Why do you think the Harris family never wrote a book?

Sue Klebold has done a wonderful job showing the world she loved Dylan, and it wasn't the parents fault like everyone assumed.
She also has brought mental health to the forefront, and donated the book's sales to different mental heath agencies.
She doesn't have to live in the shadows anymore, and it seems a lot of people went from blaming her and Tom, to sympathizing with them.
I get the feeling a lot of stress has been let off her shoulders since she told her story, and her overall well-being has changed for the better.

Why do you think the Harris family would rather live in the shadows so to speak, rather then show the world Eric was loved, and that they had no idea this was going to happen?
Do you think they feel overwhelming guilt for not checking his room where weapons were basically in plain sight?

In my opinion, writing a book would help a lot of people going though mental health issues, and if they donated all the money to a good cause, that would help even more.
I low-key was hoping that the Harris family would see all the positive things that came out of Sue's book and follow suit, but unfortunately I doubt it will ever happen.
You'd think after such a horrible thing happened, they would want to do everything in their power to make it right, and bring some good out from a terrible situation.

slippy123 wrote:

Why do you think the Harris family would rather live in the shadows so to speak, rather then show the world Eric was loved, and that they had no idea this was going to happen?
Do you think they feel overwhelming guilt for not checking his room where weapons were basically in plain sight?

I think this is a huge part of it.

The Harris family had a better understanding of Eric's true nature than the Klebold household had of Dylan's. Eric would punch walls in anger, was caught at least once for underage drinking, had made pipe bombs, had been arrested for breaking and entering*, was on antidepressants, etc. My point here is that the Harris family would likely be coming under much greater scrutiny and condemnation than Sue ever did.

*Dylan was part of that too, yes, but he was lacking in the other clear signs that something was wrong the way Eric did.

I think it is just their way of grieving. Perhaps the family does not want to relive the events and just let it go. Eric was made out to be worse than Dylan. We all know Cullen likes to call him a psychopath. There are a lot of people that subscribe to the sad boy Dylan was just a follower to angry psychopath Eric narrative.

It's always possible that they could be hiding exactly how much they knew about Eric, but they wouldn't have to write about that in their own book. I don't see that as being a reason for not writing a book.

I agree it would be great if they did. I am dying to hear what the family has to say.

hvernon wrote:

I think it is just their way of grieving. Perhaps the family does not want to relive the events and just let it go. Eric was made out to be worse than Dylan. We all know Cullen likes to call him a psychopath. There are a lot of people that subscribe to the sad boy Dylan was just a follower to angry psychopath Eric narrative.

It's always possible that they could be hiding exactly how much they knew about Eric, but they wouldn't have to write about that in their own book. I don't see that as being a reason for not writing a book.

I agree it would be great if they did. I am dying to hear what the family has to say.

You're right in the sense that everyone grieves differently.
I do feel they definitely knew a lot more about Eric then we think. Who knows what they found in his room behind closed doors.
They tried to protect Eric to the very end, by giving police a hard time about searching his room.
I do agree with [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] in the sense that they would be under more scrutiny then the Klebolds, but I also think a book would possibly show that Eric wasn't this natural born psychopath.
The fact he brought up his family so much, seemed somewhat remorseful, and cried in the basement tapes always tripped me out.
You can't diagnose a dead person as a psychopath, so we'll never truly know.

Also his dad literally FOUND a pipe bomb with Eric and his only punishment was to bring it up to the mountains and blow it up. I think they just want to forget about anything relating to Columbine.

Why didn't they write a whole book on him? How suspicious.
literally nothing wrong with privacy

I also think with Sue she always used writing as a way to share her thoughts, as a form of therapy etc... So it makes sense for Sue to have written a book about Dylan and the experience that her and her family went through. Because that was her journey in grieving. The Harrises just had a different journey. When I love to see an interview with Kevin or Kathy. Oh god yes. But it doesn’t seem too weird that they didn’t write a book. Are there any other parents of school shooters that wrote a book? I think the BTK killer’s daughter wrote a book.

slippy123 wrote:

I low-key was hoping that the Harris family would see all the positive things that came out of Sue's book and follow suit, but unfortunately I doubt it will ever happen.

I was hoping the same thing. I think there's a part of me is still holding on to hope that the 20th anniversary might bring something out. But I know it won't.

It's hard to accept, but at this point it's been 20 years and I highly doubt we'll hear from anyone who hasn't already spoken out.

I'd do anything to hear absolutely anything from the Harris's, but they've kept quiet for so long, why would they speak out now? I think the only thing we'll ever hear "from" them will be the depositions.

Edit: I don't think it's suspicious that they haven't said anything before. The world hated Eric and Dylan, and the media especially took it out on Eric. So I'm sure it would be twice as hard for them to feel comfortable with speaking out. And I bet they do feel a lot of guilt about the pipe bomb, and not checking the basement or his room more. But I think they were doing their best, and since Eric was in therapy and they were told he was doing fine, they probably thought they could lighten up him. Idk, I feel a lot of sympathy for them.

Right from the beginning, Dylan was viewed more sympathetically than Eric. The narrative that Eric was an evil psychopath and Dylan was a depressed follower has been set in public view with both Cullen's book and Sue's. With Sue's public speaking as honest as she *thinks* she is being, it is still her way of controlling the narrative on Dylan. I think Eric's parents don't have the same desire or ability to portray Eric in the same way.

Pixie13 wrote:

Right from the beginning, Dylan was viewed more sympathetically than Eric. The narrative that Eric was an evil psychopath and Dylan was a depressed follower has been set in public view with both Cullen's book and Sue's. With Sue's public speaking as honest as she *thinks* she is being, it is still her way of controlling the narrative on Dylan. I think Eric's parents don't have the same desire or ability to portray Eric in the same way.

You hit the nail on the head. The narrative has actually been going on since the beginning. I don’t completely remember why I think it was mostly because of Dylan’s friends talking about it right after and the shock that they had, it kind of gave credence to Dylan as the sweet shy one

Also I daresay the yearbook pictures they showed on the first day Eric kind of looks a little serious and Dylan kind a has a goofy grin on his face and he looks super young and Eric kind of looks a little older and stoic

Screamingophelia wrote:

Pixie13 wrote:

Right from the beginning, Dylan was viewed more sympathetically than Eric. The narrative that Eric was an evil psychopath and Dylan was a depressed follower has been set in public view with both Cullen's book and Sue's. With Sue's public speaking as honest as she *thinks* she is being, it is still her way of controlling the narrative on Dylan. I think Eric's parents don't have the same desire or ability to portray Eric in the same way.

You hit the nail on the head. The narrative has actually been going on since the beginning. I don’t completely remember why I think it was mostly because of Dylan’s friends talking about it right after and the shock that they had,  it kind of gave credence to Dylan as  the sweet shy one

Also I daresay the yearbook pictures they showed on the first day Eric kind of looks a little serious  and Dylan  kind a has a goofy grin on his face and he looks super young and Eric kind of looks a little older and stoic

Imo that would would be more incentive to write a book.
Cullen's book pushed the "Eric was a mastermind, and Dylan a poor follower" bullshit into the forefront.
I guess it's the protector in me that would want to say "My kid did some messed up shit, but he wasn't this that and the third".
Even though a book could change some aspects of how people look at Eric and his family, I think it would be too far gone 20 years later.
Some people will be set in their ways and believe their Cullenbine fiction until the end.

NSAhoneypot wrote:

Why didn't they write a whole book on him? How suspicious.
literally nothing wrong with privacy

No one ever said there was.
It's not like the whole world doesn't know who they are, and there is plenty of personal things already out there.