...The Columbine High School massacre or simply Columbine was a school shooting that occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine,[2][3] an unincorporated area of Jefferson County in the state of Colorado. In addition to the shootings, the complex and highly planned attack involved a fire bomb to divert firefighters, propane tanks converted to bombs placed in the cafeteria, 99 explosive devices, and bombs rigged in cars. The perpetrators, two senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered a total of 12 students and one teacher. They injured 21 additional people, with three others being injured while attempting to escape the school. The pair then committed suicide.[4][5] Although their motives remain unclear, the personal journals of the perpetrators document that they wished their actions to rival the Oklahoma City bombing, as well as other deadly incidents that occurred in the United States in the 1990s. The attack has been referred to by USA Today as a "suicidal attack [that was] planned as a grand—if badly implemented—terrorist bombing."[6] The massacre is reported as being "the deadliest high school shooting in US history."[7] The massacre sparked debate over gun control laws, the availability of firearms within the United States and gun violence involving youths. Much discussion also centered on the nature of high school cliques, subcultures and bullying, in addition to the influence of violent movies and video games in American society. The...
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...Columbine, by Dave Cullen, is the story of the Columbine High School Massacre that happened on April 20, 1999 in Columbine, Colorado. Cullen uses a peculiar style of writing; he alternates between the story of the aftermath and the planning details of the massacre to demonstrate how Eric and Dylan plan worked and how it affected the people that were injured as well as what caused Eric and Dylan to do the things that they did. He does an excellent job in letting the reader know what happened during the massacre and what the outcome of that action was. Cullen alternates between the planning and the aftermath to show the reader how the plan worked and what the outcome was. An example of this is in Chapter 16. In chapter 16, Cullen describes the death of a young teenager and then he alternates to the aftermath at how the teenager’s parents reacted to show the reader the outcome of Eric and Dylan’s decisions. He does this to appeal to the reader’s emotion and to make the reader realize the pain that many felt after the shooting. He does this throughout the entire book to show specific portions of the shooting and the aftermath. Cullen also alternates between the shooting and Eric and Dylan’s past to show the reader why they did the things they did. An example of this is in Part III of the book. In Part III, Cullen describes the lives of Eric and Dylan years before the incident, to show the reader how Eric and Dylan changed throughout their lives and what caused them do the things...
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...“Bowling for Columbine” Film Analysis On April 20, 1999, many people’s lives drastically changed. An incident that occurred in Littleton, Colorado created a jaw dropping event that disrupted all of America. It also stopped Michael Moore right in his tracks. Not long after the incident, Michael Moore decided to make a documentary called “Bowling for Columbine,” a film that acknowledged many important points that are usually ignored and overlooked. This documentary focused on a school shooting that never should have happened. This tragic incident lead Moore to ponder many questions and create an extremely interesting documentary. Michael Moore has been in the film industry for quite some time. He’s created numerous documentaries that have received a large amount of public attention. He is also a filmmaker, author and political activist that not only knows how to work a camera, but also an audience (Deming). In his documentary “Bowling for Columbine”, Moore uses facts, interviews, and personal stories to really get the viewers undivided attention. He also uses multiple statistics to prove his points throughout the documentary. In 2002, Moore won an Oscar for the Best Documentary Film for “Bowling for Columbine” (Ecksel 1). This film not only touched the hearts of many Americans, but also created an argument for several businesses and associations that were involved. On April 20, 1999, the halls of Columbine High School changed forever. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris altered...
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...The author and filmmaker, Michael Moore, insists he wants to be taken seriously as he challenges America’s gun culture with his documentary ‘Bowling for Columbine’. Bowling for Columbine was released in 2002 and addresses an issue that still exists today, seemingly more in the U.S. The film involves a mix of tongue-in-cheek interviews as well as confrontational interviews with celebrities as he attempts to deceive the audience with false statements and inaccurate data to persuade the audience. “I don’t know what truth is. Truth is something unattainable. We can’t think we’re creating truth with a camera. But what we can do is reveal something to viewers that allows them to discover their own truth.” (Brault, Michael) Brault’s statement appears...
