Klebold's parents give first interview

[JoFerret]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4095554,00.html

NEW YORK (AP) - In their first interview since the Columbine High School massacre, the parents of one of the killers said they feel no need be forgiven and didn't realize their son was beyond hope until after he was dead.

``Dylan (Klebold) did not do this because of the way he was raised,'' Susan Klebold told columnist David Brooks in Saturday's editions of The New York Times. ``He did it in contradiction to the way he was raised.''

Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 13 people on April 20, 1999, before taking their own lives.

The couple took issue with people who say they forgive them for what happened.

``I haven't done anything for which I need forgiveness,'' Susan Klebold said.
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[trumad]

1. Great parents these two

Do you know where your kids are??? I do.

[DarkPhenyx]

2. Sometimes people do screwed up thing...

...in spite of, or prehaps becasue of, how great a parent set they had.

As a comedian once said "I want to see someeon get on Springer or such and say "My Mom was great. My Dad was great. I'm just a shit head!""

[JoFerret]

10. They sound OK to me

.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

17. The big mistake these parents did...

...was send their kids to this school.

I think the Kliebolds probably really where good parents....or tried to do the right thing.

Environment is a big deal too, and from the posts downtrhead it sounds like the environment in that school could have been as much to blame as these crazy kids.

The problem is that these murders lets the school give itself a pass...they blame it on the crazy kids and dont look at themselves.

[Unperson 309]

3. You Do Realize That...

One or both of those lads (along with many of the kids killed in that rampage) would probably be soldiers guarding abu ghraib or fighting in Iraq today had they not died.

309

[Longhorn79]

5. Maybe so, but what's your point?

It would be a very bad thing to have homicidal psychos like Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in our military, but I don't understand the implication about the victims.

[goddess40]

15. You don't get it

Harris and Klebold were driven to it by the extreme bullying.

[Elidor]

4. ""The Klebolds said their son..."

Was set off by the ``toxic culture'' of the school, where athletes were worshipped and bullying was tolerated.

Jefferson County Public Schools officials have consistently denied that bullying was tolerated or that athletes received special treatment.

That's bullshit. I attended Ken Caryl Junior High in Littleton in the Jefferson County schools and was slated to go to Columbine. (I moved out of the district three weeks before my freshman year.) This was 1979, and Columbine already had a very bad reputation. The horror stories I heard about that school played a large part in my decision to move across town with my mother, where I attended Cherry Creek High. I have no doubt that bullying was not only tolerated, but openly snickered at by some school officials.

[teknomanzer]

6. Attended Green Mountain High...

In Lakewood part of the Jefferson County School system. I was among the least popular kids in the school. The bullying from the jocks was relentless. To this day I still can figure out why some 200 pound gorilla got his rocks off picking on a guy who barely weighed a dollar and a quarter. I refused to back down to these punks though and ended up in the principles office after getting pummelled by some viscious brute. They never did shit to the jocks. Not even detention.

Once I was pulled out of my car and thrown the the f-ing ground and kicked until I was lodged beneath my own vehicle.

The Columbine killing spree did not surprise me. I had my share of killing spree fantasies, but fortunately (and unlike those Columbine kids) I found my solice in a smoking a hell of a lot of pot. I guess the old antimotivational syndrome saved a few lives. More likely it was the fact that in some small way I still had my head screwed on straight.

As an afternote 'twas I who joined the Army after graduation (where I discovered muscles I never new existed before) and honorably served my country from 1991 to 1994 as a crewman on an Abrams tank. I wonder whatever happened to the dumbass jocks and whether they would like a piece of me now, not that I'm interested in payback, the universe often supplies that without any help.

[Hobarticus]

7. Thanks for serving, teknomanzer...

Sincerely.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

16. I cant believe high school has gotten that bad.

I was a wierd kid in my school too, but things where alot more tolerant...actually the "jocks" werent too bad. This was from, say 1971 (7th grade) thru early 1977 (senior year).

