Columbine
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You are currently reading a thread in /lit/ - Literature
Is Columbine by Dave Cullen the definitive text on the Columbine High School massacre? Has anyone else read this? I understand that it has become a somewhat popular textbook in high schools and colleges in America. It seems so exhaustive in scope. Admittedly I have not read any other books on the topic and I bought this out of morbid curiosity (what else?)
The text is illuminating, if not at times sordid. For years, I thought Dylan was the leader and the sociopath, and that Eric was merely accessory in the murders when in fact Eric was the mastermind behind the shooting. But it addresses so much more such as the Trench Coat Mafia, Gothic subculture, theories about multiple shooters, conspiracies, Did Cassie Bernall say yes? (she didn't), etc. I know most of this may already be common knowledge, but it's not a topic I have researched extensively. Not that I honestly care to either, it's sort of passing fancy. That being said, it does stay with me and I am interested in what others have to say about the book.
I was in the 6th grade when the mass murder occurred. At the time in my puerile thinking, I considered it the crime of the century and it certainly was for the State of Colorado, but then as many of you know it was quickly and abruptly overshadowed by other events and the fervor died away. The Attacks on September 11th quickly became the crime of a new century and millennium. If this book is correct, the misinformation and just the mythos surrounding the shooting have been and are still distorted.
Anyway, to reiterate, has anyone else read this? Did anyone feel the need to shower after reading it? (It made my skin crawl and I felt ashamed at times. Maybe that's good [or bad] writing that makes you feel like a fly on the wall.) Is this as good as it gets when it comes to this topic? Any or thoughts/critiques about the book/general discussion?
Short Story about a Massacre
by Eric Harris
As I walked through the broken door entrance to the final military
installation, I realized that this hellish experience was almost over.
The invasion was stopped, all of the aliens were dead, and whatever
wasn't dead was waiting for me ahead. While I was leaning against a
granite wall in a large calmly lit room, I scanned over the dozens of
marine bodies that scattered the floor in front of me. A last, futile,
stand that wasn't enough to ward off the alien attacks. Bullet shells
sprinkled the floor, on top of the carpet of blood. I must go on, to
fight whatever waited ahead, I am the only one left on humanity's side
of the battle. The bright room ahead suggested that I wouldn't have
anywhere to hide once I showed myself. I almost laid down beside my
fallen comrades and just went to sleep, as some of them appeared to be.
But that would mean that they bad guys would win, and I just could not
allow that to happen. So I gathered up all the bullets and superior
firepower I could scavenge off of the dead soldiers, or what was left of
them, and prepared myself for the last battle.
As I entered the last military base on the moon, I came upon a hellish
sight. Bodies of my former marine buddies were scattered across the
stone floor. The deathly dark glow of light from above provided barely
enough light to notice the blood and flesh splattered on the large slabs
of granite that passed for walls. The platoon had tried to barricade
themselves in, but with the alien fire coming through two gigantic
windows and with a blitzkrieg of monsters in the small doorway between
the windows, the marines couldn't hold them. Arms, legs, and heads were
tossed about as if a small child turned on a blender with no lid in the
middle of the room. Some were burnt off, some torn, some eaten. Even
though the mass of alien bodies outside the room was at least 10 times
the marines', they still fell. I must be crazy to fight this war; I must
be out of my battered mind. How could one soldier stop all of these
monsters? There must be someway out of here that doesn't involve
firepower. It is just too much, all the death and destruction. It's
pointless, there's no way, no way at all. I can't fight anymore-let them
take Earth-I'll stay here on my little moon-along with my squad of dead
soldiers.
>>7805626
You should post this in a critique thread in a trollish manner and claim you wrote it. Obviously, you can see his obsession with id's Doom as well as his human extinction fantasy .
Anyway, Eric broadcasted a lot of this stuff. He wrote essays, short stories, maintained a journal and a website as well as communicated a lot of this shit on the internet. It would be ridiculous to think that someone could even get away with this much ideation and planning today, let alone any of it. He threatened people's lives via the internet, made no secret about building bombs, had a shit list/hit list, etc.
Some of it has to do with police incompetence as well. One family in particular tried to warn the police about Eric's activities, his 'night missions', and so forth. An unrelated thought but I remember night ops as they called them were a popular thing in the 90s. I used to see threads posted about them on totse on a lot.
