Columbine and Malik Nadal Hasan Fort Hood shooting
November 5, 2009 at 8:56 PM | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: columbine, Columbine: A True Crime Story, Culture of Honor, Fort Hood, gun control, Jeff Kass, Texas, the South, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West
As I reflected on Columbine and Malik Nadal Hasan, the suspect in the Fort Hood shooting, one word stuck in my mind.
Texas.
Texas, to me, says the South and therefore the culture of honor.(Encyclopedia Britannica online lists Texas as the South although I understand some might say Texas is just Texas). Colorado, where Columbine occurred, is the West. But the West, as I point out in my book Columbine: A True Crime Story, also retains a culture of honor.
Simply put, that concept allows people to believe that if they have been slighted – if their honor has been violated – that it is OK to retaliate with violence. It is similar to the idea of taking the law into your own hands – being a sheriff in your own hearth, as one saying goes – and extracting your own revenge. I should add that news reports say Hasan grew up in Virgina and graduated from Virginia Tech, firmly in the South and the site of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history with 33 dead, including the gunman.
The news reports are early and ever-changing (with the recent surprise that Hasan is alive). But a couple items may point to Hasan’s wanting to take revenge. He was allegedly harassed by fellow soldiers for being of Muslim descent, and had considered trying to leave the U.S. Army early but an attorney he retained said he could not. He may have also been “mortified” about having to be deployed to the Middle East after hearing horror stories.
Aside from the culture of honor as an issue in the shootings, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in gun control pro and con circles. One argument has been that more armed teachers, for example, will stop such shooters in schools. Now, I don’t know if the soldiers were armed in the area where the shooting occurred, but on the other hand it’s hard to imagine a place with more armed people than a military base. People taking up that line of debate will probably need more details.
An Op-Ed on Oprah and a Columbine killer’s mother
October 18, 2009 at 3:29 PM | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: bloggers, columbine, Columbine: A True Crime Story, Denver Post, Dylan Klebold, Jeff Kass, o, O The Oprah Magazine, oprah, oprah magazine, susan klebold
I have an Op-Ed in today’s Denver Post on the essay written by the mother of Columbine killer Dylan Klebold for Oprah. It begins, “One of the most compelling questions after Columbine was, ‘Who are the parents?’ Ten years later, it remains unanswered.”
The Op-Ed is a fuller version of my thoughts on the essay by Susan Klebold for O The Oprah Magazine. While observers had to make a little leap of analysis when a few select excerpts were first released, it appears those excerpts did give a pretty good picture: There was hardly anything new in the essay. “Years later, the Klebolds seem stuck on the same script,” I write in the Op-Ed titled “Klebold may not know what she knows.”
Aside from the content of the Klebold essay, released this past week, what strikes me is how many bloggers are getting it wrong. Many of the posts I have seen buy into O magazine’s (erroneous) salesmanship that the contents of the essay – or even Klebold speaking – are new.
Otherwise, there is one key recommendation I have in the Op-Ed, although the final say will come from elsewhere.
Susan Klebold on Oprah, Columbine and suicide
October 12, 2009 at 10:37 PM | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: columbine, Dylan Klebold, essay, o, o magazine, oprah, suicide, susan klebold, The Oprah Magazine
Susan Klebold, the mother of Columbine killer Dylan Klebold, teases a key issue when she discusses suicide for The Oprah Magazine.
Klebold mentions (in the magazine ‘O’) the parallels between suicide and school shooters and indeed, many school shooters express suicidal thoughts before the shootings and/or upon being captured. The Columbine killers were different only in that they were unusually successful in carrying out their suicidal wishes.
What is the connection between suicide and homicide? I think it is one of the toughest questions in discussing school shootings. But Klebold touches on an important point – essentially an educated guess on her part – that her son Dylan did not discuss his suicidal thoughts with others because “He was accustomed to handling his own problems, and he perceived his inability to do so as a weakness.”