Sounds like things are going really bad nowadays in school.

[JayS]

9. A friend of mine's kids were attending Columbine when all...

...that happened and they would agree with you about the bullying and the attitude of school officials towards it. They also said that it was not too long after the shooting that things went back to "normal" again.

I did love the story that ran in The Onion about Columbine where the students are complaining about not being able to harass the less popular.

[goddess40]

11. Bullying is encouraged,not just tolerated

Bullying is alive and doing well in all parts of the country. After all the school shootings administrators, school boards, teachers and parents still live in denial and refuse to take responsibility for this mess.
The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander : From Preschool to High School--How Parents and Teachers Can Help Break the Cycle of Violence
by Barbara Coloroso -is a terrific book on the subject.

Edit: My heart goes out to the Klebold's and the Harris's, to lose their son's the way they did and to realize too late how they suffered in life must be almost unbearable.

[porkrind]

18. Bullies in high school become republicans.

Same mean-spirited ignorant greedy mindset.
:puke:

---

Read about the Right-Wing "Master Plan": http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/sam/sam-contents.html

Have you read "War is a Racket"?: http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

[saigon68]

19. Well one thing for sure

Harris and his buddy sure showed the Jocks and bullies they wouldn't just sit back and take it anymore.

[Columbia]

8. I thought K-mart made em do it...

[ithacan]

12. don't forget the teaching of evolution!!

according to Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, it's the teaching of evolution that causes things like Columbine :

because our school systems teach the children that they are nothing but glorified apes who have evolutionized out of some pri-mordial soup of mud.

Direct quote from the Congressional Record of June 16, 1999, page H4366

(link to Congressional Record, entire record is online as pdf files):

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/

[goddess40]

13. Send a message to your local school board -

I just sent mine off.
Hello;

Below is a link to an article that came out Sunday. Tom and Sue Klebold get it but most people don't. My heart goes out to the Klebold's and the Harris's, to lose their son's the way they did and to realize too late how they suffered in life must be almost unbearable.
Both of my son's have repeatedly been bullied in this school district and little to nothing has ever been done about it. I always end up feeling that the staff believes that my children deserve it or that they do something to bring it on. They have both missed school because they just can't face it sometimes. It isn't just one school they have attended, Riverview, G D Jones, Horace Mann and Wausau East. Nothing has changed since I graduated from Wausau West in 1978, it is time it does NOW.
At the bottom is a great book on the subject I suggest that every employee in the district should read it and it should be recommended reading for parents - especially parents of athletes.
We need a REAL bullying program that runs in all the schools from K-12 and includes all staff, students and as many parents as possible. Dr Phil has a great program:
http://www.drphil.com/show/show.jhtml?contentId=1107_bullies.xml
Maybe if he was approached by the district he would help with the costs.

Sincerely;
Jane R

Forgiveness not needed say Klebold's parents

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4990167/

"The Klebolds said their son was set off by the “toxic culture” of the school, where athletes were worshipped and bullying was tolerated.
Jefferson County Public Schools officials have consistently denied that bullying was tolerated or that athletes received special treatment."


The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander : From Preschool to High School--How Parents and Teachers Can Help Break the Cycle of Violence
by Barbara Coloroso

[kskiska]

14. The Klebold case is very similar to Kip Kinkel's

PBS Frontline did a program just a few days ago on Kip Kinkel, of Springfield, Oregon, who shot both his parents to death, then went to school, killed 2 classmates and left 25 kids wounded. He's now in jail for 111 years without parole.
He's 21 now and is appealing.

He came from a good family who tried to do all the right things. This kid was just bad news from Day 1, though, and no one seemed to be able to help him.

Reflecting on the tragedy, Kip's sister Kristin says people want an easy answer. "They want assurance that this is never going to happen to them. To know that if you do all the right things, this isn't going to happen to your child. I wish I could tell you that it won't.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kinkel/