Do you think Columbine will be forgotten?

I was just thinking about this today. I was listening to music in my car on the way into work with my daughter and the Goo Goo Dolls Iris came on the radio. I thought about how when my daughter is a teen that song will be 30 something years old. And I thought about songs that were 30 years old when I was a teen and how I used to make fun of my parents for listening to them....

In any case, it got me thinking about when Columbine is considered an "old crime". We are close to twenty years now. Do you think this is the kinda thing that will be "forgotten"...Perhaps forgotten is not the right kind of word. But news reports tend to linger on new crimes. Older crimes tend to not be talked about anymore.

Do you think that in another 10 to 15 years people will still be talking/thinking about Columbine? Do you think you personally will still be interested?

I have no idea about myself. I was thinking the other day about the depositions being released and if it will take the next 10 years or not for them to come out....and if any new evidence was going to come up etc if I would still be interested. Then again someone like CVA comes along with brand new evidence and I am drawn back in. So I have no idea. I am somewhat sad at the thought of this crime being forgotten

It is already close to being regarded as an old crime. it's a classic. but will it be forgotten? NOPE. For me, definitely not. Just like how old the Black Dahlia case is, Columbine is in record as being part of history, for a lifetime. In 10 years would I still be in interested? I can't tell. Considering how I'm in my early twenties, I mean, I have a long way to go with responsibilities. It might overshadow me constantly researching it, looking it up, talking about it but hopefully for myself personally I wouldn't just let it go. For me what keeps it alive is the community and the people in it

I don't think so.
Maybe people will talk/write less about it, but it will probably always be considered as an extraordinary sake.

In 10 years I will be (whispering here) nearing 40....I have no idea where I will be at in life at that point but I will probably still be into true crime. Someone once told me Columbine research will have an end....

And it seems I find less and less new info.

Lizpuff wrote:

I have no idea where I will be at in life at that point but I will probably still be into true crime. Someone once told me Columbine research will have an end....

And it seems I find less and less new info.

I will always be into true crime aswell. Always will. Columbine research will have an end? Well, possibly. But it's never too late for something new to pop out. Even if it may take years, I still see some hope as much as I sound too optimistic. Maybe new info may dry up but it doesn't mean we can't still talk amongst ourselves in terms of psychological analysis or just for discussion's sake!

Personally, I think I will still be interested in Columbine in 10- 15 years. For one thing, I still have not read the 11k.  I only have the time to read a few pages here and there, so until I'm done with that I will remain interested.  Also, I don't think I'm going to lose interest until 2 things happen: The BT are released and we see the depositions.  So I could possibly be waiting the rest of my life for the BT, lol.

Plus, I think that the case will remain relevant as long as new people continue to discover the case. Until something else happens that overshadows Columbine in regards to schools shootings, I don't think it will be forgotten.

Freezingmoon wrote:

Until something else happens that overshadows Columbine in regards to schools shootings, I don't think it will be forgotten.

and even for that I feel like in terms of name-recognition, for something as legendary as Columbine, a fresh new massacre may not overshadow it. Kinda like in music, Michael Jackson for example, he's untouchable even though there are numerous better newer r&b stars. Something like that lol.

ultraviolencelv wrote:

Lizpuff wrote:

I have no idea where I will be at in life at that point but I will probably still be into true crime. Someone once told me Columbine research will have an end....

And it seems I find less and less new info.

I will always be into true crime aswell. Always will. Columbine research will have an end? Well, possibly. But it's never too late for something new to pop out. Even if it may take years, I still see some hope as much as I sound too optimistic. Maybe new info may dry up but it doesn't mean we can't still talk amongst ourselves in terms of psychological analysis or just for discussion's sake!

The point she tried to make was that since Eric and Dylan are both dead not much more can come out of it. Jeffco won't release anything. What we have are blurry grainy vhs tape copies, small audio clips and a truckload of grammatically wrong typo shoddy police work.


I am glad to see people say though they would remain interested.

ultraviolencelv wrote:

Freezingmoon wrote:

Until something else happens that overshadows Columbine in regards to schools shootings, I don't think it will be forgotten.

and even for that I feel like in terms of name-recognition, for something as legendary as Columbine, a fresh new massacre may not overshadow it. Kinda like in music, Michael Jackson for example, he's untouchable even though there are numerous better newer r&b stars. Something like that lol.

