The Depressive & the Psychopath: Why Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold attacked Columbine
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- čas přidán 7. 08. 2010
- Columbine wasn't about jocks, goths or Trench Coat Mafia. Award-winning author debunks myths & unravels the motives of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
This book was cited as "definitive" by most major critics, including Newsweek, GQ, The Daily Beast, Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Post and most importantly, Columbia Journalism Review.
Dave got rare access to film much of this inside the Columbine cafeteria, so you can see exactly where and how the attack played out.
We also used surveillance footage of the killers in the cafeteria during the attack, and the videos Eric and Dylan made, including Hitmen For Hire. You will get a sense of what drove the killers to perpetrate the Columbine shooting and what they wrought
Columbine should not be a mystery. A team of experts brought in by the FBI cracked the case years ago. This video and book explains how and why.
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There's much more info about the Columbine shooting and Dave Cullen's Columbine book here:
www.davecullen.com/columbine
"The Columbine Guide" is a powerful research tool to navigate the overwhelming data on the case. Share a decade of Dave Cullen's research. The site includes analysis and links to thousands of police files, the killers' journals, crime scene photos, videos, the Basement Tapes transcripts, etc.:
www.columbine-guide.com/
And we created a Teacher's Guide, which we are giving away free:
www.columbine-instructor-guide...
Depression and Anger+guns=mass suicide for fun.(they could blow up the whole place...but they did that after...so it was just for fun.)
lol no
All I see in any Columbine comment section is Eric Eric Eric... You'd swear he acted alone
imagine if they killed all 600, wow....
And yeah, I agree that massacre didn't take place due to some video games, being an outcast, you gotta read Eric's journal, his thoughts are clear and compulsive - mankind sucks, and they had self-awareness to grasp it ) that is in two words.
Thanks for asking. Yes, I had two bad bouts of PTSD, about 7 years apart. I got help. I'm better now.
This book was a required reading for my victimology course at college. So glad I got the chance to read it and have it benefit my understanding more in my career field. Great book Dave!
Before I leave this topic, I just wanted to bring your attention to Brooks Brown's book. He claims, as does his father, that Columbine created Dylan and Eric. In other words, the school's toxic environment played a crucial role in explaining the tragedy. Brooks Brown witnessed the harassment at the school. He states that that might have caused Eric's homicidal thoughts and actions and explains Dylan's depression.
In fact, we will never know what Eric was like as a child: did he always love violence, or can his adolescence and Columbine's toxic culture explain most of that admiration?
Are we to take Eric Harris' journal entries seriously and conclude that they are a window into his soul, or are we to listen to Eric and Dylan's friends? I really haven't a clue.
I have read his book and cite it in mine, and interviewed him and his parents (his parents many times). His book came out before the killers' journals were released, and they pretty much discredit those views--though he is sticking to them.
I address all that in my new epilogue.
We look at all the evidence, including the totality of his friends. All their police reports are online. Brooks wasn't their only friend, or even one of the closest. And he draws conclusions with no expertise on killers. I find it odd how much stock people put in the conclusions of a single kid.
+Dave Cullen But Brooks wasn't the only friend that talked about bullying at Columbine. Eric's friend even videotaped the harassment in the hallways and columns. Notice the wall of jocks elbowing Eric and Nate in the hallway? Notice Clint, a jock, grabbing Nate by the shoulder and shaking him in the commons? Those clues aren't subtle in the slightest.
Also Eric's demeanor is a sign.
I'm aware that many of the friends have assort views on bullying. That's why I wrote a book on it. It's in there.
I think you really undermine your argument when you adopt that absurdist "wall of jocks" lingo. The first time I heard about it, I went to watch and was stunned to find what it was. It's been years, but what was it, 3-4 jocks walking down the hallway together? Everyone in high school walks with their friends--so what? I tried to see this stuff from many POVs and when a few friends walking together get depicted as the now infamous "wall of jocks" that's completely unfair, and rather absurd.
