Was Eric truely sorry?

This thread was on SBB and I decided to bring it to this forum. In the basement tapes Eric apologizes to his family and friends several times for his and Dylan's upcoming actions. He also began to tear up when thinking about his old friends in Michigan. I personally feel that on some level Eric did feel remorseful towards his family and friends. But what is your opinion on his apologies and crying on camera. If only the basement tapes were released!!

I think he felt bad about it and was sorry. I think he was worried about how it would effect his parents. I also think Eric was hoping to get caught.

I always found it shocking that Eric seemed more sorry than Dylan ever did.

MarmaladeSkies wrote:

I always found it shocking that Eric seemed more sorry than Dylan ever did.

Why so?

areyoulistening wrote:

MarmaladeSkies wrote:

I always found it shocking that Eric seemed more sorry than Dylan ever did.

Why so?

A lot of different reasons. Dylan was very emotional, just take a look through his journals--the kid is full of love, yet his parting words to his parents were blunt and almost insensitive. Eric rants and rants and by his own words is "full of hate loves it," yet tears up when talking about NBK. He even went so far to not spend time with his parents because it would make it hard on him.

Take a look at their backgrounds. Dylan's Mom, for all we know, was a loving parent. Same with his father. These are parents that never hit their kids. Both pacifists. Not to say anything about Eric's parents, but Eric was from a military family. I would assume that Wayne wasn't on the emotional side.

It just seems strange that the kid who buried his head in beanie babies and cried showed almost NO remorse for what he was about to do. And Eric, the one so concerned with writing his notebook to an audience and portraying a badass persona shows himself crying on camera.

MarmaladeSkies wrote:

A lot of different reasons. Dylan was very emotional, just take a look through his journals--the kid is full of love, yet his parting words to his parents were blunt and almost insensitive. Eric rants and rants and by his own words is "full of hate loves it," yet tears up when talking about NBK. He even went so far to not spend time with his parents because it would make it hard on him.

Take a look at their backgrounds. Dylan's Mom, for all we know, was a loving parent. Same with his father. These are parents that never hit their kids. Both pacifists. Not to say anything about Eric's parents, but Eric was from a military family. I would assume that Wayne wasn't on the emotional side.

It just seems strange that the kid who buried his head in beanie babies and cried showed almost NO remorse for what he was about to do. And Eric, the one so concerned with writing his notebook to an audience and portraying a badass persona shows himself crying on camera.

That makes a lot of sense. We don't know much about Eric besides what he left because his family haven't talked, but I see where you're coming from. Dylan hid his emotions more than Eric did. Eric was more vocal about his anger and frustrations, whereas Dylan suppressed his.

I can't see Mr Harris being an emotional person either but by all reports about them he was a very loving father who went to every parent teacher meeting, every little league game, every practice. Very hands on parenting. Have you read his note book on Eric? It's very practical but he also sounds worried about his son, looking for the best help that they can get for him. He seems like a good man.

I'm never sure how to take what's supposedly said on the BT's seriously. We have no proof that it was said and we don't know his tone of voice or body language. It could have been short and to the point because he was upset and didn't want to crumble on camera. Or, people who decide to kill themselves are normally very happy on the day that they choose to end their lives because it's going to be over soon. Maybe that plays a part in it to? It's just my two cents, I'm not sure if I explained what I meant very well though...

If he was sorry he wouldn't have done it.

Ivan wrote:

If he was sorry he wouldn't have done it.

If this were the case then the majority of suicide notes wouldn't contain the phrase I'm sorry. They do, however. I think there is a good amount of evidence to suggest they were sorry, at least to their families -- but their dedication and desire to die was stronger than their sorrows.

MarmaladeSkies wrote:

Ivan wrote:

If he was sorry he wouldn't have done it.

If this were the case then the majority of suicide notes wouldn't contain the phrase I'm sorry. They do, however. I think there is a good amount of evidence to suggest they were sorry, at least to their families -- but their dedication and desire to die won was stronger than their sorrows.

I completely agree.

