"The School Administration is doing a fine job"

Those words in the title come straight out of the mouth of Eric Harris. Even though he was planning on blowing the school up and killing a large amount of its faculty and peers, he was exonerating the people who ran it from blame. So why is that, especially when it can be argued with some ease that the school leadership was incredibly neglectful when it came to managing its students and the jocks in particular? I have some theories. Eric was academically very successful in school; his report cards came back with good grades and teachers complimented his intelligence, for one. It stands to reason that Eric enjoyed being challenged academically. What about the issue of bullying? Perhaps Eric never made the connection that the bullying was a result of failures on the part of school administrators. He and Dylan, to our knowledge, never tried to tell any teacher or administrator about the problems they had with getting picked on. One last, third reason I speculate was the cause of Eric's statement that the school was not responsible is that he meant that statement to be taken absolutely literally; the school administrators had no forward knowledge that the attack was going to take place. No principal or teacher knew that either Eric or Dylan were going to go on a killing spree. Thus, blaming them would be wasted effort.

What are your thoughts on the matter? I think this is something that isn't really talked about too much here so I figured I'd get the ball rolling.

Perhaps he didn't want anyone feeling sorry for him. He wanted to be feared, respected. He didn't want to be seen as a weak victim. Dylan was content to mope and blame but Eric always seems to want to own it.
eg:
Eric: "No one is to blame except me and Vodka . Our actions are a two man war against everyone else."
Dylan: "You made me what I am. You added to the rage."

Or perhaps it was one last lie, he enjoyed the belief that he could lie about anything.

Or maybe, and this isn't one I am convinced of myself but I enjoy looking at different possibilities, maybe he didn't think he had been bullied. Perhaps he felt his rage came out from being mocked and being at the bottom of the food chain but feels more that was from being the new kid rather than injustice within the school. Eric seems to want the "respect" he feels he earned, rather than feeling that he was picked on and tormented.

Maybe his dad told him to man up since he was almost 18 what is already considered as adult.
I think that's why he thought showing true feelings& being emotional is weakness.
Imo Eric was still a child inside.
He looked up to his dad.

I feel like Eric really didn't loathe the school as a whole entity as much as people claim. He was involved in sports for a short time, and attended other school activities, as Dylan did with his sound, school play, prom etc. It seems that the "jocks" were the only crowd that gave them a hard time, which is why both of them specifically targeted kids in white hats. Eric's journals are full of over blown statements, and hypocrisy, so I only take them with a grain of salt. I feel as the original targets were the jocks, but as they studied people like Timothy McVeigh they figured that if they were going to kill people they might as well go all out and try to blow the school up too.

Actually Eric and Dylan did bring up bullying to the school administration. They complained about being picked on and reported that people were out waiting by their cars everyday to pick on them.

Pixie13 wrote:

Perhaps he didn't want anyone feeling sorry for him. He wanted to be feared, respected. He didn't want to be seen as a weak victim. Dylan was content to mope and blame but Eric always seems to want to own it.
eg:
Eric: "No one is to blame except me and Vodka . Our actions are a two man war against everyone else."
Dylan: "You made me what I am. You added to the rage."

Or perhaps it was one last lie, he enjoyed the belief that he could lie about anything.

This is a great post.

When did eric say this? Was it written in his journal? Could of just been a sarcastic remark?

It could’ve been totally sarcastic. If it was written in the journal we don’t really have a read on it.

If it was in the basement tapes since we never got to see them we don’t know. Plus it could be open to interpretation much like the whole Dylan you’re Jewish thing.

Eric: two-man war against everyone else, etc. was filmed on April 11 1999 on Evidence Item [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Reb's Tape.

Lizpuff wrote:

Actually Eric and Dylan did bring up bullying to the school administration.  They complained about being picked on and reported that people were out waiting by their cars everyday to pick on them.  

This is why I like coming here, I keep learning more, getting a better picture of the situation.   

What's the source for this? The 11k?