I think that if you want to talk about this stuff, talk about what's happening. When you adopt language that inflated, it's hard to have a meaningful conversation.
And it's really hard to see what's going on, but it's a very minor scuffle, which I'm sure goes on several times a day in most high schools in America. If this was a daily, menacing thing, that's bad. But if it was the one time, it's fairly trivial in the scheme of any of their lives. (We also have no idea of the backstory. Maybe the two groups had been at each other for hours or days or not at all. We have no info.)
Dave I read your book. You say Eric and Dylan were not bullied when they WERE because Brooks Brown wrote a book 'No easy answers' where he writes about the times when Eric and Dylan were bullied in school such as being pushed up against lockers and jocks throwing ketchup tampons thrown at them in the commons. Plus several eyewitnesses also spoke about times when Eric and Dylan were made fun of. Even some of the bullies came ford admitting to what they did and Dylan said in one of the basement tapes "You've given us shit for years. Your gonna pay for all this shit. We don't give a shit because were gonna die doing it."
Thanks for reading. I've never understood how much stock some people place in one kid--Brooks Brown--who they started hanging out with again for the last 3-plus months of their lives.
Many of their closer friends disagreed. Everyone is made fun of sometimes. To equate that with bullying is to really diminish what bullied kids go through. And cherry-picking a rare quote when Dylan says people gave the shit is a stretch. (He rarely spoke that way. And everyone also gets shit from people.)
I find it astonishing that if the two killers were bullied, and driven by that bullying, they never got around to mentioning it in either journal or the basement tapes. Seems absurd.
***** I watched a documentary about this yesterday. Did you know when doing the shooting they said things like "come here you four eyed fucker" (making fun of someone with glasses), used racial slurs before killing a black person etc. Really twisted mindset coming from guys who were said to be bullied..
***** Abusive comments toward other posters are not cool. It's going to be removed.
+gartios11 See the Notes section in the back of my book. I visited Columbine many times, over a ten-year period. (And then actually after the book came out.) Are you asking if I attended the school? No, that would have defeated the purpose. The purpose of my book was a journalistic account by and objective (outside) party, who could talk to everyone (who was willing) and observe/examine all the available evidence, and talk to experts extensively, without having a vested interest in any conclusions.
That's a very different thing than memoirs published by about a dozen survivors (I read all of them that I could find, to get their perspectives), one of which was Brooks, who had one perspective as one of the kids going through it. It was a useful perspective, even though most of the other kids within the killers' circle generally found him . . . let's say not the most credible. And he had an incredibly bleak view about everything, much like his parents (who I talked to many, many times over the ten years. They are two of the most negative people I've ever met in my life.) Still, everyone has a perspective, and I found his book insightful in that perspective.
James Chatting Brooks' book was useful in adding more data. But as for his conclusions . . . If he wanted to become an important voice on what drove the killers, I would have thought he would have gotten educated on mass killers. I've seen no evidence of that in anything he's said/written publicly. (I've never seen him refer to any research or any leaders in the field.)
Friends and neighbors of killers are rarely insightful in diagnosing them, or otherwise explaining their motives. Especially when the friend or neighbor was a high school kid.
Just started reading your book before Christmas... I've been waiting for a definitive book on this matter since my own struggles in High School. Thank you!
This is such a horrible tragedy
I'm on my 4th reading of this book. My sociology teacher in high school recommended it to me. It took me forever to track down. (All copies were checked out at the library. Borders sold out.) But I finally got my own and I can't put it down. More books like these need to be published. I can't wait to read what you have coming next!
Thanks very much, Jon. Yes, I needed lots of counseling. I had two breakdowns: year 1 and I think year 7. Then I learned some better boundaries. I also became a Fellow at the Dart Center, amazing org, and got to know a lot of journos who cover war, murder, disasters, trauma, etc. It really helps to have peers you can talk to.
