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Peeling away the myths behind Columbine
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ceruleanst and a few others I don't recall for passing this along. Ten years after the Columbine High school shootings by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, it turns out pretty much the entire story the media fed us at the time was, well, not so much the truth.
The public was led to believe that Harris and Klebold were loners, on antidepressants, that they targeted jocks, blacks and Christians, were influenced by violent videogames, and most of all that they were bullied into retaliation -- that their killing spree was the "last straw" response to their being relentlessly tormented.
The new picture? Quite a bit different. Both the kids had bullying tendencies themselves. They weren't part of the Trench Coat Mafia and they weren't on antidepressant meds. They didn't target anyone in particular -- instead they targeted EVERYONE. Harris, we now find, was a cold-blooded psychopath who was described as "smart" and "charming". Deceptively polite, he hid his psychopathic tendencies and God complex behind a pleasing exterior that seemed to fool everyone. Klebold, it now seems, was little more than Harris's flunky. He had his own serious mental problems -- anxious and withdrawn, he was also almost suicidally depressed and paranoid -- but he felt lovelorn, drawing hearts in his journals while Harris was drawing swastikas.
Both of these kids had severe psychological problems that should have been recognized and treated before they boiled over. But they weren't bullied into this and didn't snap overnight. They planned and calculated for more than a year, coldly deciding how best to kill as many people as they could. Their rage wasn't focused on "their tormentors", it was a carpet-bombing approach aimed at EVERYONE -- they had hoped to kill thousands.
What's really frightening, notes Dave Cullen (the author of Columbine, a new book about the attack): Eric Harris was financing what could well have been the biggest domestic terrorist attack on U.S. soil on wages from a part-time job at a pizza parlor. Had he been given a few more years and time to build up funds, he could have become another Timothy McVeigh and killed the thousands he wanted instead of just the 13 who died that day.
So. I hope people will recognize this now for what it was: the lashing out of two kids who had deep psychological problems but weren't freaks or geeks who were bullied into what they did. They weren't motivated by hatred of religion and they weren't pushed into it by playing violent videogames or listening to rock and roll. I wrote once, years ago, that I could sympathize with Harris and Klebold's blind wish to strike back against their tormentors -- I was the victim of lots of horrid bullying in middle school, till I took up martial arts and put a stop to that -- but now I'm ashamed that I fell for the image the media gave us just like everyone else.
Food for thought.
-- END OF LINE --
[[The Oracle would like to know if you've known anyone who was a real victim of bullying.]]
ceruleanst and a few others I don't recall for passing this along. Ten years after the Columbine High school shootings by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, it turns out pretty much the entire story the media fed us at the time was, well, not so much the truth.The public was led to believe that Harris and Klebold were loners, on antidepressants, that they targeted jocks, blacks and Christians, were influenced by violent videogames, and most of all that they were bullied into retaliation -- that their killing spree was the "last straw" response to their being relentlessly tormented.
The new picture? Quite a bit different. Both the kids had bullying tendencies themselves. They weren't part of the Trench Coat Mafia and they weren't on antidepressant meds. They didn't target anyone in particular -- instead they targeted EVERYONE. Harris, we now find, was a cold-blooded psychopath who was described as "smart" and "charming". Deceptively polite, he hid his psychopathic tendencies and God complex behind a pleasing exterior that seemed to fool everyone. Klebold, it now seems, was little more than Harris's flunky. He had his own serious mental problems -- anxious and withdrawn, he was also almost suicidally depressed and paranoid -- but he felt lovelorn, drawing hearts in his journals while Harris was drawing swastikas.
Both of these kids had severe psychological problems that should have been recognized and treated before they boiled over. But they weren't bullied into this and didn't snap overnight. They planned and calculated for more than a year, coldly deciding how best to kill as many people as they could. Their rage wasn't focused on "their tormentors", it was a carpet-bombing approach aimed at EVERYONE -- they had hoped to kill thousands.
What's really frightening, notes Dave Cullen (the author of Columbine, a new book about the attack): Eric Harris was financing what could well have been the biggest domestic terrorist attack on U.S. soil on wages from a part-time job at a pizza parlor. Had he been given a few more years and time to build up funds, he could have become another Timothy McVeigh and killed the thousands he wanted instead of just the 13 who died that day.
So. I hope people will recognize this now for what it was: the lashing out of two kids who had deep psychological problems but weren't freaks or geeks who were bullied into what they did. They weren't motivated by hatred of religion and they weren't pushed into it by playing violent videogames or listening to rock and roll. I wrote once, years ago, that I could sympathize with Harris and Klebold's blind wish to strike back against their tormentors -- I was the victim of lots of horrid bullying in middle school, till I took up martial arts and put a stop to that -- but now I'm ashamed that I fell for the image the media gave us just like everyone else.
Food for thought.
-- END OF LINE --
[[The Oracle would like to know if you've known anyone who was a real victim of bullying.]]
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I have friends who work in the media and they admit they feel bad about the rush to get THE STORY, such that facts are sometimes ignored. But their bosses are the ones who make the decisions. Sad, really.
cheers,
Phil
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My memory might be hazy, but none of these current revelations came as any big surprise to me. I had to have gotten it from SOMEWHERE.
Anyway, Thank you, Phil...this was an amazing and well thought out entry, and it will shame me into writing something good on my own blog, as opposed to the narcissistic drivel I'm prone to producing. Bravo on an excellent piece of writing.
-Bo
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But thanks!
cheers,
Phil
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I thought it was idiotic the way cities and towns and school systems started trying to profile potential killer students based on some conceived profile of these two.
Sadly, I don't think there is anyway to tell.
Why they weren't necessarily bullied ( I guess ) they were treated differently b/c they weren't "popular" and that adds to the depression and anger since acceptance is such a part of the teenager.
The non acceptance was also a part of the Virginia Tech shootings and the recent shooting in NY. And of course the desire that in the end, they may be overlooked in life, but in the end, everyone will know their names.
We can name Kleibold, Harris, and McVay but who can name a victim?
I got pissed off at the whole mentality it created to scrutinize anyone who might be different or wear a long black trench coat. I was working at Kroger at the time and a young man came in with a long black trenchcoat. My managers were taking strategic spots keeping an eye on him. I was SO pissed. I made sure I talked to the man nicely and made sure everything was OK with him. He wasn't acting suspiciously, just wearing a black trenchcoat.
Suspicious ACTING people.. hell yeah i'll keep an eye on. I ain't skeered to say if i see someone of middle eastern decent randomly lurking about a downtown building with no purpose.
And i now someone who was a victim of bullying. That would be me. I was the prime target during my highschool days.
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Who can name a victim? I can. Jamie Bishop, killed in the Virginia Tech massacre, was the son of writer Michael Bishop and a family friend of
But you're right -- most of the attention is paid to the fuckers who commit these crimes. Which is why I refused to mention the name of the Virginia Tech killer when I put up an entry about that after it happened.
cheers,
Phil
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And yes, I knew victims of bullying and was one myself for many years.
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cheers,
Phil
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But you know how it is when people are up on a soapbox - the conservatives wanted to shout about videogames and goth culture and music, and the liberals wanted to shout about gun control and bullies, and when people are shouting they don't listen. "Don't confuse with me the facts" is pretty much the mantra after every major disaster. And we have seen it played out after every shooting, every time. It is annoying and sad, but it is also American to the core. :/
Sheesh
A handy way to target people who may be different. "All the geeks are gonna KILL YOU! Look out!"
After all, we know they're just covering for the coming Zombie Invasion.