QuestionMark wrote:

Lizpuff wrote:

Actually Eric and Dylan did bring up bullying to the school administration.  They complained about being picked on and reported that people were out waiting by their cars everyday to pick on them.  

This is why I like coming here, I keep learning more, getting a better picture of the situation.   

What's the source for this? The 11k?

Yes. The Dean of students reported this in the 11k Peter Horvath is his name if you want to look him up

Here is a snippet. Hope it isnt too small[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Luke better feel lucky they didn't find him that day

Lizpuff wrote:

QuestionMark wrote:

Lizpuff wrote:

Actually Eric and Dylan did bring up bullying to the school administration.  They complained about being picked on and reported that people were out waiting by their cars everyday to pick on them.  

This is why I like coming here, I keep learning more, getting a better picture of the situation.   

What's the source for this? The 11k?

Yes.  The Dean of students reported this in the 11k  Peter Horvath is his name if you want to look him up

Here is a snippet.  Hope it isnt too small[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Thanks for finding it for me, I don't think I would've found it if I had to manually search the documents.

Lizpuff wrote:

Actually Eric and Dylan did bring up bullying to the school administration.  They complained about being picked on and reported that people were out waiting by their cars everyday to pick on them.  

Not sure if this was in response to me, but if it was I have no idea where you see me say that they weren't bullied. Bullying happens in every highschool, in every state, every day. I was stating from the facts we know the jocks gave them the most shit, aside from isolated problems with a few kids here and there which who knows they could of started themselves by being jerk offs to them first. For kids that supposedly loathed the school, they could of never stepped foot in there after their days were over but both were involved in many extracurricular activities. Kids that I knew that hated school to the core wouldn't be seen remotely near it for anything after the school day ended. Some people say they were bullied alot, others say it wasn't nearly as much as it was made out to be, usually in passing mainly by dickhead jocks(as seen in the Eric in columbine video). People who went to the school have said that the infamous tampon incident never happened and it was just ketchup packets, blown way out of proportion. I've personally never heard that kids literally waited by their cars day in and day out, aside from that isolated incident which again who knows how it really went down. As far as I know neither were ever fully "beat up". It was mainly name calling and shoving. Eric had negative shit to say about anyone he didn't deem on his level. Eric cracked brooks windshield out of pure spite, and instigated alot of shit. I don't believe for a second that he didn't start or bring on some drama himself.  Many things about columbine have been blown out of proportion.

Eric apparently hated the school to the core yet got his nickname "Reb" from the Columbine mascot, and used it freely up until the massacre. *thonking emoji here*

[quote="slippy123"][quote="slippy123"]

Lizpuff wrote:

Actually Eric and Dylan did bring up bullying to the school administration.  They complained about being picked on and reported that people were out waiting by their cars everyday to pick on them.  

Not sure if this was in response to me, but if it was I have no idea where you see me say that they weren't bullied. Bullying happens in every highschool, in every state, every day. I was stating from the facts we know the jocks gave them the most shit, aside from isolated problems with a few kids here and there which who knows they could of been jocks too (or associated with them). People seem to forget that Eric and or Dylan were far from innocent angels, and could of started the parking lot incident and other situations themselves by being jerk offs to them first. It's all speculation. For kids that supposedly loathed the school, they could of never stepped foot in there after their days were over but both were involved in many extracurricular activities including some sports, RNN News, school plays, prom/after-prom, and many computer related clubs and things of the sort. They recorded a big portion of their video's in the school or on school grounds, some seemingly after school. Kids that I knew that truly hated school to the core wouldn't be seen remotely near it for anything after the school day ended. Some people say they were bullied alot, others say it wasn't nearly as much as it was made out to be, usually in passing mainly by dickhead jocks(as seen in the Eric in columbine video).

