Why is Columbine the Most Remembered Shooting?

Columbine wasn't the first, and it certainly wasn't the last. Columbine wasn't a "hate crime" (although you could get into a philosophical debate about that), and there have been far more destructive shootings in years past. Even so, when you think mass shooting, you think Columbine. You could argue that this is in part due to the fact that many killers and would-be killers site E/D as heroes and motivation, but I also could argue that these killers site E/D because Columbine is already the most revered (In a negative way) shooting.

As someone who wasn't alive when it actually happened, I can only guess as to why Columbine's legacy lives on. But I would imagine that the fact that the news was covering the attack while cops were being shot at has something to do with it. I'd also imagine that the fact that this shooting involved TWO people is a contributing factor as well. When one person does a shooting, you can chalk it up to insanity. Yet when two teens weeks away from graduating attack their own school, that has to add a previously unforeseen level of shock to the events.

Well I think there are two major reasons and I'll list them by importance :

1. Two boys with friends, good homes, smart, good looking chose to throw it all away. That's, imo, why people keep asking why they did it. The answer is they simply hated everyone and saw themselves trapped. Combine that with a dose of balls to kill themselves and you got the perfect mass murder. People simply can't understand why two seemingly normal humans chose to do this (neither I, I'd live just for the video games or music even if everything else is misery).

So it's not "why" as in the reason, it's more "how" did it come to this, these guys we relate to, how did they end up "there"?

2. TV , honestly. Without it we simply wouldn't know much of anything and I believe it sparked a chain reaction that resulted in books being written and digging of more about their personal lives. I doubt reporters or Sue would've felt compelled (I might be wrong with the latter though!) to write books about it if the whole thing wasn't watched by millions from 99 and on.

It's one of the two things that brought extreme changes to America at the beginning of the 21st century: Columbine and 9/11. 9/11 changed how people felt about the security of the country and Columbine changed how people felt about the security of school and their children.

There's obviously a lot of details that made Columbine so game changing, but the fact that it was a crucial moment that inspired so much change in the country is why it's still so famous and relevant.

It was the first mass killing of students by students in the age of instant information. Everyone knew about it while it was happening, watch it reported on the news at happened and feel a connection to it. Plus the amount of videos of them, planning, or messing around. Like other people said it was the shooting that changed how the police move in an active shooter situation, and how schools changed with their zero tolerance policy with certain things.

slippy123 wrote:

Plus the amount of videos of them, planning, or messing around.  

The amount of documentation they left behind kept the infamy alive, it is also is the reason Eric and Dylan are so often named by other shooters as inspiration, there is just so much to look back on and see what these people were like.

smiggles1218 wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

Plus the amount of videos of them, planning, or messing around.   

The amount of documentation they left behind kept the infamy alive, it is also is the reason Eric and Dylan are so often named by other shooters as inspiration, there is just so much to look back on and see what these people were like.

Thats exactly what I'm talking about. Plus the hope of the basement tapes one day being released will keep hardcore "Collumbiners" checking back for years to come.

slippy123 wrote:

smiggles1218 wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

Plus the amount of videos of them, planning, or messing around.   

The amount of documentation they left behind kept the infamy alive, it is also is the reason Eric and Dylan are so often named by other shooters as inspiration, there is just so much to look back on and see what these people were like.

Thats exactly what I'm talking about. Plus the hope of the basement tapes one day being released will keep hardcore "Collumbiners" checking back for years to come.

The term "columbiner" physically pains me, just makes me think of the tumblr girls who fantasize about being sexual with Eric and Dylan, quite a big peeve of mine. It is such a delusional and pointless thought process. Not bashing on tumblr because I do use the site, but people can be so cringe.

Not saying that's how you meant it, just wanted to rant lol.

The Virginia Tech shooting is what got me into Columbine. The day after that shooting I heard a reference to "Columbine"....something went off in my head, I'd heard of this shooting....I was a freshman in HS at the time. So, I went home and turned on my laptop to refresh my memory on E & D's rampage and here I am! So, if Virginia Tech didn't happen, and Columbine wasn't refenced as "the country's worst school shooting in history" I most likely wouldn't be here today talking to you all. This is just another example of how big and widely discussed Columbine is.

smiggles1218 wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

smiggles1218 wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

Plus the amount of videos of them, planning, or messing around.   