I like to think he was sorry about some of the repercussions that would backlash onto his family, and that on some level he hoped to get caught. But on the other hand? He could've been BS'ing that, too. Eric was a cheeky bastard at times, with a bigger ego than any jock I've seen. But at other times he seems to have been a thoughtful individual. It's hard to tell exactly what went on in his mind - or Dylan's, for that matter

Guilty by Association wrote:

I like to think he was sorry about some of the repercussions that would backlash onto his family, and that on some level he hoped to get caught. But on the other hand? He could've been BS'ing that, too. Eric was a cheeky bastard at times, with a bigger ego than any jock I've seen. But at other times he seems to have been a thoughtful individual. It's hard to tell exactly what went on in his mind - or Dylan's, for that matter

That's the same with all of us though, we're not all one thing or another. We have a range of different attitude changes through our teenage years and even farther on down the road. I don't ever think that we stop evolving and growing. I think that's what keeps people interested in them, it's a grey area. They're not like Jeffrey Dahmer or Seung-Hui Cho, they're apparently normal individuals who had good as well as bad. Were they troubled? Absolutely, no-one doubts that, it's just a shame that they choose the life that they did.

Oh, areyoulistening, I'm not disputing that, and I definitely agree with you. But it just seems that a lot of people I've met assume Eric was nothing but a stone cold sociopath thanks to Cullenbine, when obviously no one is so black and white like that.

Guilty by Association wrote:

Oh, areyoulistening, I'm not disputing that, and I definitely agree with you. But it just seems that a lot of people I've met assume Eric was nothing but a stone cold sociopath thanks to Cullenbine, when obviously no one is so black and white like that.

I absolutely agree, I wasn't arguing with you. I was just giving my two cents

I guess he was sorry for the aftermath his family was going to go through, more than the fact of killing people itself. I think he was someway sorry about that too though, I don't think he was so insensitive despite that was his choice

I think if we saw the basement tapes and saw Eric's face while he was crying, this question would be a little easier to answer

Eric was still a human being. Facing death is traumatic for everyone.

Eric said he was sorry eight times in the Basement Tapes


This statement 30 minutes before the massacre kind of sums it up:


Eric: Everyone I love, I’m really sorry about all this. I’m sorry, all right. I can’t help it.

Dylan: We did what we had to do.

Jenn wrote:

I think he felt bad about it and was sorry.  I think he was worried about how it would effect his parents.  I also think Eric was hoping to get caught.

Yeah I got the feeling of this too. I think Eric wanted to get caught, whereas Dylan wanted to die, but I don't know, I have a feeling Eric wanted to get caught, perhaps then he would have done a shoot-out with the cops or something that would have pumped his adrenaline even more???

42099_4EVA wrote:

I have a feeling Eric wanted to get caught, perhaps then he would have done a shoot-out with the cops or something that would have pumped his adrenaline even more???

Well there were a couple times he and Dylan shot at first responders.

In the Basement Tapes as far as the transcript goes, Eric is far more sorry than Dylan. You get a sense that Dylan wasn't sorry and didn't give a shit.

Yet to the world Dylan was the sweet follower who got duped in to this whole thing. I still feel like "sweet Dylan" has been around since the beginning even before we had all this info and before Cullens book.

Dwayne Fusilier said it is impossible to be sorry for something that hasn't happened yet. If you are truly sorry about what you are about to do, then you wouldn't do it at all.

I found two definitions of the word "Sorry".

1. feeling sad or distressed through sympathy with someone else's misfortune.
2. feeling regret or penitence.

I believe Eric was sorry according to the first one but not the second one.

If he was that sorry he wouldn’t of than drove to the school and did what he did. He did cringe while thinking of how it would affect his parents after it happened, but it obviously wasn’t to the point that it really mattered to him. He just saw it as unfourtanate but oh well. He had a blast killing and commited suicide pretty quickly, he didn’t seem to concerned about his parents than

Eric wanted to die

munchkinphone wrote:

I found two definitions of the word "Sorry".

1. feeling sad or distressed through sympathy with someone else's misfortune.
2. feeling regret or penitence.

I believe Eric was sorry according to the first one but not the second one.

I can agree with this. I do believe that before NBK Eric only felt sorry when he thought about how his actions would effect his family. I don't think that he cared to much about his friends at that point, as he knew there was a chance some would be killed/injured from the bombs blast.

Eric and Dylan both seemed to just consider that as collateral damage. BUT Eric did seem somewhat sad and regretful knowing that his parents were going to be thrown in the middle of a shit storm.  While Dylan seemed a little cold and distant when talking about his own parents.

During NBK it is hard to tell if Eric felt any regret or not.  We all know that Eric was acting more like he was on a mission, while Dylan seemed to have lost all control or had finally just released the tight grip he had kept on himself for so long. Some say the fact both started wandering somewhat aimlessly though the school after the library was a sign that they had came down from the adrenaline high and was realizing the enormity of their actions. Although not one witness statement says either showed any remorse or sympathy whatsoever. So we can speculate but that's about it.