They were just BOYS

It's a little shocking, not to mention completely terrifying, to realize that E&D were just clueless, naive kids. It's tragic, to the point where it's almost comical until you remember that 15 people died.

Looking back at myself when I was 17 to 18 I realize how young and stupid I was. At the time I thought I knew a lot about life. Now I realize just how inept I was.

I could never imagine doing something like this at that age!

They were just kids. No life experience. If they could have held out until they left Denver who knows what they could have accomplished in life.

I utterly agree.This is the source of much(not all ,but much) of my sympathy for them.

This is what I have been thinking about a lot. Thanks for starting the thread.

Just two frustrated young kids who were just slightly crazy - and as I read the available documentation of the case, I see how dilettant they were - tragicomically enough, they screwed up a lot of things and therefore they could not even commit a violent crime with as many victims they originally wanted! Good that they were not so skilled shooters and so they could not kill more. Even if this would never comfort the victims' families  

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] yes, almost comical until one realizes that 15 lives were taken - what is your opinion about this part? "Luckily" enough, they were so young and so amateurs that there were "just" 15 deaths. One cannot decide whether to laugh or cry, thinking about this.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] me too! Remembering how naive I was in that age and how many silly attitudes I had back then, I just feel like screaming and shaking my teenage self.

Yeah, this is the other side of the story: both of them were very gifted and full of resources, each in their own ways. They could have accomplished so much. I think Eric should have changed just a few things in himself - e.g. discipline problems and dealing with anger - to become a very good soldier.
And Dylan was absolutely meant to be an artist.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]: I feel something like this. I have many other reasons to sympathize, but this is an important one.
Isn't it strange that now that they are gone, there are so many of us who feel sympathy for them - many would even like to be friends with them?

Moonshadow wrote:

This is what I have been thinking about a lot. Thanks for starting the thread.

Just two frustrated young kids who were just slightly crazy - and as I read the available documentation of the case, I see how dilettant they were - tragicomically enough, they screwed up a lot of things and therefore they could not even commit a violent crime with as many victims they originally wanted! Good that they were not so skilled shooters and so they could not kill more. Even if this would never comfort the victims' families  

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] yes, almost comical until one realizes that 15 lives were taken - what is your opinion about this part? "Luckily" enough, they were so young and so amateurs that there were "just" 15 deaths. One cannot decide whether to laugh or cry, thinking about this.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] me too! Remembering how naive I was in that age and how many silly attitudes I had back then, I just feel like screaming and shaking my teenage self.

Yeah, this is the other side of the story: both of them were very gifted and full of resources, each in their own ways. They could have accomplished so much. I think Eric should have changed just a few things in himself - e.g. discipline problems and dealing with anger - to become a very good soldier.
And Dylan was absolutely meant to be an artist.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]: I feel something like this. I have many other reasons to sympathize, but this is an important one.
Isn't it strange that now that they are gone, there are so many of us who feel sympathy for them - many would even like to be friends with them?

That is how it is isnt it? When someone dies everyone wants to talk about how great they were and how much they liked them. Thinking back to my days in highschool there were definitely boys just like Eric and Dylan and I am sure there are plenty of them in highschool now. Has this changed things? Do the girls who obsess over Eric and Dylan give the "Eric and Dylans" in their own life any time or headspace? Somehow I think not.

I feel like the same applies to those teens who have tragically taken their own lives at the same age due to bullying or a break-up or something. I think to myself it's tragic and a huge waste because teenagers tend to take everything too seriously and the pressure is 10x more than should be applied, and they make so many conclusions and decisions they will regret. Looking back at when I was 17, I cannot believe I ever thought the things that I did. Eric and Dylan may seem like men physically but really yes, they are kids on the inside. The morbid irony is they are more loved and recognised than they ever would've been through their massacre and death. I feel like the boys are part of the few that got exactly what they wanted through deciding that murder-suicide is the way to achieve it.

and I kinda wanna align this topic quickly with kids of today - As someone in my twenties I feel like a fifty year old thinking that honestly.....I can't really stand todays teens HAAH but not in a completely ignorant or unreasonable way. I mean it in a sense where alot of them think they're smarter, more advanced and they know everything than the rest of us adults. Kiddo this is only because you have the luxury to have the most advanced access to EVERYTHING. You have everything and more you need on an iPhone, you think you're original or an artist when everything you need to refer to is a hot topic on your dashboard.