Handling your own problem is indeed a trademark of school shooters, I argue in my book. It’s the same as the expression “Be a sheriff in your own hearth,” a trademark of the South and West of the United States (where most school shootings occur). In those parts of the country, people have a sense of self-reliance and ‘Culture of Honor’ where they feel they have to defend themselves, especially if their honor has been violated.
That moves into the realm of homicide because school shooters feel their honor has been violated by their lowly status at school (real or perceived), and it is acceptable – even honorable – to retaliate with violence.
One other news flash is that Klebold indicates she (and I guess her husband) met privately with the parents of some of those killed at the school. I’m also guessing that she is not talking about being faced down by victims families during legal depositions. I had been told about such meetings, but never felt I had it fully confirmed.
After reading Klebold’s full essay (I’m guessing 3,000 words long) I stand by my original blog that there is little else that is substantive and new – despite what many in the media and Oprah claim.
Klebold’s essay is titled “I Will Never Know Why.” And that may be true, whatever criticisms may be leveled at the essay (and Klebold herself). But I would also argue that certain experts may be able to piece together the ‘why.’ What’s stopping them is a more forthcoming Susan Klebold.
Susan Klebold, mother of Columbine shooter, writes out for Oprah
October 10, 2009 at 1:07 PM | In Uncategorized | 2 CommentsTags: columbine, columbine book, Columbine: A True Crime Story, Dylan Klebold, Jeff Kass, o, o magazine, oprah, oprah magazine, sue klebold, susan klebold
Susan Klebold, the mother of Columbine killer Dylan Klebold, is making news for a forthcoming column she has written for O, The Oprah Magazine.
Yet there appears to be more rewriting history than news.
The column – touted in a press release sent out by O – comes across as news because indeed the parents of both killers have said little. And it is a noteworthy development. But the news is also pumped up because even after 10 years and a spate of books on Columbine, the media can’t seem to get it right.
An AP story calls the column “the most detailed response yet from any of the parents of Columbine killers Dylan Klebold or Eric Harris.” But let’s recap. The Klebolds and Harrises did speak with police after Columbine, and summaries of those interviews have been released. The Klebolds were also interviewed for an (admittedly short) New York Times column. I’m not saying the killers’ parents have been forthcoming, but it doesn’t appear, based on the excerpts so far, that Susan Klebold is saying anything new.
It will also be interesting to see if Susan Klebold addresses some of the most intriguing things she has ever said previously, according to her interview summaries and other documents: That Dylan was fascinated with guns and explosives. Or that he was sullen, angry, disrespectful, intolerant, and isolated. The Klebolds have never fully explained those statements (made before, and the day of, Columbine). Or at least those discussions have never been made public.
Finally, Susan Klebold indicates she has been searching for answers, especially suicide. She is partially on the right track, as my book notes the suicidal links among school shooters across the country. But the Klebolds have a funny way of searching for answers. Their attorneys have at different times issued me a subpoena and said my sources’ hands should be cut off when I uncovered information.
LA Fitness Shooting near Pittsburgh and Columbine
August 4, 2009 at 10:44 PM | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: columbine, Dylan Klebold, Eric Harris, LA Fitness, LA Fitness shooting, Pittsburgh
With news of the LA Fitness Shooting near Pittsburgh there may be some links to Columbine.
The most obvious one is that the shooters – two in Columbine and one apparently in Pittsburgh – were all male. In general males are more likely to carry out such shootings. But a more telling issue is motivation.
Since the wave of media coverage during the recent 10-year anniversary of Columbine some have tried to paint Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as just two normal teens. On its surface, that is clearly not the case (normal teens don’t go on shooting rampages). But the Columbine killers were also not as well-integrated into the student body as some would have you believe. They were outcasts, and maybe the most unpopular kids in the school. And the friends they did have did not diminish their outcast status, at least in their own minds.
