The Psychology of Columbine (Ch 7 - Our Inner Demons)
Psychology In Seattle Podcast
Kirk Honda
4.5 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 29 April 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
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Summary
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/KIRK to get 10% off your first month.
00:00 Sympathizing with the offenders
27:59 Why might someone identify with Dylan?
43:31 Alienation & internalized fantasies
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So, Berto, we got a bunch of emails in response to our deep dive on the Columbine Shooters. Right. And I thought we would read these emails. I've read them already. They're interesting. There's some really interesting emails. So let's get into it. What do you say? Let's do it. This is the Psychology in Seattle podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Kirk Honda. I'm a therapist and a professor, |
| 0:26.4 | and I think this is the seventh chapter in our deep dive on the Columbine Shooters. Who are you, Berto? My name is Umberto Castaneda, and I curate giant bonsai. This first email is from |
| 0:33.2 | super long-term patron Lindsay from Akron. She says, I grew up in Colorado, about an hour away from |
| 0:39.8 | Littleton and was in high school when the Columbine shooting happened. So this is interesting. |
| 0:48.0 | She was in high school when it actually happened. I was two years younger than the shooters. |
| 0:55.9 | I think the school I went to was very similar to theirs. It was upper middle class and there was a definite preference for jocks. |
| 1:02.9 | I remember sympathizing with the shooters even while being horrified. It seemed to me that it was |
| 1:09.3 | a natural consequence of the environment they were in. |
| 1:12.9 | I remember being sad that they were not included on some Columbine Pledge thing. We were all asked to |
| 1:19.3 | sign the next year pledging not to be violent. All the victim's names were listed, but not the |
| 1:24.7 | killers, who I also viewed as victims of the culture at large. |
| 1:29.3 | So just chiming in. |
| 1:30.3 | So have you heard of that? |
| 1:31.7 | There's some sort of pledge that the Columbine High School had to sign. |
| 1:36.1 | Yes, I remember reading about, like, it was one of the things they put into place. |
| 1:40.9 | Because I don't know if you remember. |
| 1:42.2 | We talked about how, like, some people wanted the school demolished. |
| 1:46.4 | Right. |
| 1:46.9 | But there were a lot of people that fought to keep the school. |
| 1:48.9 | And then I think one of the things was like the pledge was part of the sort of mitigation. |
| 1:53.4 | Like, hey, let's make sure everyone is on board with not being violent. |
| 1:57.4 | Yeah. |
... |
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