I agree. Plenty of shootings have occurred since Columbine, and every time one happens Columbine is always mentioned again... it is the thing people return to to compare.

Sue coming out this year sure spiked my interest back up. It got me to join this board lol

Sometimes I worry that we may try hard to build something out of an extremely tiny thing to keep the case and the topic alive, as much as we know that we may get closer to realising it's the same thing over and over again. I try to refrain from thinking that way because my time on the case, tumblr and this board has been pretty good and Columbine is a case that hits home. It may sound like denial or something but, I try to keep a positive outlook that while we have many new members joining we may have fresher eyes and broader minds to discover things.

There's no way Columbine can be forgotten because in doing so will the victims and their families. I also believe that somewhere down the line there will be another shooting an act of mass murder and Columbine will always be the first one brought up.

As long as school shooting keep happening and there are programs like Rachel's Challenge, Columbine won't be forgotten. Columbine wasn't just some small town crime that people hardly know about. Columbine is the most infamous school shooting that has ever happened. People don't just forget about stuff like that.

Take other crimes for example that made a huge impact on America that are still not forgotten to this day. The assassinations of JFK and MLK. Charles Manson. Ted Bundy. Oklahoma bombing. Jonestown. OJ Simpson. Jon Benet Ramsey. That nasty ass pervert Gacy. People are even still interested in and talk about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln that happened in 1865. Columbine is right up there with all these other infamous crimes.

I've been in the community for going on 5 years. My boyfriend has been in the community going on 7 years and we've seen a lot of people come and go. Most people usually do lose interest. We've been running this forum for 3.5 years and there is only a handful of people still here from the beginning. Most of the time, they usually do go but new people come, and the cycle repeats itself. There's always going to be someone somewhere interested in Columbine. I don't see it fading away any time in the near future. And like I said, I've been here for 5 years but as far as I know Columbine had a pretty decent following as far back as 2006, maybe even before then. So I wouldn't worry, Columbine will probably still be a popular topic of discussion long after it's faded away for you.

Truth be told, I don't know if I'd even still be into myself if I didn't run a forum and Facebook page. Sometimes I feel no interest at all and then out of no where, someone will start a discussion that will get me interested again (usually the suicides or the Cafeteria bombs. Those are the 2 topics I'm most interested in, along with Dylan's journal). So if you feel like you're losing interest, out of no where it could come right back. That happens a lot.

TL, DR: I wouldn't worry about Columbine fading away. There will always be someone interested in it just like many other infamous crimes.

I hope I lose interest in it soon.

Draw_It_White wrote:

I hope I lose interest in it soon.

LOL sometimes I feel this way

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I am glad this forum exists. It gives me a place to express my thoughts without judgement on a subject most seem to not care about!

I know I will always have interest in this massacre. It's been 10 years now that I've been researching and somewhat engulfed in this crime...I highly doubt that will ever go away. I am sure that in years to come...maybe 5, 10 or possibly 20 years from now we might see some evidence appear and be released. At least that's what I'm hoping!!

I just really want to meet Sue tell her everything I wanted to tell her and ask her to sign my book. If I ever do then I might think about settling myself down about being a Columbiner. Which I'll admit I am.

I think I'll always remember it for sure. It was pretty infamous and unique for it's time. It was also a big event of my 'generation' so I'll always look back on it every now and then, like most people do with any major crime event thats significant to them during their lifetime.

I'm sure we'll see a reknewed interest when the 'I'm Not Ashamed' movie comes out. And again when the 2027 documents are released, though a lot of us might have moved on by then (When the 11k was released I wasn't really into columbine so I never looked into it until I recently became interested again). And if any new Info/details/evidence is discovered (like the bomb placing video) in between.

As someone who didn't even start researching it until early this year, I'd say probably not. People might look at it in a different way than the people who've been following since day one but this case draws lots of people in, from the moment they start looking into it. There are people who still pore over the details of Black Dahlia, Jack the Ripper, Zodiac killer, DB Cooper many years later. Those cases have the draw of a mystery perpetrator. I think Columbine has a similar draw, even if the perpetrators are obvious. It's hard to understand how two seemingly normal teens managed to transform themselves into cold-blooded killers.