The amount of documentation they left behind kept the infamy alive, it is also is the reason Eric and Dylan are so often named by other shooters as inspiration, there is just so much to look back on and see what these people were like.

Thats exactly what I'm talking about. Plus the hope of the basement tapes one day being released will keep hardcore "Collumbiners" checking back for years to come.

The term "columbiner" physically pains me, just makes me think of the tumblr girls who fantasize about being sexual with Eric and Dylan, quite a big peeve of mine. It is such a delusional and pointless thought process. Not bashing on tumblr because I do use the site, but people can be so cringe.

Not saying that's how you meant it, just wanted to rant lol.

There is so, so much more to being a Columbiner than that.
Being a Columbiner means a lot to most in the subculture in many different ways.
Not all female Columbiners lust after E &D like that and besides there are and always have been straight, male Columbiners too.

PaintItBlack wrote:

smiggles1218 wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

smiggles1218 wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

Plus the amount of videos of them, planning, or messing around.   

The amount of documentation they left behind kept the infamy alive, it is also is the reason Eric and Dylan are so often named by other shooters as inspiration, there is just so much to look back on and see what these people were like.

Thats exactly what I'm talking about. Plus the hope of the basement tapes one day being released will keep hardcore "Collumbiners" checking back for years to come.

The term "columbiner" physically pains me, just makes me think of the tumblr girls who fantasize about being sexual with Eric and Dylan, quite a big peeve of mine. It is such a delusional and pointless thought process. Not bashing on tumblr because I do use the site, but people can be so cringe.

Not saying that's how you meant it, just wanted to rant lol.

There is so, so much more to being a Columbiner than that.
Being a Columbiner means a lot to most in the subculture in many different ways.
Not all female Columbiners lust after E &D like that and besides there are and always have been straight, male Columbiners too.

I wasn't trying to say that's how every Columbiner is, just that I have had bad experiences with particular people. Also, I probably just have a bad connotation associated with the term.

Two alright-looking and somewhat seemingly normal guys with nice families from a nice area in middle America doing something so shocking for its time plays a part as others have mentioned. Eric and Dylan clearly adopted a Hollywood-esque approach to their massacre - the "costumes", the videos they made etc have helped turn them almost into characters in death. Extensive media coverage.

It's funny because it's well known that the boys were obviously captivated by the film "Natural Born Killers", but instead of seemingly grasping the whole point of the movie, they just ended up being "zombies" (as Dylan would say) who were amped up and swept away by all that sensationalism and glamorized violence in the film. They ended up being, in essence, the very product of the media in the film (of which the film makers were criticizing).

I made my very first thread around this but as recap, I think it's also because there were two of them instead of just a lone gunman. It made the story more romanticised and tragic, with so much potential to be sensationalised and pop culture ate it up so quick. Two sad best friends who shot up a school and them themselves with half of the event captured on TV.

shades wrote:

I made my very first thread around this but as recap, I think it's also because there were two of them instead of just a lone gunman. It made the story more romanticised and tragic, with so much potential to be sensationalised and pop culture ate it up so quick. Two sad best friends who shot up a school and them themselves with half of the event captured on TV.

Yes, media and the great opportunities to sensationalise the whole thing made it so famous.

Also, I think the fact that many young people feel the very same - anger, hatred towards those who wronged them, being an outcast and so on - makes Eric and Dylan "iconic" in a certain and morbid way. There are many teens who actually having fantasies about something like NBK - they would never act on these fantasies, and so the story of Eric and Dylan gives a good chance to project these desires.

I think that because of the enormous amount of information left behind about Eric and Dylan, it makes people feel like they can identify with the killers.  It's difficult to identify with people like Adam Lanza and other shooters, because they tend to be a lot more bizarre than E & D.

abstractsmigs wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

smiggles1218 wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

Plus the amount of videos of them, planning, or messing around.   

The amount of documentation they left behind kept the infamy alive, it is also is the reason Eric and Dylan are so often named by other shooters as inspiration, there is just so much to look back on and see what these people were like.

Thats exactly what I'm talking about. Plus the hope of the basement tapes one day being released will keep hardcore "Collumbiners" checking back for years to come.

The term "columbiner" physically pains me, just makes me think of the tumblr girls who fantasize about being sexual with Eric and Dylan, quite a big peeve of mine. It is such a delusional and pointless thought process. Not bashing on tumblr because I do use the site, but people can be so cringe.

