TOW 13

Ted Mandell, a faculty member at Notre Dame’s Department of Film, argues that athletes should make a bigger deal about gun control and school shootings in his article Sports Offer the Arena to Raise Awareness of Gun Violence.  In his article Mandell claims that if athletes were to use their spotlight to help shine a light on these issues then maybe something would be done.  One thing that Mandell uses well in his article is the emotional tie to the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting.  Mandell talks about how many athletic groups made a big deal of the issue for a short period of time directly after the event but that in the past year little has been done.  He sights many of the small different things that some athletes or athletic groups did to help the victims in the short term, but then how they started to lag in their support as time went by.  This could also be a comment on American culture that the American people like to make a massive deal about things that happen and move on quickly forget, with little change left in the past.  Mandell chooses to shift the blame of these things on to athletes because they are easy to judge due to the fact that they are so blessed and in the limelight.  This allows readers to not feel as if he is criticizing them and not become defensive.  Mandell also does well as to draw a connection to the fact that it was the anniversary of the shooting to enhance the emotional feel of readers.  A couple more subtle claims that he makes are that gun control laws should be stricter and that America should care more.  This article is targeted towards judgmental people.  It is a way to make people judge the athletes for not doing more and as a way of shifting the blame and making themselves feel better.