People who went to the school have said that the infamous tampon incident never happened and it was just ketchup packets, blown way out of proportion. I've personally never heard that kids literally waited by their cars day in and day out waiting to beat them up, aside from that isolated incident which again who knows how it really went down. As far as I know neither were never even fully "beat up". It was mainly name calling and shoving. Eric had negative shit to say about anyone he didn't deem on his level. Eric cracked brooks windshield out of pure spite, and instigated alot of shit. I don't believe for a second that he didn't start or bring on some drama himself.  Many things about columbine have been blown out of proportion.
Eric supposedly hated the school to the core yet out of millions of nicknames he could of chose, he took his nickname "Reb" from the Columbine Rebels mascot, and used it freely up until the massacre. *thonking emoji here*

It seems like the staff dealt with it by that picture of the 11k. Maybe they weren't as terrible as they were made out to be? Maybe it was a select few teachers that catered to jocks, and not the entire school?

Maybe he was lying when he said that quote, but from what I gather I think there was at least some truth to it. Maybe Eric was notified that it was dealt with and wrote that in his journal? I'm not saying that he liked the school by any means, just that I don't think he had nearly as much rage against the school as an entity as he did for the specific people or group  he felt did him wrong. The bombs were like theatrics in a weird way. All that time to master a timer we could learn to perfect in a week, yet they worry about crickets, and both bombs end up being duds. I think their confidence wasn't the best about those bombs going off, like they almost expected it, but thats for another time and place though

That is the cool thing though, that all of this is speculation for the most part so there isn't really a wrong or right answer. I like hearing other peoples theory's.

I'm with [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] that its sarcastic. We may not have his verbal tone as proof but I think the word choice alone serves the same purpose. What kind of teenager, in the 90s and sinde, uses "fine" as a compliment? To me it seems like kind of an old fashioned 1950s Americana type thing like "oh our boys are doing a fine job, they'll win that big Homecoming game!" aka something that belongs in an episode of Leave it To Beaver.

Between the old boys sports coaches at Columbine in the 90s that probably actually came from that era and would use fine in that context in complete seriousness and Littleton as a whole being the ultimate lily white suburbia that truly thinks its replicating the "good old days" of yesteryear, back when America was made up of families with two married parents with a working dad and stay at home mom, boys were boys, girls were modest little ladies and everything was just sooooo peachy because everything and everyone was devoutly and publicly Christian and God wasnt just allowed everywhere but actively preached. Despite that drivel not being historically accurate and only found in Norman Rockwell paintings, so much of Littleton still truly believes in that ideal and thinks any problems can be blamed on godless heathens (anyone who believes in separation if church and state, women's rights, etc.) Thats something that hasn't changed in Littleton from my siblings day in the 90s until my own experiences from when I was in high school through today. The dated use of fine as a compliment apply equally well to both groups, that were also not just his intended audience but were prime targets of his hate and rage.

That mini rant of my own about Littleton aside, I see his adopting the verbiage of everything he hates and almost in a caricature, using it to "compliment" them, as the ultimate sarcasm. Especially knowing Eric liked to think he was so much smarter than the masses, I could see him laughing as he wrote it, thinking "those stupid f****ing morons they'll actually think I'm serious how f*****ing retarded can they be neeener neener".

But maybe I'm just analyzing it a bit too much. :shrugs:

slippy123 wrote:

Lizpuff wrote:

Actually Eric and Dylan did bring up bullying to the school administration.  They complained about being picked on and reported that people were out waiting by their cars everyday to pick on them.  

Not sure if this was in response to me, but if it was I have no idea where you see me say that they weren't bullied. Bullying happens in every highschool, in every state, every day. I was stating from the facts we know the jocks gave them the most shit, aside from isolated problems with a few kids here and there which who knows they could of started themselves by being jerk offs to them first. For kids that supposedly loathed the school, they could of never stepped foot in there after their days were over but both were involved in many extracurricular activities. Kids that I knew that hated school to the core wouldn't be seen remotely near it for anything after the school day ended. Some people say they were bullied alot, others say it wasn't nearly as much as it was made out to be, usually in passing mainly by dickhead jocks(as seen in the Eric in columbine video). People who went to the school have said that the infamous tampon incident never happened and it was just ketchup packets, blown way out of proportion. I've personally never heard that kids literally waited by their cars day in and day out, aside from that isolated incident which again who knows how it really went down. As far as I know neither were ever fully "beat up". It was mainly name calling and shoving. Eric had negative shit to say about anyone he didn't deem on his level. Eric cracked brooks windshield out of pure spite, and instigated alot of shit. I don't believe for a second that he didn't start or bring on some drama himself.  Many things about columbine have been blown out of proportion.