Boys will be boys, you know victimizing those two.
i really really really liked the hour i first believed by wally lamb
>>7805502
Read it OP. I especially loved the subculture bits too. I think this shooting had a special characteristic to it that other shootings haven't replicated. Even the Virginia Tech Massacre wasn't eerie as this.
>>7805684
>the hour i first believed by wally lamb
I have not read it nor have I heard about it. Thanks for the recommendation.
>>7805705
I'm on page 267, 'Diversion'. Agreed, and I say that with goosebumps. The Columbine High School Massacre has an eerie (perfect diction btw) mythology to it, and it juts out like a sore thumb. The subculture bits are really informative, particularly that there was a TCM, but they were uninvolved with Eric and Dylan. The VA Tech Massacre was pretty grizzly and I think the killer even journaled about Columbine. I think what makes Columbine shocking is the idyllic backdrop--the 90s, affluence, lily-white Suburban Colorado, etc.
>>7805502
Read it my senior year of highschool and was disappointed. For how exhaustive it claims to be, there's too much it either doesn't discuss or is just flat out reductive with. A simple Google search will give you loads of information that isn't included in the book and, while it's obviously impossible to include everything, there's plenty of first and secondary sources that negate some of the book's main theses.
>>7805659
whats this night op fad? just teenagers pranking at night or was it something more insidious? never heard about these night missions in relation to the massacres..
also didnt a book just come out by dylan klebolds mother? anyone here read it?
>>7805724
Definitely. I imagined the entire thing in my own high school, and felt that the characters were oddly familiar, as if they attended my own school.
>>7805738
>There's too much it either doesn't discuss or is just flat out reductive with.
Any examples that readily come to mind?
>>7805744
I get the impression that it was just stupid, shitty shenanigans that 90s kids engaged in while in high school and people made blogposts on what was a proto-4chan of sorts, totse. That being said, the night missions that Eric and Dylan performed were to vandalize houses, steal stuff, or to explore neighborhoods. Insidious in a minor sort of juvenile, rural, degenerate sort of a way. They did caught, however, after stealing from a car. I haven't heard about Klebold's mother writing a book. Interesting.
>>7805754
Again, agreed. Every person is well limned. I think we all know someone in high school like the folks in the book, particularly an Eric Harris or a Dylan Klebold, whether or not they ever acted out.
I read it. Fascinating narrative about what happened. But for all the research, there's at least one glaring, disturbing mistake.
Cullen claims that Eric & Dylan did not go bowling the morning of the shooting. Ok, well I'm particularly interested in this whole thing and turns out the Jefferson County website has a huge archive of case related material ready for download.
In the archive is a copy of the bowling scorecard from the day of the shooting, filled in, with both of their names written in.
Why in the fuck did he omit this? I mean, Moore's movie is NAMED after this fact. Cullen isn't telling the truth.
Anyway, the JeffCo archives are a much more interesting read. I think the truth will basically be lost to history.
Fuck. That huge, well, lie makes my head spin.
>>7805934
Supposedly there's to be some huge release in 2027 of certain transcripts that have been suppressed. I imagine some things will never be released like the basement tapes.
>I think the truth will basically be lost to history.
That's the scariest part. There's probably enough raw materials (primary sources) out there to piece together the truth, but I honestly lack the motivation to do it. It's unfortunate some things will be off the table altogether like the aforementioned basement tapes.
But yeah, I just read the part not too long ago where he refutes or at least attempts to refute Moore. Not sure why he did this. I've heard this contention as well that they really did go bowling before they killed those people.
>>7805934
If you've got the page number where he states the bowling thing, I'd love to read that myself.
As for research, I agree with everyone so far. I would never cite this academically.
>>7805954
pg. 317 "Ready to Be Done"
'Shortly before Brian left Columbine, Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine drew raves at Cannes. It became the top-grossing documentary in U.S. History. It wasn't really much about Columbine, and the title featured a minor myth--that Eric and Dylan went bowling on April 20--but included a dramatic scene where Moore and a victim went to Kmart and asked to return the bullets still inside the guy. The stunt and/or publicity around it shamed Kmart into discontinuing ammunition sales nationwide.
Marilyn Manson was interviewed in the film. Moore asked Manson what he would say to the killers, if he had a chance to talk to them: "I wouldn't say a single word to them," he said. "I would listen to what they have to say and that's what no one did." That was the story the mediad had told.