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...of the most tragic and deadly days in US history. Columbine High School was in the forefront of this tragedy. Two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, opened fire on their fellow classmates and teacher. These two students cut the lives short of thirteen students and one teacher. They then turned their guns onto themselves leaving the nation with no answers as to why? They did leave videotape. This videotape contained Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold planning their attack on Columbine High School. This piece of evidence showed two students that were not part of the "in crowd". They were outsiders, losers, as some would consider them. They were taunted, humiliated, and disrespected by their classmates. But how can two intelligent students do something as deadly as they did. Was it because they had bad parents? Not at all, they even went out of their way to save their parents the blame by repeatedly saying that it was not their fault that they were about to do what they did. So what was the cause of all this tragedy and how can it be stopped so it can never happen again in our middle schools and high schools? Elliot Aronson a social psychologist wrote a book called Nobody Left to Hate, Teaching Compassion After Columbine. This book represents his ideas on how to use certain strategies to have a better school environment that teaches compassion, tolerance while putting education in a winning situation. Aronson discusses the Columbine High School in depth, talking about the short cut...
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...The Columbine Massacre was one of the worst school shootings in the twentieth century. A total of 15 were killed including Dylan and Eric that day. Dylan klebold and Eric Harris both plan this attack for a long time. They called it judgement Day. Twenty-four people were not seriously injured. Twenty-one of those were injured by gunfire. Both of the boys were very psychotic and i think they needed major help. Dylan went to two different elementary schools, Normandy Elementary and Governor’s Ranch Elementary. He was very active in sports. He was a Cub Scouts with his long time friend Brookes Brown. Dylan and Eric met in Ken Carl Middle School. Eric introduced Dylan to Nate. Dylan, Eric, Nate, and Brookes moved to Columbine after the renovation...
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...On April 20, 1999, the small town Columbine witnessed a terrible incident where two boys committed a massacre on their school. Columbine High School. The two boys, Dylan Klebold,17, and Eric Harris, 18, single handedly murdered 12 people and injured another 21. The number of casualties could easily have exceeded, considering that their plan didn't worked out exactly as they had planned, even though it was very thought through. Their original plan was that the bombs they had planted in the school cafeteria was to explode, and the survives would exit the school through the two main doors, of which Dylan and Eric covered one each. Luckily the bombs didn't go off. Which saved many lives, since it was to go off at the time where there would be the highest number of people at the location. The shooting began at 11:19 a.m. at the west entrance of the school. Their first victim was Rachel Scott who died of shots to the head and torso. Before entering the school and continuing the shooting, they managed to shoot 9 people. The whole incident lasted 43 minutes, where they had managed to kill 12 people and injure 21. A witness who had locked herself inside a room overhead Eric and Dylan count to 3 in unison, which was followed by two gunshots. They committed suicide. On April 20, 1999, the small town Columbine witnessed a terrible incident where two boys committed a massacre on their school. Columbine High School. The two boys, Dylan Klebold,17, and Eric Harris, 18, single...
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...Columbine was one of the first major school shootings in the United States. It brought attention to gun safety, bullying issues, and mental health. Columbine brought a sense of fear to the nation, school was suppose to be a safe environment. People were concerned that if something like this could happen at school, it could happen anywhere, especially with little gun safety laws. We now practice lockdown drills, have gun safety laws, and are more prepared in case of an emergency. The shooting of Columbine High School brought attention to mental health. Zero tolerance rules were made to try to eliminate bullying along with threats of violence. The country took no chances as to if things were a “joke.” Depression and anger issues were not just...
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...Bowling for Columbine Response In all of Michael Moore’s documentaries, he demonstrates ironclad points with distinguishing examples. He appeals to the emotions and morals of the audience. While tugging on heartstrings and caressing the laws of society, he manipulates the viewers. In fact, every documentary is made to so do, not just Michael Moore’s. In the documentary, Bowling for Columbine, Moore uses the age old documentary techniques to lead each viewers to a more polarized battlefield; he quoted the National Rifle Association. The National Rifle Association struggles to protect the right to bear arms. The NRA gets a little extreme, like most organizations. Associations are polar, life is polarity. You will have the extreme in every one you meet. Peta for example, (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is a great cause solid beliefs that we, as a world, needs to protect the interests of animals. Who wouldn’t want to save puppies from cruel, unnecessary testing? However, when Peta activists line the streets in lettuce bikinis, people begin to see them as extremist. The NRA is the same way. When Charlton Heston expresses his extreme views publicly after the Columbine tragedy with the exclamation, “From my cold, dead hands,” the NRA starts to get a bad reputation as well. Michael Moore used Heston’s mistake of leading a rally right after the tragedy to his advantage. Moore portrayed the NRA as inhumane, cruel people who don’t care about the tragedy at Columbine High School...