Eric apparently hated the school to the core yet got his nickname "Reb" from the Columbine mascot, and used it freely up until the massacre. *thonking emoji here*

I was speaking to QuestionMark

EthanEmerson wrote:

Or maybe Eric was so narcissistic he couldn't stand the thought of anyone else getting an ounce of credit for his actions.

I agree I just think if that was his sole motivator he would have said good, awesome or even decent job. Fine the way he used it wasn't his normal venacular.

Lizpuff wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

Lizpuff wrote:

Actually Eric and Dylan did bring up bullying to the school administration.  They complained about being picked on and reported that people were out waiting by their cars everyday to pick on them.  

Not sure if this was in response to me, but if it was I have no idea where you see me say that they weren't bullied. Bullying happens in every highschool, in every state, every day. I was stating from the facts we know the jocks gave them the most shit, aside from isolated problems with a few kids here and there which who knows they could of started themselves by being jerk offs to them first. For kids that supposedly loathed the school, they could of never stepped foot in there after their days were over but both were involved in many extracurricular activities. Kids that I knew that hated school to the core wouldn't be seen remotely near it for anything after the school day ended. Some people say they were bullied alot, others say it wasn't nearly as much as it was made out to be, usually in passing mainly by dickhead jocks(as seen in the Eric in columbine video). People who went to the school have said that the infamous tampon incident never happened and it was just ketchup packets, blown way out of proportion. I've personally never heard that kids literally waited by their cars day in and day out, aside from that isolated incident which again who knows how it really went down. As far as I know neither were ever fully "beat up". It was mainly name calling and shoving. Eric had negative shit to say about anyone he didn't deem on his level. Eric cracked brooks windshield out of pure spite, and instigated alot of shit. I don't believe for a second that he didn't start or bring on some drama himself.  Many things about columbine have been blown out of proportion.

Eric apparently hated the school to the core yet got his nickname "Reb" from the Columbine mascot, and used it freely up until the massacre. *thonking emoji here*

I was speaking to QuestionMark

All good Liz. Eric was so hypocritical that we probably will never know if he was being sarcastic or not.

milennialrebelette wrote:

I'm with [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] that its sarcastic. We may not have his verbal tone as proof but I think the word choice alone serves the same purpose. What kind of teenager, in the 90s and sinde, uses "fine" as a compliment? To me it seems like kind of an old fashioned 1950s Americana type thing like "oh our boys are doing a fine job, they'll win that big Homecoming game!" aka something that belongs in an episode of Leave it To Beaver.

Between the old boys sports coaches at Columbine in the 90s that probably actually came from that era and would use fine in that context in complete seriousness and Littleton as a whole being the ultimate  lily white suburbia that truly thinks its replicating the "good old days" of yesteryear, back when America was made up of families with two married parents with a working dad and stay at home mom, boys were boys, girls were modest little ladies and everything was just sooooo peachy because everything and everyone was devoutly and publicly Christian and God wasnt just allowed everywhere but actively preached. Despite that drivel not being historically accurate and only found in Norman Rockwell paintings, so much of Littleton still truly believes in that ideal and thinks any problems can be blamed on godless heathens (anyone who believes in separation if church and state, women's rights, etc.) Thats something that hasn't changed in Littleton from my siblings day in the 90s until my own experiences from when I was in high school through today. The dated use of fine as a compliment apply equally well to both groups, that were also not just his intended audience but were prime targets of his hate and rage.

That mini rant of my own about Littleton aside, I see his adopting the verbiage of everything he hates and almost in a caricature,  using it to "compliment" them, as the ultimate sarcasm. Especially knowing Eric liked to think he was so much smarter than the masses, I could see him laughing as he wrote it, thinking "those stupid f****ing morons they'll actually think I'm serious how f*****ing retarded can they be neeener neener".