The connection to KMFDM, the nihilistic band Eric did idolize and quote frequently, was ignored by the major media. Fans got word, however, and the band issued a statement of deep remorse: "We are sick and appalled, as is the rest of the nation, by what took place in Colorado...none of us condone any Nazi beliefs whatsoever."
>>7805968
Thanks anon! He called it a myth and all, interesting.
>>7805986
No problem.
>>7805502
I was there. No.
Does anyone else remember a story that would be posted whenever Columbine was discussed about either Eric or Dylan being molested or beat up by the police?
What is this shit?http://davidshurter.com/?page_id=3121
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2012/08/psychiatric-detention-silencing-allegations-columbine-was-revenge-for-police-rape-2459592.html
>>7805997
proof
>>7805949
>>7805954
>>7806323
To whet yr detective appetite:
http://whale.to/b/gowan1.html
You can follow up on those articles cited, but fortunately the following official reports capture everything too.
-—–—-
Here is the FBI one (you can d/l as pdfs):
https://vault.fbi.gov/Columbine%20High%20School%20
—•—•—
These are the mother-lodes:
http://www.acolumbinesite.com/reports/cr/900columbinedocs.pdf
http://www.acolumbinesite.com/reports/report.html
http://www.acolumbinesite.com/sitemap.html
•—•—•
Police Dept Record Req:
http://jeffco.us/sheriff/services/columbine-high-school-records/
—-—-—
So there's the unfiltered story. A real life Pynchon conspiracy of half connected dots. I will say, despite Cullen being a liar (or w/e), his book is beautiful and moving and heartbreaking. I hope some of y'all will travel down this rabbit hole w/me—it's almost April again.
>I was in the 6th grade when the mass murder occurred. At the time in my puerile thinking, I considered it the crime of the century and it certainly was for the State of Colorado, but then as many of you know it was quickly and abruptly overshadowed by other events and the fervor died away. The Attacks on September 11th quickly became the crime of a new century and millennium. If this book is correct, the misinformation and just the mythos surrounding the shooting have been and are still distorted.
It's strange how almost mythical Columbine has become over the years. Compared to other school shootings (including the more lethal Virginia Tech) it has an aura of legend around it that only seems to have thickened with time, whereas others have just been forgotten. It sort of ended the happy upbeat half-deceptive atmosphere of the 90s before 9/11 came along. It's like the JFK assasination of school shootings.
>>7806577
>the JFK assassination of school shootings.
That's the perfect analogy. I've heard the period while JFK was alive referred to as Camelot. That it was idyllic, prosperous, and decent. The 90s in some ways were a wind up to better days. The economic instabilities of the 70s and 80s had passed. The Soviet Union had been defeated. We had defeated Saddam for the first time with a large coalition at our back and sides and freed Kuwait in the early portion of the 90s. Times were good. They certainly weren't the Camelot of the 50s, but the didn't explode like the powder keg of the 60s, which was dominated by riots, assassinations, and distrust.
>>7806577
the 90s were a nice time to be alive.
>>7806595
The Camelot analogy to JFK was, as far as I know, started by Jackie Kennedy immediately following his death and stayed on.
JFKs legacy wouldn't have been nearly as good if he hadn't been assassinated.
Has anyone read the book Dylan Klebold's mother just released? I recently downloaded it as well as the book in the OP, but I've been having trouble bringing myself to start one of them. I'm from the same town Columbine is in (I was in a nearby elementary school when the shooting occurred), so I'm already very familiar with the whole thing. I keep going back and forth between whether or not I actually enjoy reading an entire book about it.
>>7806629
the 2000s and 2010s were a much better time to be alive though
>>7807227
Maybe if you're Indian
>>7807209
I almost bought that book at Walmart today anon. If you read finish it soon you should start a thread about it. I'm curious about how good it actually is.
>>7805626
>I pushed hellishly through the doors and entered the hellish bunker. I was met with the hellish vision of bodies strewn about the ground in a hellish orgy of death. I felt hellish as I stumbled into the hellish corridor. Little did I know, what lay ahead of me would be hellish.
>>7808187
Fuckin hella rad brah.
Doom fanfic/10
>>7807227
I disagree.
>>7805934
>>7805949
>>7806323
Not to get all /x/, but considering the ultimately bush-league nature of this event (spree killing in a sleepy Colorado suburb) combined with all of the official cover-ups and lies, you might want to ponder what kind of effort goes into muddying the waters when actual high stakes are involved.
>>7808691
...like money?
