Cruz 3
Darren Cruz
Mrs. Ranieri
English 10 5H
March 7, 2014
Debunking Columbine's Myths
(#2)
The tragedy of Columbine in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999 marked the unprecedented coverage by the media of school shootings. The media's attempt to understand and cover who the shooters were, why they would commit such a horror, what was going on during the shooting, and many other questions led to a multitude of misunderstanding and myths. For years, these myths have almost become considered as facts. Dave Cullen spent ten years to not only cover what really happened that fateful day, but to debunk these falsehoods and set the fact straight once and for all.
One of the myths about Columbine revolved on the background of the killer, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. When trying to discover who the suspected shooters were, reporters asked many students for who are the killers and descriptions.
English: Hi-Point 995 Carbine 9 mm semi-automatic ...
An Intratec TEC-DC9 with 32-round magazine; a semi...
English: Columbine High School in Columbine, Color...In a school of thousands of students, only a handful knew what Eric and Dylan were like, the rest not even knowing who the killers were and therefore giving a distortion of the truth. The two were described as outcasts who were constantly bullied, that both were involved in the Gothic subculture, and both were members of the local "Trench Coat Mafia". It has been discovered that none of these reports were true, and that Eric and Dylan were never linked to any of the given descriptions of their background's. What was so surprising to many who knew the two was "just how ordinary these two boys seemed. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold loved their parents, did their homework, worked at the local pizzeria, and - contrary to widely reported accounts - were well-liked by their peers." (communities.washingtontimes.com) Both attended school activities, including prom, and both had...