The Columbine killers felt slighted, and wanted to take revenge for their outcast status. They felt they deserved better. The very preliminary news reports on the Pittsburgh shooting would indicate the same motivation: The alleged shooter was slighted – or felt slighted – by an ex-girlfriend and felt he had to recapture his honor. His apparent suicide, in turn, was a way of controlling his own destiny. He held the ultimate power over others, but also himself.
Columbine and Jonesboro school shootings and Mike Huckabee
June 20, 2009 at 1:44 PM | In Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: columbine, Columbine: A True Crime Story, Fox News, gun control, Jeff Kass, Jonesboro, Mike Huckabee, school shootings
I was in Jonesboro, Ark. for the book tour Friday night to discuss Columbine and, according to one story, I beat Mike Huckabee.
A photographer from the Jonesboro Sun said he once attended a three-hour booksigning by Mike Huckabee (I think it was some years ago) when Huckabee was Arkansas governor. Huckabee sold two books.
While I beat that record Friday I have little doubt Huckabee, the prominent conservative with his own talk show on Fox News, would today beat me (and his own record).
But more down to substance, I did not do an actual talk Friday but a sit-down, meet and greet (and hopefully sign) book appearance.
One woman told of how she had been a teacher before Columbine, and expressed concerns to the school about a student. Nothing happened, and the student later committed suicide. That would not happen today, I believe, because post-Columbine warning signs about problem students are taken much more seriously, whether the issue is suicide or homicide. (Although, notably, school shooters often express a desire to die in the course of the shootings. But that’s another story.)
One man did not believe gun control was the answer. While I could argue that the more barriers you put in front of someone to getting guns, the harder it is to get them, it is also likely that the Columbine killers would have gotten their guns no matter what. Three of the four were purchased, legally, at a gun show. The fourth was purchased casually through a friend of a friend type situation.
One woman who made a beeline to my table said she heard my book was the more accurate Columbine book, and scooped it up.
I ended my two-hour session sitting around with a bunch of local teenagers. They were smart, sassy, and bored. And I thank them for buying a book with graduation money.
Columbine and Paducah school shootings
June 18, 2009 at 9:01 PM | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentThe Columbine: A True Crime Story book tour continued Thursday in Paducah, Ky. where a school shooting killed three and wounded five in 1997.
The talk was in the community room at the McCracken County Library and I first met with the library director. It’s alway weird to meet someone you’ve been coordinating with on the phone, and it’s always a bit of a leap for both people: You have to believe the location is the right one, and they have to believe you’re on the up and up — and that you’ll show up. And after all that planning, it is weird to suddenly arrive at a place like Paducah, a small but bustling town in East Kentucky.
A reporter from the local NPR station was there – he had already done a preview piece on the talk and was looking to do a longer one now (as I understand it). I think we both got what we were looking for.
But first I introduced myself to the people who had arrived early: It’s nice to know who your audience is and connect with people. There were two former workers from the school and two women who work with troubled juveniles.
I think the talk was well-received, and as usual, people were reluctant at first to ask questions. But there are always questions, and they did come up. But what was also great is that the audience at times ignored me. I say great because my talk had opened up a discussion amongst people. One of the women who works with troubled kids made a good point that people should consider volunteering or helping out with juvenile programs rather than criticizing after the fact. (Although I still think there are valid criticisms of Columbine and probably how certain things were handled in other shootings). It’s always interesting to see how people will react to my arguments on how and why school shootings occur in the South and West — especially when you’re in the South –but no one disagreed with me.
After the talk I went to the memorials (there are two large stone engravings next to each other) located at Heath High School and read the names of the dead and injured.
Columbine and Virginia Tech school shooting memorials
June 15, 2009 at 1:47 PM | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentTags: columbine, Columbine Memorial, Columbine: A True Crime Story, Jeff Kass, memorial, Michael Shoels, school shootings, Virginia Tech
I visited the memorial to the Virginia Tech school shooting victims today, just over two years after I followed a Columbine parent there.
