin and a 'thumbs up sign.
Act 3
The students and some parents reaction to the event escalates, again not typical in these events. The students and their student spokesperson are quite vehement in their condemnation of the availability of assault rifles, and the NRA. Again, the condemnation of the NRA, and "any politician who takes money from them" is not typical. The NRA and gun manufacturers stifle a yawn and examine their fingernails, knowing that they are going to have a big jump in profits in sales of the gun used in the killings.
Act 4
As the response of the students spreads far beyond the town, some politicians and the president seem to be feeling the pressure, and see their non-response is not being well received. Tentatively, their reactions make timid suggestions that gun regulations such as background checks be tightened, and the president even suggests that bump stocks might need to be banned. His press secretary attempts to walk it back slightly. Again, the NRA and gun manufacturers yawn and close their eyes, imagining the next vacation to the Bahamas.
Act 5
(some happening, some yet to happen) Various conservative groups find ways to discredit the students, claiming they are actors, democratic party plants and the like. The state legislature of FL brings up a bill increasing the rigor of back ground checks. Quietly it is defeated. 3 days after the killings. In Washington DC the democrats bring up similar bills, including the bump stock ban. Quietly, they are defeated. The president picks some adults (not students) from the town, not parents of the students, and hand-picked people from other areas that had similar shootings to meet at the WH. He poses, grinning, maybe thumbs-up, for a post meeting picture. He says they had a "good meeting, very good, very good." The NRA and gun manufactures smile and nod, and lean back in their leather chairs in satisfaction of a good week.
This doesn't follow Freytag's analysis method exactly, it was just the closest I am familiar with.
Yep, except that these kids have mobilized and have their s&$# together. They are going to make things happen. It might take a few years, but they, and millions like them, will have the vote soon. Change is coming.
ReplyDeleteWell done! Change must happen and I too hope the kids motivate a movement.
ReplyDeleteBest script for a play I've read in some years....
ReplyDeleteMy first comment has disappeared. It was along the lines of Arleen's. And, I posted the blog to Facebook. You may be tilting more heavily at windmills than willing to admit.
ReplyDeleteBravo! Bravo! Standing ovation, I lau....I cried. I cried some more. Got in a little tiff with my brother about this over the weekend. I can't understand the vehemence of these supporters, nor the misinformation guiding some of their opinions. You'd think I was sending a dingo after their baby.
ReplyDeleteIncisive and excellent post, Mike. We know what automatic weapons are for --shooting lots of people very quickly-- and that they have no place outside a war. But then, it's awfully easy to convince people they are in one.
ReplyDeletePeople go immediately from the demand to ban weapons of war used to kill children to the certainty that they will have their pistols and hunting rifles taken away. Thank you, NRA, for the brain-washing.
ReplyDelete