Jasmine Haddad

Rhetorical Analysis Paper

Deadrick
ENGL 102
9/24/2015

In his piece When Life Imitates Video, John Leo presents his argument that video kill
games can lead to violent behavior. This is a commonly discussed topic amongst researchers
and concerned parents all around the world. In his essay Leo effectively presents his argument
with evidence from real life situations and true statistics found in validated research. In his essay
it is clear to the readers what Leo is talking about: video games today are more graphic and
violent than they used to be which can easily influence society as a whole to behave violently
and gruesomely.
John Leo, the author of this essay, tries to persuade the readers to accept his ideas. He
gives various examples of how teenage violence is influenced by violent video games. He tries to
appeal to the public using pathos on several occasions. Leo starts his essay referring to the
Colorado massacre in 1999. According to his vivid description of the event, the gunners at the
scene used pistol-grip shotguns familiar to the ones in most shooting video games. Leo uses
dialogue like pools of blood and screams of agony to emphasize his position on videogames
and violence. I believe that this is Leo strongest piece of evidence. His choice of words and tone
in the first paragraph effectively illustrates how serious and sad massacres like this are. By
appealing to emotion and using pathos, the public can easily be persuaded considering the strong
emotion he makes the readers feel. His main point is that in order to avoid massacres like this

we need to start taking the social effects of killing games more serious. This is a key piece of
Leos claim that videogames are dangerous.
In addition to appealing to the audiences emotions, Leo offers statistics and quotes from
psychologist to deem his credibility as author and provide logic to his argument. Leo uses the
Psychologist and former army officer David Grossman as evidence to his argument. By
including the expert opinion of Grossman, we know Leo is a credible author and worth listening
to. Grossman draws an analogy between video games played by young people and military
training games designed to encourage soldiers to shoot their enemies. This analogy is very
interesting because it flat out emphasizes the connection between video games and reality. Leos
assumption about the correlation between real life killing situations and video games is
something we cannot deny. Overall the research he includes in his argument is certainly good
evidence and strongly supports his claim.
Leo offers the opposing argument in the 9th paragraph of the essay. He acknowledges
that those against his angle certainly believe playing video games is a harmless activity among
children who know the difference between real and pretend. He refutes this argument by stating
that videogames are often played by young people who are unstable and have little control of
their emotion. Although Leo makes a good point, this evidence is a unsupported generalization
rather than reliable specifics.
Even though Leo has no actual credible evidence for his claim that the majority of people
playing video games can be considered unstable youngsters, it doesnt make what he is trying
to emphasize false. For example my younger cousin has been glued to videogames since he was
a toddler. As he has gotten older his obsession has become a clear issue. His language as a pre
teen is astonishing and innapropriate. A Lot of the games he plays includes players cursing and

using aggressive language so its no wonder he is learning from playing all day. In addition to the
video game obsession his parents recently went through a divorce which has been hard on him. I
think that is what Leo is trying to argue, young people who already have so much on their plate
are living in a fantasy which over time becomes their reality due to their inability to control
emotion. If I were to play videogames I dont think it would be dangerous to my well being
because I know I am in control of my life and have already overcome the most difficult obstacles
in my childhood/preteen age. For those who are still figuring their life and self out, it may be
hard for them not to be influenced, like my younger cousin who is already cursing and displaying
aggressive behaviors.
All in all Leo makes it clear that violence in the media is surely something that can
influence young people. Most of his evidence is credible which makes him worthy to trust listen
to. He offers a expert opinion and a real event to support his claim. I think Leos main goal is to
get people to accept his ideas somehow. Whether its from trusting the research or drawing a
personal connection like I did. Although Leo makes good points, I dont think this or any other
essay on the planet could possibly stop violence in the media. What it can do is spread awareness
and give people ideas. I personally dont think that playing video games will make someone
become a mass murderer but I do think its important to consider what the long term impact of
excessively violent entertainment is doing to us as individuals and as a society.

Work cited

Leo,John. When Life Imitates Video. Practical Argument. 2nd ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and
Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Bedford,2014. 62-64.Print.