Thanks for asking. I'm OK now. (My ex met a couple of my journo friends last week and said we're all "damaged," but we were probably damaged a bit before. :)
Thanks very much, Ross. That makes it all worthwhile. And I love hearing that you were energized to read through it in three nights. :)
Dave I'm currently mezmorized by your book. I was a Junior when the shootings took place at Columbine H.S. I never really thought about it too much back then - maybe it was too much and I didn't want to scare myself. Twelve years later I'm realizing how horrific this actually was. And how close to home it could have hit. I'm truly shocked by some of the stuff I've read -stuff I had no idea occurred. Thank you for putting this book out for people to read.
Thanks very much, Ross. I tried to write it visually (cinematically), so it's nice to hear that worked for you.
Finished reading this book last month. Really made me think a lot about what was going on in Eric and Dylan's minds when they committed their act of violence, I found it really disturbing and fascinating at the same time. It's almost surreal imagining what they actually did that day, years ago. And we can all relate and understand, we all went to a high school, and that makes this event very personal to me, I think. Anyways, great novel. Very well written and informative.
Just got it in the mail today! I already like the beginning. A pep-rally, with the coach saying "I don't want to go to any memorial services" after prom, totally foreshadowing the tragic event that's about to take place. Thanks for writing such a thing, Dave!
Dave, have you gotten a chance to read Randy Brown's review of your book on amazon?
Hi from the UK , bought you're book a few days ago and finished it last night , so gripping and touching .
I studied this subject heavily, and even wrote an essay. I have never seen or studied someone so puzzling as Eric or Dylan. And I never felt so much sympathy before either, mostly because my friends are almost exactly like these two, so it's a scary thought, that some of these kids could think exactly like Eric and Dylan, and no one would even know. I really hope nothing as bad as this day will happen again. Thanks for the video, it really helps to put some insight on the topic.
I can see that. And Eric definitely craved infamy, Dylan didn't seem to. But Eric was not like most people. He was a psychopath and they don't really think the way most of us do.
Wow, that's great to hear, Cecely. Thank you.
hey Dave
I just recently began doing deeper research into the events at Columbine, and plan to read both your book, Brooks' book, and Sue Klebold's memoir to absorb as many viewpoints and facts about this incident as I can, and I'm excited to read them. as a teenager myself who has struggled with suicidal depression for quite some time, I found myself identifying with who Dylan was(though certainly not what he went on to do) while reading his journals, and found his case incredibly interesting as he seems to have been a fairly normal teenager by all accounts. during my struggles with mental illness, I sometimes had thoughts of committing violence against others, and this disturbed me more than even my thoughts of violence against myself. while discussing this with a counselor, an idea came to form in my head about the nature of anger, and what role it played concerning Dylan. I am by no means a psychologist, and I realize you probably dissected the role of Dylan's anger far more thoroughly in your book than I ever could while simply pondering the matter, but I'd like to discuss my idea- that anger projects in three directions. either internally, towards the self, or externally, towards specific people and/or groups, or the world at large. after trying to see things from Dylan's point of view to try to form an understanding of why he did what he did, and using my own experiences and thought-processes as a sort of template, I could see that he thought very low of himself and sometimes expressed anger towards himself, at least in some of his journal entries. however he also projected anger outwards at others in the school who he thought had wronged him, and I think that anger, both internal and external, may have evolved into anger and rage at the world and society at large, (what role Harris may have had in this re-direction of anger, I have no idea), perhaps motivating the plan of using Columbine as a way to, for lack of a better term, hold the world hostage as they inflicted massive casualties in their attack(not to just "get back at the bullies and jocks" as many believe the attack was), and to get back at society as a whole. I know as someone who has been in a similar place to where Dylan was, my anger towards myself, over time, translated into generalized anger at the world, as I felt i had been cheated by society and by the Universe at large, and with what little research I have done, I think Dylan felt very much the same way, jsut on a much larger scale. I could go into more detail about this idea of direct anger against the self or others morphing into indirect anger against the world, but I wanted to sketch out the many thoughts I've had about this, and simplify them. what do you think of this? as I have yet to read the book myself, have you gone over this is someway in your book, and did you realize anything similar while researching for the book?
