[Almighty]

It's hard for the average person to understand the extent of damage that bullying does to a person over the years. Everyone calling those two names are part of the problem. Of course it doesn't excuse what they've done, but you can't expect people to be insulted and pushed around every day without them snapping. Some people just completely explode instead of snapping.

[m1324]

That's right. From what I've read, they weren't just picked on by a few classmates. The whole school considered those two boys as being the lowest of the low and bullied them constantly. Teachers looked the other way all the time because only jocks mattered and "weird" kids "who didn't live the school's spirit" were frowned upon. Imagine what that does to teenage kids.

[TrueCrimeJunkie77]

Evan Todd was a student in the library on the day of the shooting. He was confronted by Dylan.

Dylan:Look what we have here....
Eric: What?
Dylan:Just some fat fuck
Dylan:Are you a jock?
Evan: No
Dylan:Good. We don't like jocks. Let me see your face.
Dylan:Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you
Evan: I don't want to get in trouble
Dylan:TROUBLE?! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT FUCKING TROUBLE IS....
Evan: That's not what I meant. I mean, I don't have a problem with you guys. I never did, and I never will.
Dylan: I'm going to let this fat fuck live. You can have him if you want (talking to Eric)

That was from Evan's statement in the official report. Eric ignored Dylan's last comment and told Dylan they should go to the commons (cafeteria). So they let Evan live...yet, he had this to say in Time magazine in December, 1999.

Columbine is a clean, good place except for those rejects (Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold and other outcasts) … Sure, we teased them. But what do you expect with kids who come to school with weird hairdos and horns on their hats? It’s not just the jocks; the whole school’s disgusted with them. They’re a bunch of homos… If you want to get rid of someone usually you tease ‘em. So the whole school would call them homos…“

Evan was only a sophmore at the time of the shooting, and even though he told Dylan he was not a jock, he was. Yes, Eric and Dylan were bullied. More Eric than Dylan, actually. Dylan was 6'3 and I imagine he was pretty intimidating in his trenchcoat. Eric was on the smaller side at 5'8. All of their friends were over 6 feet tall.

All former students that went there at the time of the shooting, say that bullying was a huge problem at Columbine, especially from the jocks. There are tons of witness statements saying that Eric and Dylan were bullied a lot.

[AliceInChains]

Wasn't there a story about one ofthe jocks throwing baby oil all over the cacafeteria floor then pushing kids over on it? There were broken limbs, but because he was on the football team, nothing was done about it.

I still think Eric and Dylan created an echo chamber for their own madness, but if half the stories I've heard about Columbine are true it was a perfect breeding ground for that to happen.