My Thoughts on Bullying Aspect and future(idk what to really title this)

So, for my first post that isn't a Introduction, my thoughts on the whole bullying thing.

I do believe that they were bullied BUT I'm not saying this to make them an excuse. I'm saying this as a fact in their lives that MIGHT had contribute a small bit to NBK- mainly because the hate they had kinda had to start somewhere(just my speculation about where their hate came from). Yes, I know they, themselves, bullied others, not going to deny that. Being bullied doesn't excuse what they did. All I'm saying is that, because bullying was rampant in Columbine in that time, could make their hate(if it didn't start from them being bullied) build even more.

My last thoughts is, even if bullying wasn't an Aspect for them and just a slim possibility it was, this should show schools that there's a chance shootings or stabbings could be caused because of bullying or bullying having a large part into it. I've read people bringing knives to school because they are afraid. Imagine if that fear turns into hatred, hatred for the bullies first. Than, hatred for students who did nothing, hatred for teachers and staff who turns their heads, hatred for the whole school, than everyone else. Of course, that's just how I see the hatred evolving and so on.

Basically, that's all what I wanted to say. These are just my thoughts about the whole bullying thing and people learning from this...okay, suppose to learn from this. But, yeah, that's all I gotta say.

tyrannovox wrote:

Imagine if that fear turns into hatred, hatred for the bullies first. Than, hatred for students who did nothing, hatred for teachers and staff who turns their heads, hatred for the whole school, than everyone else. Of course, that's just how I see the hatred evolving and so on.

I think that's right on target. To paraphrase Brooks Brown, they weren't trying to kill any specific kids, they were trying to "kill the school" and everything it stood for.

And I think bullying played a big part in it all. That's what made them want to feel power so desperately. They were treated like they were worthless, they felt helpless and trapped. NBK was their way of trying to be powerful ("godlike") and exact "righteous" revenge on the institution that was the source of so much of their fear and pain.

Bullying was not the sole cause of Columbine. Eric said that we are not like those kids who just wanted to be accepted. The punishment for stealing was both humiliating and caused a lot of anger. Neither Eric nor Dylan did not have relations with the girl (why can't I get what I want!). Social isolation, they did not fit, then they have themselves decided that they do not need it and that they don't want to be part of those who rejected them. Add to this the depression of Dylan and "treatment" Eric (mental instability). Do not forget that boys have the opportunity to buy weapons and make bombs (it eased their task and gave the course a fantasy). Probably life in a small town where all each other know when have already formed a community are reluctant to accept newcomers, grudgingly tolerate something new.  Series of coincidences that helped them throughout the year to plan the murder (hundreds of times they could be stopped, but no).
Yes, bullying is a big problem. And it never should be considered as the norm or as an innocent prank. Is something that causes wounds that cannot be seen, but they bear the suffering. To combat this it is necessary not only at school level but also for society as a whole. If society is sick, then sooner or later it will be a tragedy.

The bullying was a trigger. It provoked them to realise their anger and insecurities, causing the ripple effect that led to other issues then ultimately their downfall. Had they had a good time in school and loved themselves more, picking up a gun wouldn't happen most likely.

It's very normal to want to blame something, to wanna blame a group of people for being horrible fucks. When you're mature and smart enough, you don't succumb to it and you eventually realise You change YOUR perspective of the situation. For them, they always had low self-esteem and while no one knows their faults in their minds, who else to lash out on but "the school". and with what? extreme violence, the easy way out, to shoot everyone, blow up the school.

I do believe they were bullied. I believe a ton of kids there were bullied. Was ketchup thrown on them? Quite possible that it was. However I do think they also were bullies themselves. Picking on other kids like Kyler....

What I can say here is that hate is one of the most intoxicating emotions. Pretty soon, it encompasses your life and if you can't forgive or move on, it just escalates. I myself have succumbed to hate. About 6 months into it, I realized that I had to forgive the person or else it would've overtook me. They didn't ask for forgiveness, but I had to do it for myself. The thing is, hate affects YOU and NOT the person or thing you hate. They don't know and even if they do, it doesn't affect them the same way it affects you. Even now, I work every day to forgive this person. Sure, I have my moments where I lose it, but it's a complicated situation involving the death of a loved one. It just feels so much better to not carry that around. EVERYTHING gets better, I've lived through awful, horrible situations and while you may remember, it does get better.

When you become a constant target of hate and derision, you also start to think how the human behavior can sometimes be disgustingly shallow. I mean, there's this bunch of people laughing 24/7 at you like there's nothing else to care about in the world. Eric used this realization as a trigger for his universal hate for people, Dylan thought of it as a major point to develop further his feelings of isolation and disconnection from people. 4/20 was their wake up call to the world. I haven't been doubting for a second, since I've heard for the first time about the tragedy, that they died with this thought in mind: "Someday you'll discover everything about our secret lives, you all will realize how much we have been hurt by the acceptance of the status quo and the constant praise of the unworthy".
They both called other people "ignorant" and "stupid", their being fed up with "zombies" blew everything out of proportion.

Its not directly or single handedly because of bullying. I think a lot of people are mislead due to media reports which tends to have a biased potrayal og school shootings.

Yet also, given the link between mental health issues and bullying its not far det hes either that some people make this connection. My interest have been on research over the last years and yes, I do think that theres a connection. But, when theres a connection there are always tons of different factors coming together. We can only speculate about this. I dont doubt that there was a pervasive culture of bullying at Columbine HS.

Now, some statements in regards to bullying towards Eric and Dylan are false. This is important to keep in mind.

Evan Todd, regardless of the reference never bullied Eric and Dylan. He claims to have made fun of someone with 'horns on their helmet', but according to The search for truth at Columbine', this was not, in fact, a reference to Eric and Dylan.

Nathan Vanderau and cup of fecal matter. The only reference I could find was 'Columbine: Understanding why'. And hes asked a question about the TCM, that Eric and Dylan was assumed to be a part of at the time. In other words, this couldnt have been a reference to Eric and Dylan. Or, atleast, I doubt that it was.

Other statements suggests that
- Eric had a chest deformity, which made
him reluctant to take hes shirt off.

- Ketchup covered tampons. Susan Klebold argues this in her book and Chad Laughlin have argued similarly.

-glass bottles thrown at them from moving vehicles. Brooks Brown argues this in hes book.

So, two questions: Were they the bottom two Kids at the entire school? This is not possible to answer imo, because whereas Brown makes this argument, others have said differently.

Were they bullied? Its possible. Only thing Im 100% aware off is that Frank Ochberg put out an article a few years about school shootings. He dismissed that they were bullied. Im not really sure why that is. It Could be that its based on lack of proper evidence. Which I suspect is the case.

But in Erics case this was hardly the reason why.