Very smart approach.
(One thing to keep in mind. Brooks published his book before the journals were released. They drastically changed the available evidence about what Eric and Dylan were thinking, and I think illustrated how badly Brooks imagined his way into their heads. But it's a useful perspective. I read it and highlighted the hell out of it.)
+Dave Cullen thanks for the reply, and the note about Brooks' book. I'm more reading his account to gain an understanding of what they were like before the shooting, rather than their motives. even as a friend of Eric and Dylan, there's so much he couldn't have seen. if they could hide their weapons and plans from their own parents, they could certainly hide them from people at school. i'm also reading his because I was involved in a Reddit Brooks' had set up where he answered questions about his experiences before, during, and after the massacre, and it was pretty thought provoking. anyways, thanks for the reply!
Nice. And smart attitude.
Brooks definitely has a world view. Dystopian comes to mind. :)
I recall him describing Deer Creek Middle School and I think comparing it to a prison yard, incredibly bleak. I've been to that school many times, and all I can say is that it would take some bleak-tinted glasses to turn that delightful place into that. :)
+Dave Cullen I could definitely see that, many I know have a similar worldview, and that must have only been strengthened by Columbine. I'll try to keep that in mind while I read his account
+Dave Cullen I had a chance to read three chapters from your book and compare them to Brooks Brown's book. I must say that you are correct when you say that Brown projected himself onto the killers. I always thought that the injustice of the school was the thesis of his book, but if schoolyard justice played a large role in the murders, why did Eric wear a tee-shirt that said "Natural Selection"? Why did he tell everyone to get up? (I am not sure if it was Dylan or Eric who rejoined with "Everyone with white hats stand up?")
Thanks very much, Sam. The encouragement helps. I'm waist deep in a new book, it can be discouraging, and it's really helpful to hear the last one helped you.
+Dave Cullen Going through my 4th full read of the book, this time with the new edition, and saw the updates in the introduction. One of the things that never rang true for me was the "eric was a ladies man' portion and Im glad you modified that section. You could have left it in with 'no harm no foul', but you changed your mind and explained why. Thats character. You get down with your bad self. Looking forward to the next one
+mmcfe Thanks. Though I hope you know the "ladies man" quote those kids love to bandy about was invented and never appears in the book.
Dave, i love this video, very informative and the way you do it is unique too. I don't know how you have the strength to do something likr this, i would of broken down and started crying. I feel for all victims, families and America itself. Well done.
but my question is when I was reading the book I felt so close to the people in the book that I felt depressed for sort of while, did you go through anything like that when you were researching and writing it?
thank you!!!
Mr. Cullen, I am a high school student, and I originally bought your book as a refference for a paper I was doing last year, but I ended up really enjoying it. It was moving and was extremely complete, and although it is about a mass murder for some reason I find it very fascinating. I just want to compliment you on your very long and thorough investigation. I can't imagine the patience and dedication required to complete some thing like that.
Dave,
How did you view the basement tapes if they still have not yet been made public by the Jefferson county police department?
@TheClassica87 so which book to you recommend i buy? David Cullen's Book or Brooks Brown's? Brown was an ex friend of the killers and ive always felt curious to see what his version of columbine was
Thanks. I appreciate the heads up.
I have spent the past three nights reading your book, Dave.
It is very well written. Capturing, to say the least. As a visual reader, your words were brought to life within my mind. I tend to have extremely detailed visuals, as if I were watching a movie. I had forgotten that I was reading a book, more than once.
Powerful piece of literature, I must admit. It displayed a magnitude of logic, facts, views, and fine details.
Simply outstanding, and a fantastic read.
Dave: Do you have any idea if I can buy your book in Czech Republic ? I can't find on the internet.
Dave,
Amazing work on the book. I couldn't put it down and it helped me put my mind at ease regarding certain questions I had about this incident.
I also read your comment about "this next book".. Care to clue us in?
