Would the Columbine guys be my homeboys?

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I would only want to be 'homeboys' with them if I had no idea of what they were planning. If I knew they were going to kill someone, or that they had killed someone, I would stay away. Otherwise I am an inconsistent judge of people, attracted to 'strange' types, so I might end up friends with them without knowing.

Myself, I'm a pretty good judge of character.

Wish I was one!

The thing is, I don't think they were strange or at all particularly profound. There is nothing that unusual about an inability to cope, they just took it to a fairly extreme level, and it does not take much brains or strength of character to destroy. I admire and befriend people that create, learn, and invent; hateful people with wishes to destroy are so drudgingly typical.

WHat these guys did does not make them special. It does not lionize them, excuse them, or even explain them. They should not be looked up to or admired by anyone. Ever. The name of their school has already gained infamy. It's even entered the language as a verb.

Yet other people still flaunt & deify the firearm, caress. kiss and love it, as if it could solve all of our problems. Yet it does the opposite of solving problems- all it can do is create more, Gun-loving Americans, you are creating your own hell on earth. Enjoy.

From what I understand they were pretty difficult people to hang out with.
I lived in Littleton when it happened. Thinking about it just brings s**t back, man.

Check the mirror. You are knee-jerking which, to me, is the opposite of “character.” Mindlessly reacting rather than questioning, listening, thinking and understanding. You are part of the problem.

None of that crap is here. Try reading the thread. THIS thread. Put down the baggage and check out what is actually happening, HERE.

This sounds like a closing argument. Are you done yet? Are you really leaving now?

At first, I had no idea what to think of Columbine. I mean, I had always been bullied, but I didn't really think it concerned me. And then it got worse. Mostly because of Columbine and similar incidents. I would get bullied, and insult added to injury, I would get punished when I struck back and/or defended myself in even the most minor ways. I was labeled the "problem child" for BEING sensitive and easily upset, whereas the bullies were the golden boys and girls of the school and community... in my more cynical moments, I believed it was BECAUSE they helped the teachers put malcontents like myself in their places and force them to "cooperate." In a convoluted way, I came to, if not admire, than at least understand how the killers had come to the point where they wanted to kill people, and indeed had such a fascination with them and the school shooting phenomenon that the staff and faculty had their doubts about me more so than before.

Why did I not flip out and kill anyone? I had hope. I had something I was striving to do, and wouldn't give up on. I wanted to, and still want to, change the world for people like myself. And, as petty as this may sound, I wanted to see the looks on the people's faces, those people who hurt me, when they saw that, despite their words and actions, I was succeeding and they were failing or going nowhere. And this is how it is playing out as so far. But if I hadn't had hope or a future? If I'd been average or below-average, if I had nothing to inspire me or push me forward, and the most that I could expect of myself was to lead a pointless, lonely existence doing something I hated? If the most statement I felt I was going to make with my life was one of spite, I might well have taken out everyone who had done me wrong.

My main complaint with them is how they went about it. Unfortunately, as it stands, the fact that innocent bystanders died as well as those who were the source of the problem and those who were complicit in letting it happen makes it easy to dismiss them as nothing more than inherent psychopaths with no understandable rhyme or reason for what they did... many would prefer this to be the case, but nothing will come of it if we don't address the things that led to what happened. Probably targeting those who did in one way or another contribute to their own eventual death wouldn't have endeared the shooters to many, but it would have made Zero Intelligence policies seem less necessary than a real dialogue and plan to deal with bullying, would have made it harder to ignore the disease in favor of the symptoms.

EDIT: Gahhh.... I was ranting so much I forgot the "question," more or less. ; I do that sometimes. I'd probably not be very good friends with them in real life. Definitely wouldn't be a bully, but I just don't connect with people so easily, so unless their sort of "weird" and my sort of "weird" matched up, I'd probably not have known them on a personal basis all that well.

“Living well is the best revenge.”
~ George Herbert, English clergyman & metaphysical poet (1593 - 1633)

And by the way, you were not imagining it.

http://stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/adult/i ... =newjersey

Some teachers consciously and deliberately model, instruct, encourage and reward bullying. Why they are so sick is a big, complicated question. But no, it was not your imagination. That’s why we have laws now.