Columbine by Dave Cullen Book Analysis

Imagine a student, maybe 14 or 15, going into their adored high school on a boring Tuesday, presumably worrying about an upcoming test or soon-to-be due essay. Imagine them hugging their mother goodbye that morning, unknowing that later that day 15 unfortunate students will never have the luxury of doing the same ever again. Imagine the days and months after, seeing newspapers filled with two familiar faces and pages upon pages of people trying to justify a reasonable motive for the tragedy—and make a few bucks. This was the unfortunate reality for many of the young students of Columbine, as explained by Columbine by Dave Cullen. Columbine explains to readers’ a full breakdown of the story of the Columbine shooting, from the killers’ background to how the media affected the survivors' well-being. Cullen, despite being a journalist himself, portrays the media during and after the Columbine Massacre in a harsh light that makes the reader wonder if Dylan and Eric, the Columbine killers, could be humanized.

Dave Cullen describes the media as dull and dishonest due to the hurried and unchecked information they give to their readers. One example from Columbine is when Cullen states: “The public believes Columbine was an act of retribution: a desperate reprisal for unspeakable jock abuse” (Cullen 151). We know from knowledge prior in the book that this statement is far from true, the quote exemplifying how little information the media and public had at the time. The media at the time appear like they were attempting to humanize the Columbine killers and give them justifyable reasons for what they did based on the quote. The dramatic irony of readers knowing the motives and backgrounds of Dylan and Eric, while the media and public at the time portrayed didn’t, causes readers’ to put the belief that the media is untrustworthy. Cullen describes an example of the media's frequent misinformation when he writes, “In the first two hours, witnesses on CNN described the TMC as Goths, gays, outcasts, and a street gang” (Cullen 72). The inaccurate information from this statement reinforces how the media knew very little and ended up giving out more speculation than facts. It was later found that the TMC weren’t even the ones responsible for the attacks and weren’t any of the things they were described as. Cullen describes the media as hurried and uncaring whether or not the information was correct or not.

After Columbine, Cullen describes the media as a greedy entity that cares more about headlines and the money that comes from them than the school and the children being affected. Cullen gives an example when he writes, “So far, the media owned the Columbine tragedy. That was about to change, the district said-- or good luck getting your precious ‘Columbine returns’ stories” (Cullen 272).  The gallant contention of the district on the media and its relationship with Columbine demonstrates how much the media cared about headlines and how little they generally cared about the victims of the shooting. The almost aggressive tone of the quote really shows how much Cullen dissaproved how the media handled the aftermath of Columbine and how unjustified their handling of the situation was. After a while after the tragedy, some personalities became less sympathetic about the topic and painted the media as a whole in a bad light. An example of this portrayed in Columbine is, “Chuck Green, a Denver Post columnist and one of Denver’s nastier personalities, broke the ice. He stunned the families with a pair of columns, charging them with “milking” the tragedy” (Cullen 300). The harsh words to victims of a national tragedy portrays the media as cold-hearted and apathetic. The media had ‘owned’ the tragedy, as said in an earlier quote, only for Chuck Green to charge the families with ‘milking’ it. After the shooting, the media is portrayed as wanting the money that came from the headlines, but not the people attatched to it.

The media affected readers’ views on Eric and Dylan by making them question whether the boys are able to be humanized and if there is anything beneficial that happened from their actions. There were many mixed views on Dylan and Eric, and a good amount of people believed they had a moral reason that the public didn’t know about. Cullen describes these mixed emotions when he writes, “The killers’ crosses hosted a bitter debate: ‘HATE BREEDS HATE’ ‘How can anyone forgive you’ someone respoded. Half the messages were concilatory: ‘Sorry we all failed you.’ ‘No one is to blame’” (Cullen 193). These heavily contrasting opinions on the killers display the controversy between those who thought the killer were just killers and those who thought the killers were redeemable. It forces a reader to look at both points of view, whether they agree with it or not. There were many ways to try and moralize the boys' story and humanize them. According to Cullen, “The ‘bullying’ idea began to pepper motive stories. The concept had hit a national nerve, and soon the anti-bullying motive took on a force of its own'' (Cullen 157-8). This false narrative that they were bullied was one of the leading ways to try and humanize the boys, giving them a ‘justified’ reason to be angry. The result of the bullying idea also gives readers a notion that not only bad had come from the boys. While they had committed an atrocious act, the anti-bullying movement that had spread due to it was a favorable outcome. The media’s view on Dylan and Eric affects readers’ views on them by giving them conflicting views and some more advantageous reactions to the tragedy.

Cullen portrays the media as a bad entity that shouldn’t be given the power it has and the point of view in the newspapers makes a reader wonder if Eric and Dylan can be humanized. Dave Cullen shows us that the media shouldn’t be trusted without solid evidence as he describes the consistent misinformation around and long after the tragedy. He also shows us that the media isn’t always sympathetic and can have a mean and greedy side by describing how the media reacted months and years after the massacre. Remember that, after a tragedy like this, the main concern is always the children and people shouldn’t trust what they hear.

Works Cited

Cullen, Dave. Columbine. New York: Twelve (Hachette Book Group), 2009. Print.