Mr. Cullen, I read your book for my junior English class and i found it to be the most interesting book I have ever read. Now, in my senior English research paper, I am studying the man vs. self conflict as presented in your book. This video has helped me immensely in my research. I hope to read more research novels from you in the future.
Thank you. The encouragement really helps.
Dave, you mentioned that Dwayne Fuselier turned you on to a book about psychopaths and their disturbing world. What is the name of that book? I want to check it out myself.
Thanks very much. I'm glad it helped you. I appreciate you sharing that.
Exactly! Thank you. Well said, and much more concise than me.
Very nice sentiment. Thanks, Sarah. I nearly made "At the broken places" the book title.
Thanks for your replies. I found your book illuminating and thoroughly researched. My instinct tells me that bullying played some role, but I appreciated the tone of your reporting. As soon as I heard the term "trench coat mafia" the day after the shooting, I knew a media hysteria was in full swing and tuned out the story for nearly 14 years. Glad to get such a rational report when I decided to revisit the topic all these years later.
Fantastic book dave. One off the best i have ever read.
I'm really glad to hear it. Let me know how the class discussion goes.
There are also ideas for research projects/papers on my website under the Students tab.
It may well indicate that for Dylan, as his journal suggests he seemed torn all along, and apparently planned to kill himself before it ever came.
Eric's journal suggests quite the opposite: he was thorough and adamant for the most part, and had a lot of work to do to realize his plan, which he systematically went about conducting: eg, making bombs, acquiring guns and then ammo, attempting to make napalm, planning out the logistics ...
The biggest advice I can give: keep the two separate!
Thanks. Let us know what you think.
And thanks for using your library. I've gotten a renewed sense of how important they are.
Dave I love your Book. I have to say that reading your book and learning about Dylan helped me deal with some emotions I had on the day this happened. I remember being in the library of my Ohio boarding school the day this happened. I was watching the coverage and immediately thought to myself "oh shit, somebody actually did what I think about all the time." I can easily see how if teamed up with the wrong best friend how I was capable of this also. That scared the shit out of me.
This looks like a really interesting book... Things like this really fascinate me for some reason. I think I'll have to check it out :)
wat a respectful way to go about making this documentary
Thanks, Jamie. I'm struggling with the software for fix it, but will. I appreciate the heads-up.
Dave,
Bought the book and absolutely loved it. Couldn't put it down. I'm a criminology major and find this case particularly interesting. Thanks for the book, incredible work.
I am the Director of a small library in Kansas. I picked up your book two days ago and I have about 20 pages left. I believe your book should be read by every single person in this world of ours. I normally do not ready non-fiction but your book I cannot put down. I would read about events and then come to youtube to see if there was video of it.
i read this a year ago and i could not put it down! i read the entire book in 2 days and i was amazed at all the facts dave gathered. i just wish the authorities would release the basement tapes to the public.
i just downloaden a docu : bowling for columbine. but i also saw a movie about it once, cant remember the name. does anyone know what the movie is called?
I love your book. It's very well written and so insightful. Incredible work, Mr. Cullen.
Just added your book to my amazon.com wishlist!
This trailer is very moving. Columbine happened a year after I graduated high school. It scared me because I worried it might've become a fad and someone at my old high school would try to repeat Columbine while a few of friends were still attending school.
@Dave Cullen
A Question: Do you believe that Harris and Klebold also did the rempage without the dramatic experience of Arrest by the Incident in 1998? Even at that time Harris began to write his diary and start planning columbine.
(sorry for my english, I'm from Austria)
Thanks, Glassessn. Authorities are definitely evaluating him. I share your hope that they do a good job. That may depend partly on how much access his defense team allows.
No, I'm not planning to study the case in-depth. I never intended to write a book about killers, but that just sort of happened. Hopefully it will be my only book on killers. I have many other things I want to write about.
where can i buy your book
I remember at the time this occurred, i was at 7th grade (equivalent to Junior High), and was so excited for find some guys actually carried out the same thing i was thinking for about 8 months before at my own school. I was a very depressed kid and fortunately i could seek help at the time... these two kids didn't have the chance, though. Maybe if they had, they'd be helping others kids with same issues today.