Remember the days when we - didn't have snapchat, tumblr, youtube? Remember when we just had AOL or Myspace and we had to work hard to get recognised/to the top?

ultraviolencelv wrote:

and I kinda wanna align this topic quickly with kids of today - As someone in my twenties I feel like a fifty year old thinking that honestly.....I can't really stand todays teens HAAH but not in a completely ignorant or unreasonable way. I mean it in a sense where alot of them think they're smarter, more advanced and they know everything than the rest of us adults. Kiddo this is only because you have the luxury to have the most advanced access to EVERYTHING. You have everything and more you need on an iPhone, you think you're original or an artist when everything you need to refer to is a hot topic on your dashboard.

Remember the days when we - didn't have snapchat, tumblr, youtube? Remember when we just had AOL or Myspace and we had to work hard to get recognised/to the top?

I think like this all the time. I am 28 but sometimes I feel like I could be stuck back in HS and I would just fit right in. Then I see highschool kids of today and think...NOPE. When did I get so old?

Makes me laugh when watching lets say Eric in Columbine. Seeing that big old phone and how kids are sitting there in the commons just talking. No one has their cell phone out spamming facebook or instagram etc.

Lizpuff wrote:

Makes me laugh when watching lets say Eric in Columbine. Seeing that big old phone and how kids are sitting there in the commons just talking. No one has their cell phone out spamming facebook or instagram etc.

I know right? and yet at times I very much prefer it just that way. So I know I have my company's undivided attention. So we had to try to interact with people. And then sometimes I think about if Eric and Dylan lived in our modern times. Would they have been happier if they had iPhones? Hahah.

ultraviolencelv wrote:

Lizpuff wrote:

Makes me laugh when watching lets say Eric in Columbine. Seeing that big old phone and how kids are sitting there in the commons just talking. No one has their cell phone out spamming facebook or instagram etc.

I know right? and yet at times I very much prefer it just that way. So I know I have my company's undivided attention. So we had to try to interact with people. And then sometimes I think about if Eric and Dylan lived in our modern times. Would they have been happier if they had iPhones? Hahah.

I very much miss when the world was "simpler". Sometimes I think I would give anything to go back to the 90s.

I am not sure. Obviously Eric and Dylan were ahead of their time using the internet and video gaming, however Eric stated he despised cell phones and pagers. No way to know the truth to that statement of course but I think they would be still very much into computers.

Lizpuff wrote:

I very much miss when the world was "simpler". Sometimes I think I would give anything to go back to the 90s.

I am not sure. Obviously Eric and Dylan were ahead of their time using the internet and video gaming, however Eric stated he despised cell phones and pagers. No way to know the truth to that statement of course but I think they would be still very much into computers.

I think they would hate the fact that technology is too advanced now. I think they might hate the fact everything can be fit into a smartphone and would purposely utilise old-school products just because hahahah.

and yes yes yes same here, take me back to the 90s or at the least late 90s up till say....2006.
Anything after 2009 is dead and horrible to me hahahah, especially music. Sure a couple of current bops are catchy but that's it. I don't mind openly admitting the fact that I'm snobby about the modern day.

It never ceases to amaze me reading the 11k how many people did not have computer access/internet access. Or people who never used a computer ever!

On the other hand there are some interviews from people born in the early 1900s! So quite a variation of thoughts.

Agree 100% with you guys about going back to the 90s. I've been crazy nostalgic all year. The whole thing that pulled me back into being interested in columbine was I posted a pic of myself from 1999 on instagram. Then out of curiosity I was looking at the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] tag to see if other people posted pics of themselves from that year, just to kinda laugh at some of the styles from back then. I ended up stumbling upon those fanmade edits of the videos E&D made that I had never seen before (as well as a crap ton of Prince tributes). And from there I started googling info on columbine. Up until that point I don't think I was even aware of the 11k, as I had lost interest in the subject a couple years before it was released.