Difficult to describe what I mean but when I read over the details it's like I'm looking for a hidden monster inside of the boys, some sort of concrete understanding of where it went wrong or how this could have been prevented and it's extremely elusive. It turns out that despite the horrific end, there is no clear beginning here and it was just a complicated set of life circumstances that drew these two boys together into the chaos. Of the people in their lives, no one in particular really did anything that wrong or made huge mistakes but lots of people made little mistakes along the way. There's no real "cause" behind it all, in my opinion. It was everything and nothing. In other words, if the universe was shifted five feet over to left from where it is right now, it might never have happened and that would make just as much sense.

It's not easily understood and I think that will keep the story alive.

sscc wrote:

In other words, if the universe was shifted five feet over to left from where it is right now, it might never have happened and that would make just as much sense.

What a beautiful way to put it.

Well its not like Columbine was the first major school attack. The Bath School Massacre was a shooting/bombing that occurred in 1927 which left 44 dead (38 children). I don't recall ever once hearing about it in the news when Columbine or any other shooting happens. Time passes and the people who remember these events die. All crimes are eventually lost to time as newer and more violent ones occur. OKC happened a mere 5 years before 9/11, but 9/11 is the media/politicians go to terrorist attack. Columbine is the same in terms of shootings at the moment.

The main difference between Bath and Columbine though is the media aspect. There are video recordings from Columbine that could theoretically last forever. I think the massive amount of media interest will have helped solidify it as a "cornerstone" case which won't be long forgotten.

At the rate we're going though Columbine won't be remembered in 100 years simply because more heinous shit will have happened. It seems like everyday the world grows a little more cold.

ultraviolencelv wrote:

sscc wrote:

In other words, if the universe was shifted five feet over to left from where it is right now, it might never have happened and that would make just as much sense.

What a beautiful way to put it.

I don't quite get it. You mean if there is some kind of change between time and space?

aquillina wrote:

ultraviolencelv wrote:

sscc wrote:

In other words, if the universe was shifted five feet over to left from where it is right now, it might never have happened and that would make just as much sense.

What a beautiful way to put it.

I don't quite get it. You mean if there is some kind of change between time and space?

It was a metaphorical way to say that if some little details had been different, I think it's likely that this would never have happened. It probably wouldn't have taken much. I don't think they were born bad or "destined" to do this. I think it just happened and it could easily have fallen apart if small things had changed because it was a bunch of little things leading up to it in the first place.

sscc wrote:

aquillina wrote:

ultraviolencelv wrote:

sscc wrote:

In other words, if the universe was shifted five feet over to left from where it is right now, it might never have happened and that would make just as much sense.

What a beautiful way to put it.

I don't quite get it. You mean if there is some kind of change between time and space?

It was a metaphorical way to say that if some little details had been different, I think it's likely that this would never have happened. It probably wouldn't have taken much. I don't think they were born bad or "destined" to do this. I think it just happened and it could easily have fallen apart if small things had changed because it was a bunch of little things leading up to it in the first place.

Thank you for explaining because I didn't understand the statement either!

I agree wholeheartedly with this!

I think there is always going to be some degree of interest. Many of us (probably most) who are interested in true crime are most interested in the psychological factor , and this case presents plenty of material in that area.

The Columbine Massacre will NEVER be forgotten. It will always be classified as one of the most infamous mass/school shootings of all time. It might've not been the most fatal, but the fact that nothing of that magnitude ever happened in the U.S as far as school shootings go makes it go down in history.

Columbine will always be remembered. Kids in school will always be doing projects and research on it, I remember that was one of my assignments. I wonder what Eric and Dylan would've thought about all the attention they get even 17 years later.

Maybe someday will be overshadowed by something that has more pertinence to the Zeitgeist of the moment, just as today we don't actually remember to celebrate every huge battle of the past 3 millennia because it has apparently not much to do with our present history. Nevertheless, I won't forget during my lifetime.