Btw I'm 26 now, and work as professor for half-time job.
Dave, your book is amazing such a mind gripper so very detailed. I feel im in the mind of each person you mention. I just finished chapter "Judgement" still a 215 something pages away.
Reading the words penned by Dylan and Eric gave a fascinating insight into what was going on in the heads of these two killers. I highly recommend your book "Columbine." I had only seen the media reporting at the time of the incident and figured, almost to this day that they were "poor put upon and bullied kids" who took revenge after snapping...obviously that was a wrong assumption. Your book is a great read.
@LoveShiaGDSN 10 year anniversary, because it led me to your book. I got it the first day it came out, during my Senior year, actually. It is a fantastic and very interesting read. Thank you for dispelling the myths that go along with Columbine, because before I read this book, I believed them all. Also, for making all of the information available on your site. The journals and such.
great job! I loved the book, and am looking for some visuals to aid my experaince
Thank you for writing this book. I first got interested in Columbine when I was in 8th grade, because I found She Said Yes in my school library. I spent hours on the internet searching for information about Columbine, but pretty exclusively about the victims. I read very little about Eric and Dylan. Over the years, my interest would renew when I read a book such as Give A Boy A Gun, or watch a movie that reminded me of it. However, I'm really glad that I started to look it up again around the
Hey Dave, hope you can answer this question for me. I had to research Columbine for a project I did for a class last semester, and I became quite fascinated by it. There's just one question that remains for me that hasn't really been discussed. This question will sound incredibly insensitive, but I don't mean it to be in any way, shape, or form
Part two: I should add that hiding the humiliation of bullying is an essential component of shame. You play these games even with yourself, which might explain why the killers did not highlight this in their journals, although I've heard elsewhere that they did make specific references. I purposely avoided learning more about Columbine from the day after the shooting until last week, and was amazed at how many divergent views exist out there.
hi. I am very interested in reading your book- it looks really interesting and eye opening. I have two questions- one, what is your opinion on the movie "bowling for columbine" in terms of accuracy? Second, many people, including Michael Moore, claim that the boys were "completely normal" until they started taking SSRIs and blame the shootings on the antidepressants. I was wondering what your opinion was. Thank you so much for answering my questions.
Thanks, man. I'm glad it helped.
Mr. Cullen, I thank you for such an illuminated look at such a misunderstood and media backed piece of history. I am sure it was not easy to comb through and compile the evidence to make sense out of a twisted view that is different than what the majority of the public believes. Excellent reporting, you can chalk me up to read everything else you have published.
I plan on reading your book as soon as I finish this school year but I just wanted to leave a friendly note that on your website, under the "Columbine" tab, the word "Research" is spelled "Reseach." I don't think that is purposeful but I just wanted to make you aware of it. :)
I'm considering buying your book, but would you aksi recommend No Easy Answers by Brooks Brown? :o
Witness testimony varies wildly in nearly every case, especially in chaos. Most people never laid eyes on who was actually shooting.
Thank you for your quick reply. I will most likely buy it from one of those bookstores.
Dave have you read Randy Brown's review on your book and what do you say about that? i've spoke to classmates in their class and they confirmed e and d were bullied.
Great book just finished!
Thanks very much, Pivot.
Great. I was downtown yesterday and stopped by both stores to sign their stock. Unfortunately, The Strand was out, but Barnes/Noble on Union Square had a dozen and I signed them all. So if you order from them, you should be able to get an autographed copy. I would ask them to check to be sure. (There is no extra charge.)
Thanks, Felipe.
Your comments illustrate a central flaw in the Columbine bullying mythology. Your rationale for the hypothesis is that everyone talked about them "being treated badly by peers." That statement is true of virtually everyone on the planet. Because we all ARE treated badly by our peers from time to time. That's human existence.
To equate that with bullying is absurd. Most of the friends said they were not, and the killers' print/video journals never even bother to mention it.
