TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Tag: Columbine

  • Slamdance explains why SCMRPG was pulled

    Slamdance explains why SCMRPG was pulled

    Columbine game was pulled over legal risk:

    In a follow-up to Alyric’s post about Super Columbine Massacre RPG Slamdance Festival co-founder has said that the reason SCMRPG was pulled from the festival’s competition was for legal reasons…

    The “hurt” factor and a moral obligation to the public, along with a “very high” legal risk, were a few reasons given Sunday during a panel discussion about why the controversial video game “Super Columbine Massacre RPG” was pulled from a Slamdance game competition.

    It didn’t help the game’s reputation, panelists agreed, that there was a “mushroom cloud” of negative and uninformed press and knee-jerk reactions to Danny Ludonne’s game.

    “It was a very hard decision to pull Danny’s game from the competition,” said Slamdance co-founder and president Peter Baxter. “We have not got the time or the money to take on the first round of civil action on this.”

    Prior to the start of the annual film festival and its newer video game competition, Slamdance was already getting outside pressure to distance itself from Ludonne’s game over fear of a civil lawsuit, possibly coming from relatives of Columbine victims.

    But Ludonne’s game was described by panelists and the discussion’s audience members as part documentary and part “art” for its depiction of actual events that took place when its creator, now 25, was a sophomore in a Colorado high school. When he created the game and submitted it anonymously to an Internet address, Ludonne said he was trying to work through notions of how he identified with the two Columbine killers.

    First of all, it cracks me up to no end that they misspelled Danny Ledonne’s name throughout the entire article. Secondly, SCMRPG is hardly what I would call art. And it’s more of a “fan tribute”, if you will, than a documentary. Documentaries are supposed to be impartial. SCMRPG is an obvious tribute to the Columbine killers, even though Mr. Ledonne says otherwise. And yes, I actually have played the game.

    When the game was pulled from the competition, Mr. Ledonne claimed that this was a blow against free speech. I disagree. I think that it’s the best exercise in free speech. The protesters voiced their opinion and the founder of the festival listened. That is what free speech is all about.

    Do I think the game should be banned? Not at all. We have the right in this country to make any kind of offensive piece of crap we’d like, just about. However, the game should not receive the praise that it has. It is not art. Art contributes something to society. The only thing this game contributes to is the designer’s own ego. It’s not close to a documentary due to its inaccuracies. For example, calling the victims generic names like “Jock” instead of using the actual victims’ names. If you’re striving for authenticity, why not go all the way?

    Personally, outside of hero-worship, I think the game is nothing more than an experiment in attention whoring. It looks like the experiment was a success.

  • Gamemakers defend Columbine game

    Gamemakers defend Columbine game

    (Guest post by Alyric)

    This story is a bit unusual in that there is no crime being blamed on video games – rather, the video game is based on a crime.

    For those of you who have been fortunate enough not to hear about it, Super Columbine Massacre RPG is a game created by Danny Ledonne. You will not find a link to it on this site; not now, not ever. Essentially, the game allows you to play as Harris and Klebold in a virtual recreation of the massacre at Columbine High School. Not only that, the content in the game and the author himself glamorize what they did. This was, sadly, hero-worship; a tribute, of sorts. Trench has covered this story previously.

    The game has been around for a while, but just recently it made headlines again. According to Newsweek, a Utah Gamemaker Competition dropped the Columbine game from consideration. In response, six of the fourteen finalists have quit in protest, and seven sent letters requesting the game’s reinstatement.

    To be fair, I suspect that most or all of these finalists are ignorant of the true nature of SCMRPG and many of the remarks made by Danny Ledonne. Still, making such a public demonstration of support for something you aren’t familiar with is dangerous at best.

    Consider a quote from the article by Jonathon Blow, one of the finalists that dropped out after SCMRPG was removed from the competition. “As long as we persist in believing that games are just for kids … we’re not going to get where we need to go.”

