Eric's thin-skinnedness

What does his thin-skinnedness tell us about how he saw himself?

Does a man who thinks highly of himself overreact to every little slight the way that Eric did? I think not.

Eric was a small guy who felt weak. He wanted others to validate his worth, but they would not do so - at least, not in the way that he needed.

Going NBK was his way of showing the world that he was not a weakling. In some ways, it was little more than an ego-trip. He wanted his name to live on long after time had ground his bones into dust.

Could he have found another way to find this validation, one that would have spared his life and the lives of those he killed? We'll never know.

I think the shooting was partly an ego trip for Eric, combined with other equally important factors. When you have been bullied, disrespected, ignored, shunned by dates, and just generaly felt physically weak all your life (or at least for years of it), it would be surprising for you to not want to in someway prove to these people that you are strong, worthy of respect, better than them, more powerful than them. I can't see that he would have found another way of having his ego-trip that would have spared lives, because of his anger at the school, and society. I considered that he might have tried to blow up or cause mass damage to the school building without anyone inside, but I can't see him doing that because without the people inside it is only a building, and although hating the people made him hate the school, it probably wouldn't be satisfying enough for him and would probably just give the people he hated so much some time of school. Although he did do damage to the school during NBK, it was more about killing the people inside, as he did plan to kill hundreds. Also, I can't see how damaging property would work as an ego trip. Either way I think he would have ended up hurting someone (maybe just himself), whether Dylan was part of it or not. People were the root of all of his problems, so I can't see him lashing out without it being at their expense.

Did Eric work out / exercise regularly? If not, was he physically unable to do so? One does not have to be a jock to do it, but if that type of physical image was what he may have aspired to, or just made him feel less desirable, I was just curious if it was an option.

HuskerStorm wrote:

Did Eric work out / exercise regularly? If not, was he physically unable to do so?  One does not have to be a jock to do it, but if that type of physical image was what he may have aspired to, or just made him feel less desirable, I was just curious if it was an option.

He did not, as far as we know. He did mock "fitness fuckheads" once.

LPorter101 wrote:

HuskerStorm wrote:

Did Eric work out / exercise regularly? If not, was he physically unable to do so?  One does not have to be a jock to do it, but if that type of physical image was what he may have aspired to, or just made him feel less desirable, I was just curious if it was an option.

He did not, as far as we know. He did mock "fitness fuckheads" once.

Why work out when you could kill 13 people?

I get what you are saying, but I was thinking more prior to that. It was a little like: I don't like this about myself, but it isn't worth the effort to change that...planning an attack on my school obviously is...

I agree with LPorter about this. Eric was extremely thin-skinned. For example, Melissa Walker testified that Eric blew up at her because she thought KMFDM was a radio station (5995). And they had previously been friends.

One has to wonder whether Eric did not consider this type of innocent comment an act of harassment. This type of grandiose narcissism and slight-taking is characteristic of psychopathic personality types.

Cullen's book makes Eric out to be some big body builder guy that all the woman are lining up for, but it wasn't the case, Eric was quite short, thin and his chest would go inward (I have the same thing, it's one of the reasons I related to him). I think wearing that coat helped him a lot to feel more powerfl, anyone who has worn a western oil skin duster can tell you that they feel power as soon as they put it on and walk down the street, and people look suspiciously at you. Also carrying the gun on the big day gave him power that he had never felt before, he didn't need to be tall and muscular, with that gun he was in charge.. also i've noticed in Radioactive Clothing that Eric wears reflective lenses on his sunglasses and usually hides with that cap, I know sun glasses and backwards caps meant 'cool' and 'laid back' back in the 90's but I also think he wanted to be mysterious and hide from the world, and didn't want his eyes to be exposed because it was a weakness and showed humanity and the glasses helped him build up that emotionless persona.

CharlesWhitman wrote:

Cullen's book makes Eric out to be some big body builder guy that all the woman are lining up for, but it wasn't the case, Eric was quite short, thin and his chest would go inward (I have the same thing, it's one of the reasons I related to him). I think wearing that coat helped him a lot to feel more powerfl, anyone who has worn a western oil skin duster can tell you that they feel power as soon as they put it on and walk down the street, and people look suspiciously at you. Also carrying the gun on the big day gave him power that he had never felt before, he didn't need to be tall and muscular, with that gun he was in charge.. also i've noticed in Radioactive Clothing that Eric wears reflective lenses on his sunglasses and usually hides with that cap, I know sun glasses and backwards caps meant 'cool' and 'laid back' back in the 90's but I also think he wanted to be mysterious and hide from the world, and didn't want his eyes to be exposed because it was a weakness and showed humanity and the glasses helped him build up that emotionless persona.

Eric specifically said in his journal (about girls) that he 'couldn't get any'. And that he doesn't know why no girls like him because he is 'nice' and 'considerate' or something along those lines. I have no idea, if Cullen actually read Eric's journal, why he would lie in his book and say that Eric got 'lots and lots of chicks'. Because, in Eric's own words, he said he couldn't get 'any'.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Great overview, i definitely believe erics hatred was projection over his own low self esteem