So I guess you can say nostalgia is ultimately what brought me here haha

Lizpuff wrote:

That is how it is isnt it?  When someone dies everyone wants to talk about how great they were and how much they liked them.  Thinking back to my days in highschool there were definitely boys just like Eric and Dylan and I am sure there are plenty of them in highschool now.  Has this changed things?  Do the girls who obsess over Eric and Dylan give the "Eric and Dylans" in their own life any time or headspace?  Somehow I think not.  

Yes, it might be a very common thing of humane nature. We usually don't notice or recognize the values until they are gone. This is why it is always such an enormous sensation when someone dies.

Hm, maybe this is the key to the Eric-Dylan fandom? There are many other Erics and Dylans out there, in every high school. But these "actual" guys are not so iconical and probably it is more difficult to idealize them.


Otherwise, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], I - again - smile and nod, as I have the very same feelings about high school. Sometimes I feel I could go back and be an outcast like I did, but I often think I cannot understand these youths of today. In a certain sense, we were much like them, but in other senses, they are so much different... Another generation. They are socialized on social media; they don't know what IRC and ICQ is; they haven't got - not only personal webpages, but not even blogs. They don't know how it feels to edit one's contents in source code, to have a blog with a small publishing script and so on.

Lizpuff wrote:

I very much miss when the world was "simpler". Sometimes I think I would give anything to go back to the 90s.

Very true! I miss it too.

ultraviolencelv wrote:

I think they would hate the fact that technology is too advanced now. I think they might hate the fact everything can be fit into a smartphone and would purposely utilise old-school products just because hahahah.

I assume many of us from that generation feel like this. Actually, I use a crappy phone!

ultraviolencelv wrote:

and yes yes yes same here, take me back to the 90s or at the least late 90s up till say....2006.
Anything after 2009 is dead and horrible to me hahahah, especially music. Sure a couple of current bops are catchy but that's it. I don't mind openly admitting the fact that I'm snobby about the modern day.

Could it be 2004...2005? Of course, there are many good things in this hypermodern era too, but I find nearly everything very shallow.

ultraviolencelv wrote:

I think they would hate the fact that technology is too advanced now. I think they might hate the fact everything can be fit into a smartphone and would purposely utilise old-school products just because hahahah.

and yes yes yes same here, take me back to the 90s or at the least late 90s up till say....2006.
Anything after 2009 is dead and horrible to me hahahah, especially music. Sure a couple of current bops are catchy but that's it. I don't mind openly admitting the fact that I'm snobby about the modern day.

I believed Eric and Dylan would have a field day with today's modern technology. In fact they could probably have instant access to almost anything, anytime, anywhere with their skills. But at the same time that would have made them more dangerous? I can totally picture Eric going on a Playstaion or XBox binge with Halo, Resident Evil, or any type of rapid shooting game and be completely mesmerized by the high quality definition graphics on a 100 inch big screen TV. Oh yeah that would be total heaven for Eric. And then there's Netflix.

What I find most disturbing is everyone these days would know about Columbine as just they would know about 9/11. But whenever I mention Eric Harris or Dylan Klebold some adults and even people my age would "Who are you talking about?" Which really I find weird, funny and at times surprising. It's always good learn new/different and sometimes random trivial facts even as time passes to build your knowledge. No matter how old you get you can always learn something new.

aquillina wrote:

I believed Eric and Dylan would have a field day with today's modern technology. In fact they could probably have instant access to almost anything, anytime, anywhere with their skills. But at the same time that would have made them more dangerous? I can totally picture Eric going on a Playstaion or XBox binge with Halo, Resident Evil, or any type of rapid shooting game and be completely mesmerized by the high quality definition graphics on a 100 inch big screen TV. Oh yeah that would be total heaven for Eric. And then there's Netflix.

I highly doubt it.