April 20, 2007 was the eight-year anniversary of Columbine and four days after the Tech shootings left 33 dead, including the killer. Tech is the largest mass shooting in U.S. history. Columbine is the deadliest high school shooting.A terrible torch was passed on that day when Michael Shoels, the father of slain Columbine student Isaiah Shoels, traveled to Blacksburg, Virginia with his traveling gospel of grief counseling and civics lesson.
As I visited the Tech memorial a little after noon today, a few things struck me. After the shootings, 33 thick squares of pale ‘Hokie Stone’ (named for the school nickname) ringed the crest of the central grassy quad area known as Drillfield. One controversial stone, it seemed clear, was for the shooter. Similar things happened after Columbine, such as when at least one person posted crosses for the Colorado shooters.
School shooters may be in anguish, but I think most people believe it is inappropriate to memorialize them alongside the victims.
The permanent memorial at Virginia Tech is an arc of 32 square stones. Each is about the size of an ice bucket, near where the original stones were placed. Each stone is engraved with the name of a victim, and a sprig of fresh flowers leaned against each stone. (I wonder if they are changed every day.) The Tech memorial is powerful, but smaller and more low-key than the Columbine Memorial, which has written remembrances to the victims, quotes from community members, and envelops people with stone walls as they walk inside. The Columbine Memorial more fully shuts out the rest of the world. That Tech even has a memorial also differs from Columbine: It took several years to raise the money for the Columbine Memorial.
Tech today was certainly quieter than the day I was there. No satellite trucks. The dozens of reporters, and hundreds of mourners, were gone. But the memories were still there. And that’s how it should be.
New job – and first job after the Columbine book
June 12, 2009 at 7:58 PM | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentThis is the press release that went out today; sorry I can’t replicate the fancy Denver Magazine logo:
Denver Magazine Hires Well-Known Denver Journalist and Author as its New Associate Editor
Former Rocky Mountain News reporter Jeff Kass brings extensive journalism experience to the staff of the glossy Denver monthly
June 12, 2009 (Denver) — Denver Magazine has named Jeff Kass as its new associate editor. Kass is a well-known investigative journalist and author of the recently released “Columbine: A True Crime Story,” a definitive book on the 1999 Columbine High School shootings.
“Jeff is a very talented well rounded writer,” said Denver Magazine CEO, editor-in-chief and publisher Michael Ledwitz. “With his addition we will be able to focus on bringing some articles to the magazine that will keep our readers interested for years to come.”
Kass began his professional journalism career in October 1992, covering Ventura City Hall for the Oxnard Press Courier in California. Two years later he joined the Los Angeles Times, covering government, politics, courts and the OJ Simpson custody case. In 1998, he moved to Denver and freelanced for a slew of publications including The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor and The New York Times. He also began as a staff writer for the Rocky Mountain News in 1999.
Kass worked at the paper for a decade, breaking national stories on Columbine, and covering the Kobe Bryant rape case. He traveled to Cambodia to write about the search for a missing soldier, and covered the space shuttle Columbia explosion in Texas. Kass holds a master’s degree in political science from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
“I hope to bring a new round of journalism to Denver Magazine, from sharper features to more investigative work,” Kass said. “After one book and 10 years at the Rocky Mountain News, I’ve written on everything from Cuba to Columbine, and Hunter S. Thompson to Kobe Bryant. My new work will be just as varied, and I look forward to making the magazine more of must-read in Denver and beyond.”
Kass’ hiring is the latest change at the fast-growing city magazine. Earlier this year, Denver Magazine announced the addition of two new investors and the launch of media partnerships with some of Denver’s top network affiliates, including KCNC-TV Channel 4, Fox 31 KDVR, and KWGN The Deuce.
About Denver Magazine
Denver Magazine is published monthly and offers a fresh insight into the region’s cultural, political, sports, dining scene, fashion and more. It can be found at Denver-area newsstands, bookstores, and grocery stores. For more information or to subscribe, visit www.DenverMagazine.com.
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