PR. 2 SAMUEL BECKETT AND GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA

Samuel Beckett, an Irish poet, novelist, and one of the most well-known absurd literature writers of all time. Born on the 13th of April 1906 and passing away on December 22nd, 1989, Beckett left an everlasting impression on the world with his unique and extremely absurd views of mankind and life as a whole. He suggests, human existence is purposeless and irrational, while delving into the dark side of human instincts, confronting feelings like despair and alienation. Samuel Beckett’s rhetorical strategies serve as an inherent way to portray the absurdity of existence, different ways of communicating, and the continuous search for meaning in a world with endless possibilities. Beckett viewed the world like an open book, understanding the positive side of things but not overlooking the negative downsides. Comparably, gun violence in the United States is at an all-time high. Statistics show 48,830 deaths in 2021 by gun violence (Bloomberg School of Public Health). Across the United States citizens are dying from suicides, viscous attacks, and accidental shootings every day.

Samuel Beckett would have viewed gun violence as a social epidemic due to his beliefs in humankind being mad, mean, and self-destructive. The leading cause of death by gun is by one’s own hand. Statistics show 26,328 reported deaths in 2021, making up half of the gun deaths in America were by suicide (Bloomberg School of Public Health). When someone is contemplating suicide, they are looking for the fastest, most painless solution without a plan for what will happen after they are gone. “No, I regret nothing, all I regret is having been born, dying is such a long tiresome business I always found” (A Quote by Samuel Becket). Although there is not much online from Samuel Beckett on the topic of suicide, he made very absurd statements for his time in reference to the topic. His work had a frequent reference to the theme of despair and hopelessness. “Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural order” (A Quote by Samuel Becket). Beckett believed that people were always searching for meaning and purpose in life.

Furthermore, the homicide rates from gun violence in America is astronomical. Samuel Beckett viewed the human race as unnecessary and unneeded. If he were alive today, he would most likely view this homicide by firearm as just another example of humankind’s senseless inability to escape its own personal destruction. He would not necessarily touch on gun control, more about the sanity of humanity as a whole. In 2023, statics show there were 26,031 reported homicides in the United States and 20,985 of those were firearm homicides (Center for Disease Control and Prevention).

PR. 1 SOCIAL MEDIA EPIDEMIC

Social media can be compared to a virus, continuously spreading throughout our society and shaping the way we interact, think, and view the world as a whole. Although there are positive things that come from social media, like communicating and exploration, the negatives outweigh it all. Social media has made a very negative impact on the world due to the influence it has on one’s mental health, false information, and severe privacy concerns.

Social media has become a priority for most Americans on a day-to-day basis. The main downside to social media is the influence it has on one’s mental health. In the early two-thousands, social media started to make its mark on the world, becoming an easier way for communicating, sharing, and exploring for people across the world. Although this sounds like an all-around perfect addition to the users’ lifestyles, it has a major impact on addiction to continuously scrolling through others seemingly perfect lives, a disconnect with verbal communication, and loss of authenticity of what a normal person’s life is actually like. This has impacted the youth more than anyone. “Among children and young adults ages 10 to 24, the suicide is 10.7 per 100,000 and is the second-leading cause of death” (Bergman). The suicide rate of teens has become a main concern for parents across the world in the past decade due to the increase in social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat due to the constant need of these children to fit in and be the same as their influencers on these platforms. As Abraham Lincoln once stated, “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.” The main concern is that you truly can never tell the difference between the truth and the lies on the internet, and it is affecting the most influenced people of all, children. This is creating a false narrative for individuals and making them believe they must change themselves to fit in and they lose sight of their own identity. There needs to be an age restriction for social media, a limit on how long one can spend on social media in one sitting and required addition to these social media platforms to evaluate each user’s mental health before continuing their activities. Although there is the mental health downside to social media, there are many issues with false information spread across the internet.

False information is spread across social media platforms on a day-to-day basis, and you can never truly differentiate between the truth, the half truth and what is false. Many issues like rumors, misinformation, disinformation, and mal information are continuing to control the minds of individuals across the entire United States, for instance, the COVID-19 pandemic, the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and the #MeToo movement. Although there is truth to these examples, social media rearranged the truth and split the country into two sides, causing chaos and havoc across the entire country. For instance, the #MeToo movement started as an outlet for victims of sexual assault and abuse to share their stories with others for their own encouragement and justice for themselves, whereas, when the internet got a hold of the information, it was turned into victim blaming, cyberbullying and a cry out for attention. These victims’ stories were turned into plagiarized stories, rearranged, and shared for one’s own selfish gain. “Ease of access and use, speed of information diffusion, and difficulty in correcting false information make control of undesirable information a horrid task” (Muhammed and Mathew). Social media makes it so easy to access false information, due to the lack of fact checkers and system checks each social media platform filters through. The false information being continuously spread throughout social media is only a small downside compared to the severe privacy concerns social media has placed on users.

Privacy concerns are the biggest issue with social media overall. Everything you post on social media is on the internet forever., whether you delete it or not. You are leaving a paper trail with every move you make. “Social networking companies harvest sensitive data about individuals’ activities, interests, personal characteristics, political views, purchasing habits, and online behaviors” (Electronic Privacy Information Center). Individuals using social media platforms to purchase are willingly giving their card information to these platforms without knowing the risk of fraud and identity theft. Another privacy concern linking to social media is the exploitation of children, posting videos and pictures of themselves dancing, singing, and enjoying their hobbies, these children have no idea who is viewing their posts and what their intentions of viewing it in the first place. Although many big social media websites have a privacy settings where it can be hard to hack accounts, there will always be a way around this for many hackers and trolls across the internet. Some of the effects of being hacked include being stalked, forced to pay money to online hackers in fear of personal images or information being shared, and being tracked with even worse outcomes. Social media will never be safe for anyone unless there is a way to differentiate between the individuals with good intentions from the ones with bad intentions.

In conclusion, social media is a very dangerous place for all users, whether it affects one’s mental health, their sense of safety with the information they are receiving, or the lack of privacy users have while posting, viewing, or purchasing online. The negative outcome of social media is affecting individuals compared to the positives.