Thanks. I appreciate that.
Hi Dave. How bad was library?
Thanks. That makes me very happy.
Do they sell this book in Thailand?
I was interested in maybe picking the book up,
They also said they hated people- ALL people. During one of his "basement tapes" Harris says to his friend Morris "if you live, you can have my computer stuff". IF YOU LIVE? He says this to a FRIEND? This is beyond getting back at people- this is killing without a conscience. You can't help these guys; Harris even jokes about how he's able to fool people- including therapists and his parents. How can you help when the patient thinks it's a game? No, they were beyond help...
Hi. Thanks for your interest, Golden. I don't get any info on bookstores in different countries (or even the US, actually), but many US bookstores who always carry it will ship worldwide. I have two listed on my website. CZcams won't let me link, but it's in the video's description davecullen..., then click on the Columbine tab and then "Buy" in the dropdown list.
Thanks very much.
Dave, what is it about the Columbine tragedy that interested you enough to research and write about it?
I covered it as a journalist. I drove out there in the first hour, and of course it was horrifying. It was the kids the morning after, that really drew me in, though. (I describe that in the start of the "Vacant" chapter--vacant referring to their stares. Chilling.)
I had to know what would become of them. And then second, I became driven to understand why the killers did it. More at my site here: www.davecullen.com/columbine
Awesome, thanks for your response!
I am about a third of the way through your book and I can hardly put it down; however, I did stop reading long enough to watch "April Showers", and I saw "Zero Day" last year. What strikes me is the difference between these movies (admittedly dramatic reenactments), plus the clips I have seen from Columbine, and what we have seen from the Sandy Hook tragedy (specifically, utter chaos/emotion vs. total control). Do you have an opinion about this?
Exactly. Thanks.
Thanks for the help, Zachary, but I suggest you read the seminal book on psychopathy, "Without Conscience," or any of the other major books. I'm not sure where you got your definition, but it's incorrect. The two terms are used synonymously in most cases, depending on field, but the major experts prefer "psychopath," so I used that.
The book elaborates on all this.
I just finished reading your book and still feel very emotional about it.I was prepared to hate the boys:while I believe Eric was a lost cause I actually found myself feeling sympathy for Dylan.I have suffered from severe depression my entire life and reading his journals was hard as I saw myself in them-not the murderous rants(I only wanted to hurt myself) but in feeling as if I would never be happy,always lonely,just wanting to be loved,etc.I wish I could go back in time and help somehow.
According to the survivors from the library, Dylan was smiling the entire time and much more vocal and celebratory than Eric, so I don't buy that for a minute. I really hate the fact so many people think Dylan was just some poor guy who got caught up in a situation that was primarily orchestrated by Eric. There's just no way that assumption holds any water, especially if you read the transcript from that library 911 call.
(cont) Reading about Eric taught me something too. That it was his secrets that led him to most of this. Basically what I'm saying is that I went to therapy and got the venom out. Admitting my darkest thoughts helped dull a sharp edge. After that I could move on to the roots of my depression and move forward instead of being stuck in the hate and vitriol towards myself that would sometimes spill out at others.
Hey, thanks for that.
I love your book you make it really quite grasping
Thats a good quote: "The world breaks everyone. And afterward, many are strong at the broken places." For me, that is the very best healing and justice, even if justice is never done to those did such harm. You get up, you go on, and try to understand. You look at the life of the person who causes such pain. You look for any explanation. But ALL of it is the explanation PLUS that moment of his choice to do it. Healing is a process helped by helping others. Make a good life, don't waste it.
Thank you for writing this book. It's important that the story is told correctly. Reading about Eric left me with this horrible sense of hopelessness that I couldn't shake for a few days. I think your book is the closest I can get to the inside of his mind and that is a very, very dark place. I just feel sorry for Dylan. Without Eric, he probably would have never killed anyone but himself.
Thanks. Check out the endnotes on the basement tapes (and on all the evidence on the killers). I address it pretty thoroughly there.