    This quote, I can only imagine, broadly assumes that the game has been removed for violent content. Mr. Blow, this has nothing to do with violence, only the standards of public decency, and respect for the families that lost loved ones on that day. The game constantly refers to Harris and Klebold as “brave boys”, and runs a tribute montage to them after their deaths. How could the Slamdance Festival afford to be seen as supporting that?

    If the lack of respect showed by Danny Ledonne towards the families of the people murdered at Columbine wasn’t bad enough, consider his refusal to respect the wishes of the organizers of the event; from the second article – But SCMRPG! creator Danny Ledonne has told other finalists that he plans to go to the festival anyway and distribute copies of his game.

    Kudos to Peter Baxter, president of the event, for not caving into the pressure.

  • Love letter from Hell

    Love letter from Hell

    Dylan Klebold in Love:

    When the Columbine documents were released, the mutant reaction was one of apathy. Most of the reactions went along the lines of “Well it’s bad that Eric Harris was a racist and a homophobe but look at how cute Dylan Klebold was for writing love letters”. I think this article has a much more realistic perspective…

    We don’t know whether Klebold ever summoned the nerve to deliver the love letter. We just know that, mixed in with the grotesque torments that impelled Klebold and Harris to slaughter their schoolmates, there dwelt (within Klebold, at least; experts now believe Harris was more clearly psychopathic) recognizably human torments more typical of the adolescent male. To some, this may make Klebold seem more sympathetic. To me, it makes the very notion of love, or at least teenage infatuation, seem much darker and creepier. This is not to say that I would recommend that school officials across the country mobilize en masse to expel all young swains who declare their love to unsuspecting schoolgirls. (The high schools would be emptied within a week.) Judging from the text of Klebold’s letter, it shouldn’t be as difficult as many suppose to spot the distinct warning signs that a young man is seriously deranged. Still, I’m not sure I’ll ever think the same way about what it means to have a secret admirer.

    Even monsters are capable of love, but it never stops them from killing the villagers.

  • Wish fulfilled?

    Wish fulfilled?

    Sensational:

    This is a letter to the editor at the Winston-Salem Journal about the recent slew of news reports about the Columbine documents…

    It saddens me to see the media fulfill the dreams of the two Columbine killers (I will not mention their names) with the continued coverage of their actions and publication of their names and faces at almost every “appropriate” opportunity (“Documents show progression of hate,” July 7). I read an excerpt from one of the killers’ writings shortly after the event that stated that one of his goals was to become famous through his actions and become immortalized by the media.

    The media in their never-ending pursuit of the sensational has fulfilled their perverted dreams and goals by keeping their faces and names in the headlines. This could give others similar goals, knowing that they will be made famous through media attention. The Columbine story could be told in such a way as to help pass on its lessons, learned at such a heavy price, without plastering the names and faces of the perpetrators and keeping them “famous.”

    PAUL S. MARLEY

    Tobaccoville

    While I do agree the media has more than sensationalized these stories, I have to disagree with the words famous and fame.

    The more appropriate words are infamous and infamy. Fame implies that they’ve done something noteworthy or something that people enjoyed. While there are those dregs of society I refer to as mutants who do take pleasure in Columbine, they are but the smallest of minorities.

    Infamy refers to notoriety through heinous or despicable acts. And it really doesn’t matter if their wish can be viewed as fulfilled or not. There’s not a whole lot they can do with that wish in hell.

  • 7/11/06: From the Mail Sack

    7/11/06: From the Mail Sack

    It’s time to take a dip into the mail sack. This is from my entry on the Columbine Rampart Range tape…

    DISTURBED BY SCHOOLS Jul 11th, 2006 at 5:38 pm

    im not american n when this shit happened i got put into a SPECIAL CLASS so i think DEATH TO ALL JOCKS its because of the im so cool im in the football team they did all u ppl who think down on some one cause there diffrent should wake up.FUCK if it wasnt for ppl being who they r n not what others want where would the world be. i say KILL ALL JOCKS. they ant ppl there SCUM :mrgreen: HAVE A SUPER DAY

    My spellcheck just went on strike. It refuses to work until these kids start writing in proper English. The commenter is from Australia, in case you were wondering.