Not saying that's how you meant it, just wanted to rant lol.

I've also noticed that there are a lot of guys who idolize Eric Harris and want to be like him.

It was captured on TV and there is so much information about it. Plus it happened at a sort of turning point in America.

People had cell phones but very little, the internet existed but not many had computers or had even ever used a computer...

I like to compare it to how a shooting would happen today in my head as a hypothetical situation....people would be calling/online right away...you could get real live updates from those inside...and how pp mentioned the police would no longer be standing outside waiting for everything to settle down.

One of the reasons I think Columbine is the most remembered is because of all the stories made inspired by it after it happened. Like I said, morbidly Columbine is responsible for making teenage-angst-school-shooting fashionable, there's an entire aesthetic built out of Columbine. Almost some bands and filmmakers have Columbine to thank for for inspiring them.

Now kids wanna dress up like Eric and Dylan and walk a runway looking like that!

But over the years many other infamous shootings have occurred and most of them had a lot worse casualties. Could it be possible for Columbine to be overshadowed by another shooting?

aquillina wrote:

But over the years many other infamous shootings have occurred and most of them had a lot worse casualties. Could it be possible for Columbine to be overshadowed by another shooting?

Absolutely not. Columbine is a brand now. You remember Columbine more than you do the Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting wouldn't you?

shades wrote:

aquillina wrote:

But over the years many other infamous shootings have occurred and most of them had a lot worse casualties. Could it be possible for Columbine to be overshadowed by another shooting?

Absolutely not. Columbine is a brand now. You remember Columbine more than you do the Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting wouldn't you?

Very good point. Yes I do even more than Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and the Boston Marathon Bombing.

Man I read an older article the other day that touched base on this subject. It focused on 13 years after the massacre and interviewed one of the guys who barricaded himself in that room near the cafeteria when the shooting happened. It touched base on why columbine overshadows other shootings, and some points were already mentioned in this thread. It also discussed Cullen's planned miniseries based on his book as well as interviews with victims who stated that the book was full of innacuracies. It was a pretty insightful article that went over a lot of details about the shooting and the aftermath, but for the life of me I can't find it again! This happens to me a lot and then I forget where I read things and get details mixed up. If I find it again I will post it here.

Okay it's about halfway down the page where they discuss peoples' fascination with columbine, If anyone's interested. And like I said this article also focuses on cullen's book but the author points out some of the info that has been disproved.

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I liked that article. The whole statement of the "real story" over and over made me a bit ill though.

I liked what Sam had to say about Cullen.....Cullen likes to talk about how sad he is researching Columbine and how it affects his life so deeply. Sam stated that Cullen chose to research this himself. He chose to continue despite his sorrow.... it was his choice. Students didn't choose to go thru Columbine. That was a good statement to me.

I agree. It just makes me see Dave Cullen as even more of a douche than before. To me it seemed like he was trying to get sympathy as if he was on the same level as those who were actually there and lived through the shooting. Then he fills the book full of inaccuracies and a bias version of events. If I had been a student at columbine during the shooting I would have been insulted by cullen's statement. Like Sam said he did it to himself.

abstractsmigs wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

smiggles1218 wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

Plus the amount of videos of them, planning, or messing around.   

The amount of documentation they left behind kept the infamy alive, it is also is the reason Eric and Dylan are so often named by other shooters as inspiration, there is just so much to look back on and see what these people were like.

Thats exactly what I'm talking about. Plus the hope of the basement tapes one day being released will keep hardcore "Collumbiners" checking back for years to come.

The term "columbiner" physically pains me, just makes me think of the tumblr girls who fantasize about being sexual with Eric and Dylan, quite a big peeve of mine. It is such a delusional and pointless thought process. Not bashing on tumblr because I do use the site, but people can be so cringe.

Not saying that's how you meant it, just wanted to rant lol.

Lol, I agree, thats why I put it in quotes. I know its hard to tell sarcasm over the internet !

It was the first and only school shooting with 2 perpetrators that also broke double digits in terms of deaths.

Also Columbine started the "suicide at the end" thing. Half the time before Columbine, the kid was caught and arrested. Nowadays they kill themselves -- and Eric and Dylan were the first to do this themselves.

Simply because it was the first of it's kind.