By Annabelle Mackson ’23
Staff Writer
Content warning: This article discusses racist violence and mass shootings.
I grew up in a very small Vermont town; at the time my high school had less than 700 students. I was a junior in February 2018, when Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Even in Vermont, I was scared to go to school some days, and that fear didn’t dissipate until I graduated over a year later.
People like Cruz, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold live in my head as murderers who took somewhere as innocuous as high school and turned it into a war zone for their own sick pleasure. Imagine my horrified reaction when I found out that people my age not only idolized and romanticized these killers, but also condoned their violence. As someone who felt that fear, who had to go into lockdown because a student made an empty threat and who attended the Washington, D.C. March For Our Lives demonstration, I cannot stand idly by and watch people support these killers.
The United States is reeling in the wake of one mass shooting after another, the majority of them racially charged. Gun violence is one of the biggest problems in America, and the 1999 Columbine shooting was unfortunately only the start. Another horrifying reality we have to face is that these idolizers are still out there, disguising themselves as fans of true crime and psychology.
What connects many of these idolizers is hybristophilia, a disorder characterized by having a sexual interest in, and attraction to, someone who has committed a crime. Historically, most instances of hybristophilia are present in women. Most people, even those not familiar with true crime, have heard of the women who wrote to serial killers such as Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and Richard Ramirez while they were in prison. Ramirez even married a woman who wrote him love letters while he was on death row. While the causes of this disorder are not set in stone, it can arise when the pursuer’s own mental health and self-esteem are in jeopardy, but it can also be attached to a savior complex — some women think that they would be able to turn these evil men into “good,” loving partners.
Hybristophilia was not associated with a younger demographic or mass shooters until the Columbine shooting. The shooters, Harris and Klebold, were romanticized by teenage girls, and a community of these “Columbiners” has emerged in the years since, especially on Tumblr. What distinguishes these “fans” of the Columbine killers from other hybristophiliacs is that they can project whatever thoughts and emotions they want onto them, since Harris and Klebold died the day of the shooting. Since the killers are not around to contradict Columbiners’ opinions of them, they can be made out to be anything but the murderers that they were.
Projecting feelings onto murderers that died over 20 years ago is still hybristophilia and can still inspire dangerous acts, but I find it far less dangerous than romanticizing a killer still alive today. While I don’t know if fan pages will crop up about the killers we have seen so far this year, we have to remain vigilant in ensuring these murders resonate with the smallest number of people possible. The continued support of murderers not only gives vulnerable young people a warped sense of friendships and romantic relationships, but it also has the potential to inspire more violent acts.
If you are a follower of true crime, make sure that the content you consume is informative, not idolizing, and try to make the effort to call out people who express these harmful viewpoints. For the bigger picture, keep up with accounts like March For Our Lives. The organization itself was created by Parkland survivors, so the actions they promote can be done by young people. With so much evil occurring in this country, there are so many ways we can make our voices heard and invoke positive change, so let’s get on with it.