REB Eric's nickname

In Eric's journal he mostly refers to himself as REB. Only once he referred to himself as "The weird Eric kid" revealing that he felt hurt. REB was everything that Eric wanted to be, a fierce warrior who always engaged in combat and won. REB didn't have a chest indent, REB wasn't short or bow legged. REB wasn't disrespected. REB stood up for himself. In his journal he says something along the lines of "I have always hated how I looked. I make fun of people that look like me." REB looked like a badass warrior. The only way for Eric to be REB was to do NBK. On April 20th 1999 Eric was no longer weak, deformed, small, or disrespected. He had people begging for their lives. Eric was REB on that day, he died as REB, and Eric was complete.

I wouldn't say he died as REB per se. REB would've died in a hail of bullets from the Police. "The weird Eric kid" didn't die as a warrior or as a god. He blew his brains out. Nothing gallant about that.

SeeMan666 wrote:

In Eric's journal he mostly refers to himself as REB. Only once he referred to himself as "The weird Eric kid" revealing that he felt hurt. REB was everything that Eric wanted to be, a fierce warrior who always engaged in combat and won. REB didn't have a chest indent, REB wasn't short or bow legged. REB wasn't disrespected. REB stood up for himself. In his journal he says something along the lines of "I have always hated how I looked. I make fun of people that look like me." REB looked like a badass warrior. The only way for Eric to be REB was to do NBK. On April 20th 1999 Eric was no longer weak, deformed, small, or disrespected. He had people begging for their lives. Eric was REB on that day, he died as REB, and Eric was complete.

Wow, that's dead-on!

JDM87 wrote:

I wouldn't say he died as REB per se. REB would've died in a hail of bullets from the Police. "The weird Eric kid" didn't die as a warrior or as a god. He blew his brains out. Nothing gallant about that.

I don't think it was gallant because I don't know if that is the right way to describe a suicide .But in my view, it took bravery to kill himself especially in the way he did. I'm not one of those people who sees anything cowardly about suicide.

PaintItBlack wrote:

I don't think it was gallant because I don't know if that is the right way to describe a suicide .But in my view, it took bravery to kill himself especially in the way he did. I'm not one of those people who sees anything cowardly about suicide.

I would like to state that I don't think suicide is cowardly. I just think that REB's idea of death was this whole heroic and brave move of being killed by the Cops was a far cry from the "weird Eric kid's" actual death.

JDM87 wrote:

PaintItBlack wrote:

I don't think it was gallant because I don't know if that is the right way to describe a suicide .But in my view, it took bravery to kill himself especially in the way he did. I'm not one of those people who sees anything cowardly about suicide.

I would like to state that I don't think suicide is cowardly. I just think that REB's idea of death was this whole heroic and brave move of being killed by the Cops was a far cry from the "weird Eric kid's" actual death.

I didn't think you were saying that , but I have heard a lot of people say something like "And then they killed themselves like the cowards they were." And I wanted to express my extreme disagreement with that opinion.

I'm not sure, rading the journal I see some sense of Eric wanting to be a big and strong guy "pinnacle of natural selection" and was dissatisfied with himself physiclaly to some degree. Still, I do think this is being highly overstressed at the expense of understressing his anger and his dissatisfaction with the wrold around him. His journal is pretty external-oriented and he goes into general statements on society that go beyond his NBK plans or his HS life.

In the end, I'd say its his anger and external-pointed dissatisfaction with mundane, everyday life is what makes him build bombs and shoot people. Without that dissatisfaction, there would be no NBK (or at least no Eric in NBK).

If all he had was dissatisfaction with himself, he'd be just another somewhat self-conscious and slightly insecure teen like milions of others. I think its key to understand that the usual "run-of-the-mill" teen traits and acts of Eric are not what leads to an entirely unusual event that is the CHS shooting.

It is precisely the unusual, weird and rare beliefs and traits he had that lead to the unusual, rare and weird event that the CHS shooting/bombing was.

That's my take on it.

I agree.

On another note; where did the REB nickname come from? Dave Cullen seems to think it was short sided to choose a nick name that was the same as the high school mascot of the place he hated.

I think it had some tie in to Quake, since he and Dylan played it a lot. In fact, the term "shocked beyond belief" netted an interesting find while I was googling around. Apparently, "Beyond Belief" was a Quake episode that was released in 1997. It seems like that would have influenced the phrasing in the BT.

I've always thought it was weird that Eric used the same nickname as the columbine school mascot, given how much he hated the school.

Oh Reb is certainly short for rebel.

I have not read anyone reliable mentioning the origins of the name. Its not the kmfdm song "Rebels in Kontrol", that's for sure (song made after the shooting). I have no idea if the nickname is linked to the CHS "rebels" mascot and theme, or if its just his altitude twoards the world at large.

I suspect the latter, though can't be sure.

I found an old NY times article, and info on acolumbinesite, that indicates he ran or was part of a Quake clan called the RC Rebbels. Oddly enough, there is still a steam group by that name that references him by saying, "All rights go to Eric Harris."

I don't think he would have chosen that name, since it was so close to the school mascot, were it not for some much more significant meaning to him.

radaddio wrote:

I found an old NY times article, and info on acolumbinesite, that indicates he ran or was part of a Quake clan called the RC Rebbels. Oddly enough, there is still a steam group by that name that references him by saying, "All rights go to Eric Harris."

I don't think he would have chosen that name, since it was so close to the school mascot, were it not for some much more significant meaning to him.

Or he simply associated himself with the rebel against society/order/idiocy/whatever and did not give a fuck about the mascot either way.

It's possible.

Reb, or rebel is a pretty common term. Since it was part of his online persona, it probably just ended up looking more prominent that he really ever thought it would be.

I don't think he planned on folks like us scrutinizing every detail of his life 15 year later : )

radaddio wrote:

I don't think he planned on folks like us scrutinizing every detail of his life 15 year later : )

Sadly, I think he did. In some degree at least. Remember its the people who thought Hollywood would make a movie about them and that they were gonna have followers.

Good point. They even made mention of who would direct it and who would star in it. I still don't think he gave his "Reb" nickname too much thought, however.

radaddio: surely - you've got a good point here.
why did they delete our "what are you listening thread" by the way?
* a technical error - I guess - whatever*

greetz
RebSTALKER