    Anyway, for one second, let’s just say that you were put into a special class because of Columbine. Why are you blaming the jocks? You should blame the two little cowardly scumbags from Colorado.

    And I’m guessing that special class didn’t work.

    And remember, I’m not picking on you because you’re different. I’m picking on you because you’re stupid.

  • The penultimate insult

    The penultimate insult

    Attack plan on school server:

    One of the Columbine killers apparently downloaded plans for a spree of violence into a school computer the day before the shootings, possibly a final act of defiance that might have derailed the massacre if someone had checked the files.

    At least 18 pages found in Eric Harris’ school computer files are dated April 19, 1999, about 8:30 a.m. Among the clearest indicators of the rampage that he and Dylan Klebold carried out the next day is a sort of crude list that mentions, “prepare explosives” and “shells.” Another sheet carries the notations “cannon fuse” and “napalm tests.” Drawings of battle gear and what appear to be a swastika are on other pages.

    “Had myself or anyone in a position of authority seen these, there would have been a definite confrontation, immediately,” Richard Long, former head of technology for Columbine High School, said Friday. “We would have certainly talked to those individuals.”

    But such a scenario was unlikely. The school did not routinely check student computer files partly because it would take so long, Long said. Such files were accessed by authorities only in response to suspicious activity.

    Long was also familiar with Harris and Klebold. They were his student assistants for their first two and a half years at Columbine before they got busted for hacking into the computer system and stealing locker combinations.

    Long saw the two boys change from “bright-eyed” freshmen to teens with darker attitudes. He believes that downloading the material the day before the shootings – if that is indeed what happened – may have been one way of thumbing their noses at authority.

    “They carried propane bottles into the school,” he added. “How much more bold can you be?”

    The last sign to go unheeded.

  • Of God and the Psychopath

    Of God and the Psychopath

    The Columbine Diaries: Old Wounds … New Passions:

    I’m usually not one to force my religious beliefs on others, but I don’t hide the fact that I’m a Christian. And by Christian, I mean one who tries to follow in the teachings of Christ and believes that Christ is the son of God. Not, “bible-beating zealot who thinks you’re going to hell because you don’t believe in the same things I do”. Now having said that, let me share this article with you about a youth pastor from Littleton, Colorado…

    I was a youth pastor in Littleton with a youth group made up primarily of Columbine students. In fact, for a time the Bernall family attended our church and Cassie attended some of our meetings. I had made an appointment to meet a student on the Columbine campus for lunch on April 20th, but that morning I woke up feeling very sick and decided to stay home. At 11:30 I got a phone call from one of my interns who was sobbing and urging me to turn on the television.

    At first the images struck me as a fire at the school, but within seconds the cold hard reality of what was really going on sunk in to my conscious mind.

    The unthinkable was happening. If you were old enough to remember that day, you know what I’m talking about. A quiet suburban neighborhood was transformed into a war zone, except instead of soldiers being shot, there were innocent teens going through hell on earth.

    Over the next several months I met with each of my students who were there to let them pour out their anger and grief, and somehow try to answer the unanswerable question of why God would allow this to happen.

    Now seven years later the old wounds are reopened with the release of over 900 pages of documents from the killers. Inside you’ll find what you probably expected…angst, hate, vitriolic diatribes, and even a glimpse into the thinking patterns of a psychopath and a depressive.

    I’ll be honest, I wasn’t excited about the release of these diaries, I don’t enjoy reliving the feelings of that day. Yet as I have processed things the past few days, I was given an insight that hadn’t occurred to me before.

    Perhaps sometimes when old wounds are opened, new passion is born. And that is the case with me today. I work with a ministry that is trying to reach every teen in America with the life changing message of the gospel, and we believe with all our hearts that the message of Christ is the answer to violence in the schools.

    One of saddest entries in these diaries is from one of the killers who hoped to find peace in the afterlife. The tragedy of that is that the peace he sought was available to him in this life, and perhaps if he would have found it, 15 families would still have their loved ones. Our hope and prayer is that God will take the calamity and heartbreak of Columbine and use it to reach thousands, even millions of anger ridden students who may simply be looking for peace.