But maybe I'm just analyzing it a bit too much. :shrugs:

You have a good point about his word usage. Little things like calling a TV show a "program" seems a little old fashioned and in his Jo Mamma jokes he wrote with Dylan and Zach I would have swore he wrote "goodness" as an exclamation.

I would have loved to have had the context of the Basement Tapes and heard how they sounded, I mean granted I didn't know either of them but I'm sure if they were dripping with sarcasm anyone would have been able to pick that up. Mostly I would love to have seen the part where Eric says "Dylan, you're Jewish?" since Sue and Judy Brown seem to to think Dylan was scared of him at that point but I don't know if they are correct or clouded at their hatred for Eric.

Did you or your family have any thoughts on the BT release? I recall Brooks I think saying he thought friends or Eric or Dylan should have been able to watch them because maybe they could have picked up something the adults couldn't. I see his point of view.

Don't think it's sarcastic; think number of deaths had as much to do with choosing the school.

Screamingophelia wrote:

milennialrebelette wrote:

I'm with [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] that its sarcastic. We may not have his verbal tone as proof but I think the word choice alone serves the same purpose. What kind of teenager, in the 90s and sinde, uses "fine" as a compliment? To me it seems like kind of an old fashioned 1950s Americana type thing like "oh our boys are doing a fine job, they'll win that big Homecoming game!" aka something that belongs in an episode of Leave it To Beaver.

Between the old boys sports coaches at Columbine in the 90s that probably actually came from that era and would use fine in that context in complete seriousness and Littleton as a whole being the ultimate  lily white suburbia that truly thinks its replicating the "good old days" of yesteryear, back when America was made up of families with two married parents with a working dad and stay at home mom, boys were boys, girls were modest little ladies and everything was just sooooo peachy because everything and everyone was devoutly and publicly Christian and God wasnt just allowed everywhere but actively preached. Despite that drivel not being historically accurate and only found in Norman Rockwell paintings, so much of Littleton still truly believes in that ideal and thinks any problems can be blamed on godless heathens (anyone who believes in separation if church and state, women's rights, etc.) Thats something that hasn't changed in Littleton from my siblings day in the 90s until my own experiences from when I was in high school through today. The dated use of fine as a compliment apply equally well to both groups, that were also not just his intended audience but were prime targets of his hate and rage.

That mini rant of my own about Littleton aside, I see his adopting the verbiage of everything he hates and almost in a caricature,  using it to "compliment" them, as the ultimate sarcasm. Especially knowing Eric liked to think he was so much smarter than the masses, I could see him laughing as he wrote it, thinking "those stupid f****ing morons they'll actually think I'm serious how f*****ing retarded can they be neeener neener".

But maybe I'm just analyzing it a bit too much. :shrugs:

You have a good point about his word usage. Little things like calling a TV show a "program" seems a little old fashioned and in his Jo Mamma jokes he wrote with Dylan and Zach I would have swore he wrote "goodness" as an exclamation.

I would have loved to have had the context of the Basement Tapes and heard how they sounded, I mean granted I didn't know either of them but I'm sure if they were dripping with sarcasm anyone would have been able to pick that up. Mostly I would love to have seen the part where Eric says "Dylan, you're Jewish?" since Sue and Judy Brown seem to to think Dylan was scared of him at that point but I don't know if they are correct or clouded at their hatred for Eric.

Did you or your family have any thoughts on the BT release? I recall Brooks I think saying he thought friends or Eric or Dylan should have been able to watch them because maybe they could have picked up something the adults couldn't. I see his point of view.

I still don't see the big issue with releasing them, look at how much stuff is released these days, ever go on liveleak? Everything is uncensored there, shit you can watch live murders/suicides/grue sum work accidents, etc.

The only reason I heard to not release them is fear of copy cats, its been 20 years, there were plenty of copy cats without these tapes, do you think releasing them is really going to change things? I think with video or not, people will imitate them and have.