Kiwik wrote:

Agree 100% with you guys about going back to the 90s. I've been crazy nostalgic all year. The whole thing that pulled me back into being interested in columbine was I posted a pic of myself from 1999 on instagram. Then out of curiosity I was looking at the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] tag to see if other people posted pics of themselves from that year, just to kinda laugh at some of the styles from back then. I ended up stumbling upon those fanmade edits of the videos E&D made that I had never seen before (as well as a crap ton of Prince tributes). And from there I started googling info on columbine. Up until that point I don't think I was even aware of the 11k, as I had lost interest in the subject a couple years before it was released.

So I guess you can say nostalgia is ultimately what brought me here haha

That is an AMAZING story! Haha!

Moonshadow wrote:

They are socialized on social media; they don't know what IRC and ICQ is; they haven't got - not only personal webpages, but not even blogs. They don't know how it feels to edit one's contents in source code, to have a blog with a small publishing script and so on.

Hellloooo! Ditto on the source codes hahah!

ultraviolencelv wrote:

aquillina wrote:

I believed Eric and Dylan would have a field day with today's modern technology. In fact they could probably have instant access to almost anything, anytime, anywhere with their skills. But at the same time that would have made them more dangerous? I can totally picture Eric going on a Playstaion or XBox binge with Halo, Resident Evil, or any type of rapid shooting game and be completely mesmerized by the high quality definition graphics on a 100 inch big screen TV. Oh yeah that would be total heaven for Eric. And then there's Netflix.

I highly doubt it.

In what? That today's technology would make them more dangerous or something else?

aquillina wrote:

In what? That today's technology would make them more dangerous or something else?

Nope, that they would have a field day with today's modern technology. If they ever felt that way, then they would have to be responsible with creating some of today's applications or tech items or something. I feel like for example Eric, he would detest how easy we have it. He would hate the idea of a smartphone, how there are apps made for kids for almost anything we need, with no more sense of originality and we wouldn't have to work hard and simply had the privilege to use certain programs that back then only those who work in the field can have access to. If he cringed at the idea of a pager or cellphone, can you imagine his reaction to everything today? He totally valued things that were clever, original, he valued when he had to learn to make things by himself, he thought himself as a computer-geek for a reason so why would he support something that simply gets thrown at children's hands and corrupt them, something they didn't have to learn about?

ultraviolencelv wrote:

Hellloooo! Ditto on the source codes hahah!

You are more than welcome

ultraviolencelv wrote:

Nope, that they would have a field day with today's modern technology. If they ever felt that way, then they would have to be responsible with creating some of today's applications or tech items or something. I feel like for example Eric, he would detest how easy we have it. He would hate the idea of a smartphone, how there are apps made for kids for almost anything we need, with no more sense of originality and we wouldn't have to work hard and simply had the privilege to use certain programs that back then only those who work in the field can have access to. If he cringed at the idea of a pager or cellphone, can you imagine his reaction to everything today? He totally valued things that were clever, original, he valued when he had to learn to make things by himself, he thought himself as a computer-geek for a reason so why would he support something that simply gets thrown at children's hands and corrupt them, something they didn't have to learn about?

I kinda see what you mean. Would Dylan have felt the same way? What about the video games of today? Do you think would Eric would enjoy them?

ultraviolencelv wrote:

Nope, that they would have a field day with today's modern technology. If they ever felt that way, then they would have to be responsible with creating some of today's applications or tech items or something. I feel like for example Eric, he would detest how easy we have it. He would hate the idea of a smartphone, how there are apps made for kids for almost anything we need, with no more sense of originality and we wouldn't have to work hard and simply had the privilege to use certain programs that back then only those who work in the field can have access to. If he cringed at the idea of a pager or cellphone, can you imagine his reaction to everything today? He totally valued things that were clever, original, he valued when he had to learn to make things by himself, he thought himself as a computer-geek for a reason so why would he support something that simply gets thrown at children's hands and corrupt them, something they didn't have to learn about?

Yes, exactly this is why I feel that Eric and I are likeminded in this area. And I have some assumptions on how his "You know what I hate?" list would look like today.

And, when it comes to Dylan: as far as I know, he had a Linux partition on his PC! Enough said.