    Say what you will about religion, but maybe if Harris and Klebold had a little more “Thou shalt not kill” in their lives, we wouldn’t even be discussing this.

  • Media reaction to the records

    Media reaction to the records

    Some media reactions to the Columbine records…

    NPR:

    NPR reporter Jeff Brady has read through much of the material. He says it is sometimes difficult to tell who wrote what, but he says he believes that this line came from the journal of gunman Eric Harris:

    “I am full of hate and I love it. I hate people and they better f—— fear me if they know what’s good for them.”

    Jeff says the writings depict Harris as an emotional person whose “thought processes are really deep but really disturbing at the same time.”

    Washington Post:

    The newly released papers suggest that the two seniors dropped several clues about their plans in advance. But they were not enough to prompt intervention.

    I disagree that they weren’t enough to prompt investigation. There was too much evidence for not one person to notice.

    Scripps:

    If we didn’t all know that in this case, it ended in bloody mayhem, this could be any parent agonizing over an adolescent’s serious misbehavior and trying to make certain the young person faces up to the consequences and learns better. Which Harris appeared to do, while he was in the program and conforming to its requirements, but secretly he was boiling with rage. He lied to everyone, he was proud of the lies and he fooled the people who were doing what they could to rescue him.

    How can any parent read these lines and not wonder, “Could that be my child?”

    Kotaku:

    The video game references that I’ve read in excerpts (not having had time to consume the entire document yet) paint Harris more as an obsessive fanboy, period, than particularly driven by the game itself.

    Time Magazine:

    The parents of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold have often been portrayed as disengaged from the lives of their sons and unaware of the dark paths lying ahead. But 936 pages of evidence taken from the killers’ homes and cars were released by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office on Thursday, and a notebook kept by Eric’s father, Wayne, details a parent’s involvement in his child’s downward spiral.

    But was still clueless to everything.

    Denver Post:

    In one passage, he foreshadows the blame game that would follow the shootings. “I know I could get shot by a cop after only killing a single person, but hey … I chose to kill that one person so get over it! It’s MY fault! Not my parents, not my brothers, not my friends, not my favorite bands, not computer games, not the media, it is MINE!”

    Harris was right. It was his fault. But plenty of others failed along the way.

  • My thoughts on the records.

    My thoughts on the records.

    Here are my quick thoughts on the journals and other documents that were released today.

    Wayne Harris definitely had the “not my kid” syndrome. Eric Harris broke Brooks Brown’s windshield, and yet, Wayne Harris claims that his family is being victimized and that Brooks Brown is a manipulative con man.

    Eric Harris was definitely a racist and a homophobe, even though on his website he claimed he hated racism. Which would also make him a liar. I would almost say a pathological one.

    Harris wrote reports about Charles Manson and The Third Reich that were almost favorable towards their subjects. Granted, hindsight is 20/20, but if I were a teacher, that definitely would have set off some red flags.

    With all the references to killing and drawing of weapons and the like Harris made in his school work for at least a year, you would think that some adult in his life, be it teacher or parent, would have noticed his unhealthy obsession.

    They got their guns in November 1998. That’s 6 months before the massacre. That should have given the parents ample opportunity to discover the guns. If my kids had records for theft and the like, they would have been under the proverbial microscope.

    These documents should put the final nail in the coffin of the bullying myth. Harris talked about how he was excluded, not bullied. He was jealous of the popular kids. Like I’ve said before, the impression I got is that he wanted to be a prep or jock or whatever and was jealous that they didn’t accept him. They didn’t just snap. This was planned at least a year in advance. It was all about hate and egomania on the part of Harris and his Svengali-like hold over Klebold.

    The most preventable tragedy in history.

  • Dave Cullen on the records

    Dave Cullen on the records

    Author and journalist Dave Cullen, the writer of the definitive article about Columbine The Depressive and the Psychopath, offers his opinion on the Eric Harris journal.