And that bullshit about the police destroying them is fake, of course there is still copies out there.

joebox97 wrote:

And that bullshit about the police destroying them is fake, of course there is still copies out there.

But...why? Why would the police lie about destroying them? They have nothing to lose from deciding to destroy the tapes, except maybe the credibility they already don't care about maintaining.

QuestionMark wrote:

joebox97 wrote:

And that bullshit about the police destroying them is fake, of course there is still copies out there.

But...why? Why would the police lie about destroying them? They have nothing to lose from deciding to destroy the tapes, except maybe the credibility they already don't care about maintaining.

The only thing I can think of is so people would leave Jeffco the hell alone about releasing the tapes, but even that is a weak excuse at best.

I am really starting to believe that they did do something to screw up the tapes. Perhaps the VCR ate them lol Who knows but I used to believe they were still around... now I am not so sure.

I think the copycat thing is a huge excuse but that set aside, the only reasons I can think of to hide them are all related to Jeffco bungling the case. Either there is something on those tapes that they don't want publicly known (perhaps it makes them look even worse) or maybe they did something to screw up the tapes and they are not releasable...

I do think that the FBI has copies though so that would make me think back to there is something to hide

Lizpuff wrote:

I am really starting to believe that they did do something to screw up the tapes.  Perhaps the VCR ate them lol  Who knows but I used to believe they were still around... now I am not so sure.

I think the copycat thing is a huge excuse but that set aside, the only reasons I can think of to hide them are all related to Jeffco bungling the case.  Either there is something on those tapes that they don't want publicly known (perhaps it makes them look even worse) or maybe they did something to screw up the tapes and they are not releasable...

I do think that the FBI has copies though so that would make me think back to there is something to hide

I didn't think about Jeffco screwing up the case. You're probably right about that. We already know they botched it.

The FBI would certainly have copies of the tapes, but I wouldn't hold out hope of ever seeing them.

hvernon wrote:

Lizpuff wrote:

I am really starting to believe that they did do something to screw up the tapes.  Perhaps the VCR ate them lol  Who knows but I used to believe they were still around... now I am not so sure.

I think the copycat thing is a huge excuse but that set aside, the only reasons I can think of to hide them are all related to Jeffco bungling the case.  Either there is something on those tapes that they don't want publicly known (perhaps it makes them look even worse) or maybe they did something to screw up the tapes and they are not releasable...

I do think that the FBI has copies though so that would make me think back to there is something to hide

I didn't think about Jeffco screwing up the case. You're probably right about that. We already know they botched it.

The FBI would certainly have copies of the tapes, but I wouldn't hold out hope of ever seeing them.

Yea... will be a cold day in hell before the tapes were released by the FBI.

I don’t know if they were three hours including Rampart Range Rd but there is no way that the transcript shows everything that was on the tapes . Way too short.

Screamingophelia wrote:

I don’t know if they were three hours including Rampart Range Rd but there is no way that the transcript shows everything that was on the tapes . Way too short.

I have to agree with you on that. Furthers the idea that Jeffco is hiding something on the tapes.

Lizpuff wrote:

hvernon wrote:

Lizpuff wrote:

I am really starting to believe that they did do something to screw up the tapes.  Perhaps the VCR ate them lol  Who knows but I used to believe they were still around... now I am not so sure.

I think the copycat thing is a huge excuse but that set aside, the only reasons I can think of to hide them are all related to Jeffco bungling the case.  Either there is something on those tapes that they don't want publicly known (perhaps it makes them look even worse) or maybe they did something to screw up the tapes and they are not releasable...

I do think that the FBI has copies though so that would make me think back to there is something to hide

I didn't think about Jeffco screwing up the case. You're probably right about that. We already know they botched it.

The FBI would certainly have copies of the tapes, but I wouldn't hold out hope of ever seeing them.

Yea... will be a cold day in hell before the tapes were released by the FBI.  

I have on slightly good authority that there are still some gag orders on some people. I know that sounds very conspiracy theory like. I apologize.

Maybe after the parents of e and d die they will release something? Because Sue was a big advocate of their destruction