Social Media is Sparta

The story of what happened at Columbine is important, but that story has been told and retold by plenty of authors, journalists, and filmmakers. Granted, not every story published about the Columbine shooting is accurate; there’s definitely room to tell a more precise story. However, we don’t need an accurate story of Columbine to understand it or prevent future incidents. Getting stuck in the details satisfies curiosity, but obscures the big picture and ultimately fails to answer the most important question: how can we prevent school shootings?

The answer is in the aftermath – a specific part of the aftermath

If your goal is to prevent future school shootings, knowing the details of what happened on April 20, 1999 is not as urgent as understanding what happened in the two decades following the massacre. We can learn more about preventing future incidents of school violence by studying Columbine’s aftermath than we can by trying to figure out how and why the shooters committed their crimes.

For twenty years following the massacre, thousands of teenagers came to identify with the shooters. Many of those teenagers ended up committing suicide and/or murder. Why? If you want to prevent future incidents, you have to understand the kids who came after Eric and Dylan.

Since personal motivations are subjective and unique to each individual, it makes more sense to understand the overarching reason teenagers identify with school shooters and identify how that interest can lead to following in their footsteps.

Columbine is a living legacy

Columbine is not just an event that took place on April 20, 1999. Columbine is a story that lives in the minds and hearts of thousands of people worldwide. The story of Columbine means different things to different people. While many of those meanings have been told by survivors, families, and members of the community, one particular voice has remained  silent  been silenced.

“Columbiners,” as they’re often called, have not been given a platform to speak. In fact, their attempts to express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas are frequently invalidated, ridiculed, and silenced. They’re routinely ridiculed and “cancelled” on social media platforms like Tumblr and other spaces. Nobody wants to hear what they have to say. However, they hold the key to understanding the school shooter phenomenon. They understand it, sometimes more intimately than they’ll admit.

Although the term “Columbiner” was originally created to define (and degrade) anyone with more than a casual interest in Columbine, people who fall into this category are vastly different individuals. While many have overlapping experiences, beliefs, and opinions, no two “Columbiners” are exactly alike. Personally, I don’t like this term because it’s intended to be derogatory, but I’ve used it here because it will help some people understand what I’m talking about.

However, there’s a huge problem. This entire subculture exists entirely online. That’s a problem because while people are expressing themselves genuinely, being on the internet gives many people a “free pass” to act like savages, and this behavior prevents genuine conversation.

What we have is a war in the virtual world where people grossly misunderstand why people feel drawn to Eric and Dylan. This includes well-known authors and other public figures both within and outside of the Columbine community. And it’s a damned shame.

Many of these people are misrepresenting other people’s experiences, expressions, and points of view in order to more strongly prove their own points or dismiss “Columbiners” and make them wrong. There’s hardly any space for conversation, civil discourse, or a simple exchange of ideas.

We’ve got a self-important journalist who refuses to engage in conversation or debate with anyone who questions his work. This same journalist who proclaims to care about the problem publicly ridicules the same teens he says he is genuinely concerned about by calling them “turds” among other insults, adding to the trauma. In other words, he’s a damned bully. It’s ironic that he also denies that Eric and Dylan were bullies.

This is a man who has been given the title of society’s “Columbine authority” despite getting nearly everything wrong about the case. Institutions invite and pay this man to speak on behalf of the facts and lessons of Columbine and he isn’t qualified to speak about either. It’s clear that he has either been paid by Jefferson County to push their officially incorrect narrative, or he’s just completely ignorant. I personally believe the former.

This great divide on school violence isn’t limited to misguided journalists – many other people in these social media spaces are participants. And these arguments are rooted in self-importance, pride, arrogance, and the need to be right. It’s also rooted in an unwillingness to acknowledge the experiences of other human beings – even the journalist who may-or-may-not-have-been-paid to get everything wrong.

Argue, defend, deflect, deny.

We all do it.

We all think the other deserves it.

Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. Either way…

The cycle continues.

Social media is Sparta.