Yeah. Read the book by Dylan Klebold's mother, she identified as a "mother of a suicide victim". Who was involved in "hurting" people due to the toxic bullying environment he was subjected to...well, she could re-frame it however she wanted, as a victim. But her son was a psychopath child murderer.
YES! I read that book and it made me so angry!! This is what I said about it on Goodreads:
I was a senior in high school when the Columbine shootings happened and vividly remember watching the television footage that afternoon. I have never blamed the parents of the shooters for the lives that were stolen that day, but this book makes me wonder about some things.
Klebold, willingly or unwillingly, tries to direct the reader's focus outward by pointing out things of little importance. Like the fact that their house wasn't really as nice as it appeared in the aerial shots on TV. I mean, their pool "didn't hold water" and there were six-foot weeds on the tennis courts!
For all the times Klebold claims she's not trying to justify her son's "harmful" (her word) actions, she makes excuses twice as many. Of course, it troubles Klebold that her son "participated" (again, her word) in the events that occurred on April 20, 1999, but it bothers her more that the public persists in seeing these acts
solely as murders.
In addition to her misdirection attempts, Klebold tries to distance her son from the depravity of his actions by focusing on his suicide. She sees herself, first and foremost, as a suicide-loss survivor and speaks at length about her son's struggle with loneliness and depression. After consulting with a psychologist who specializes in school shootings (Peter Langman), he reviewed her son's writings and shared his findings with her.
Langman suspects Dylan had schizotypal personality disorder, avoidant disorder, and suffered from depression. Klebold seems to have cherry picked out the depression and ignored everything else, but depression is commonly seen in patients diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder. She can dress it up however she likes, but schizotypal personality disorder is just that -- a PERSONALITY disorder. It is not a mood disorder. This was not just some moody kid.
Despite Klebold's willingness to attribute her son's actions to his "brain illness," Eric Harris doesn’t get the same pass because Langman said he was "a psychopath". I hate to be the one to burst her bubble, but "a psychopath" is just a glorified way to describe someone with anti-social personality disorder. It seems they both had personality disorders, (according to Langman, at least), but Klebold is unwilling to assign the same level of blame to her son.
She downplays his role in the tragedy by saying things like he “harmed" people. More than once she refers to boys and their known penchant for making "dumb" decisions. I’m sorry, but no. Lady, your son did a lot more than make harmful and dumb decisions.
Your son EXECUTED his fellow classmates -- shooting several of them in the head at point-blank range. Your son mocked students for their faith in God. He yelled out racial epithets. In the Basement Tapes, your son predicted and mocked your current feelings of regret —
"If only we could have reached them sooner."
Klebold claims there were no signs but then goes on to list all of the signs that were missed. She says she’s accepted her son's role in the tragedy but then uses minimizing language and makes excuses for his actions. I just found the whole thing offensive to the victims of this horrible tragedy.
www.wbal.com
www.independent.co.uk
www.newschannel5.com
www.wymt.com
nypost.com
www.cbsnews.com
