I'm so tired of the way some people outside the community talk about perps, especially E&D. I listened to a podcast episode talking about Columbine recently, and the hosts went out of their way to make fun of E&D's appearances and refused to use their real names for most of the episode. For some reason, people feel the need to performatively and excessively mock them as if they are afraid people will think they are condoning their actions if they don't. E&D are often condemned more than well-known serial killers who raped and tortured their victims and were in a very different mental state than E&D. Podcasters seem much more comfortable talking about the lives and crimes of serial killers, who were generally grown men, mind you, and not emotionally unstable teenagers. Those boys were suffering mentally and emotionally and did not get the help they needed. Those feelings are more relatable than the feelings that lead to serial killing, and you can acknowledge that without supporting what E&D did. But for whatever reason, a lot of people seem like they are trying to one-up each other on how much they can express hatred of the Columbine boys. It becomes distasteful and, frankly, alienates people interested in the case, as well as those who see themselves in E&D. Also, at this point, refusing to use their names does absolutely nothing to curb school shootings. Everyone already knows about them, and you aren't making it more or less likely that they will happen by acting like those boys weren't real people. You aren't "giving them what they want" by talking about them at this point. E&D already got what they wanted 27 years ago when they ended their lives after the massacre.