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...Columbine Shooting I do not think that Marilyn Manson’s music had a direct effect on the tragedy at Columbine. It was reported that the shooters of that massacre didn’t even listen to his music. The shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had been planning the shooting for a while. Eric Harris was posting information on how to make bombs on his website and made threats towards students and teachers, he even went as far as making a hit list of people he wanted to kill. Prior to the shootings the two teens were already having troubles with the law. They were arrested for stealing supplies out of a work van. Their mental health was questionable as both of them ended up going to anger management classes. Harris also went to a therapist for about a year. These things would have been happening regardless of Marilyn Manson’s music. Manson uses freedom of speech to the fullest and does have a huge following of loyal fans. Most of these fans are angry and confused teens. Manson goes to extremes to express himself. He uses satanic images and themes of rebellion and death. His music is no doubt dark and creepy but it does not encourage acts of violence. Thousands of teens have followed him for years and have shown no aggression. On the other hand, Manson feels the media is used to manipulate the mind and takes over changing our own values such as religion. He makes this statement in relation to that in his music, “God is in the T.V.”(Rock is dead) It is the negative attention he got...
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...The setting of the movie, “Bowling for Columbine” takes place in a little town country. Two boys are having a game of bowling when suddenly a pretty faced girl appears wielding an M-16 type of assault weapon. It is just a normal typical morning in America. Even though, the scenery is bombarded with ruins of buildings demolished after the bombing approval by the president. The USA is recording high numbers of people killed by small firearms and yet there is no civil war at present. Michael Moore then sets out to explore this phenomenon and why it is in play. Within our society today, media and stereotyping takes over human loves, people fear different ethnic races, children are growing to be more violent and America is growing to be more corrupt. His answers reveal strange and shocking findings, there is a very easy availability of shotguns and light firearms, which results to a rampant all over the States. America’s national history also proves to contain and entail a violent form of culture-imprinted into people’s way of thinking. Forms of entertainment are also partly to blame as they give the viewer a certain incitement including poverty levels, they are also to blame for this way of living but all these factors are not...
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...In his political documentary, “Bowling for Columbine” filmmaker Michael Moore says that fear-mongering perpetuated by American media is what supplies our endemic gun violence. Moore supports this argument by providing expert testimony of how the media attempts to make the audience fear whatever they are covering that night, citing research, citing statistics of how many guns murders that America has opposed to other major developed countries, and sharing personal anecdotes of things such as Canadians not feeling that it is obligatory to lock their doors to things like one first grader shooting another. Moore intends to lower the gun murder rate in America by showing that the problem isn’t what everybody thinks it is, rather it is the media...
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...The Columbine Massacre: Why They Did It In April of 1999, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris made a decision that deeply affected our great nation. Together, they decided to enact upon the teenage rage that had been building in them for years and attempted to murder hundreds of students with both bombs and guns. They successfully killed fifteen people--thirteen students, a coach and finally, themselves. They left an impact on America’s Society, many calling for gun control and higher security of school campuses. Dylan Klebold is perceived in the Columbine novel as a depressed, suicidal teen that followed Eric and was practically hypnotized under his influence. He would attempt to commit crimes with Eric, even though he had difficulty covering his tracks and lies when confronted about them, as demonstrated on page 200 of the novel, paragraph two, “Dylan was no good at deception. He kept getting caught. Eric did not. Tom Klebold noticed that Dylan had a new laptop. Eric could have weaseled out of that one without missing a beat-- it was a friend’s… he’d checked it out of the computer lab. Dylan just confessed. His dad made him turn himself in.” Dylan was a sociopath, between his violations of the law, lying(although not very convincing as demonstrated...
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...Running head: SERIAL KILLER PAPER Serial Killer Paper: The Columbine Tragedy Carsyn Ehlinger DMACC Abstract The Columbine Massacre was a school shooting that took place on April 20th, 1999, in Littleton, Colorado. Shooters Eric Harris, and Dylan Klebold killed 13 in what was then the biggest school shooting. The Columbine massacre is a topic of interest because it was one of the first heavily reported mass shootings, and had been handled poorly by law enforcement. Today Columbine stands as an example for law enforcement, and is one of the most popular copy-cat murders. On April 20th, 1999, only seventeen days before senior graduation, students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold entered Columbine High School and killing twelve students, one teacher, and injuring many more before taking their own lives....
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...On April 20, 1999, two high school seniors, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, put the fear of God into Columbine High School and Jefferson County, Colorado. Eric and Dylan were two high school senior who were trying to fit into the cool crowd and be poplar in school. Regretfully, like many teenagers now days, they were picked on and bullied by their classmates. Most students who were picked on and bullied would eventually overcome this obstacle but Eric and Dylan were unable to. Ultimately, they took their revenge out on all those at Columbine High School. One will never be able to understand why such tragedy occurred. People have looked at Eric’s and Dylan’s make up and how they connected to get a glimpse into how such a tragedy could take...
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