Shankar Vedantam

They fed off each other's bitterness, eventually deciding that since they couldn't get the respect or attention they wanted through normal means, they would take it by force.

To fix their feeling of being nobodies, they planned a tragedy that they hoped would make them the most famous names in the country.

They didn't just want to commit a crime.

They wanted to stage a massive cinematic event that would be studied for decades.

We now know that event as the 1999 Columbine High School shootings in which Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 13 people and injured more than 20 others.

More than a quarter century later, in 2025, the death toll was raised to 14 after a woman who was paralyzed in the shootings died of complications related to her injuries.

Gordon Flett says the two killers at Columbine High School are an extreme example of a theory propounded by the social psychologist Ari Kruglansky.

People will go to extraordinary lengths to feel noticed, to feel significant.

Gordon has spent time reading the journals of the killers.

He says they paint a chilling picture of social isolation and alienation.

Typically, Gorton says, most of us seek to make our mark on the world by achieving something of value, by doing good deeds.

Influencers might try to create a video that goes viral.

Athletes might try to break some long-held record.

Entrepreneurs might try to build a successful business.

But if those means to achieve recognition are closed off to us, some of us turn to more drastic measures.

In August 2005, a huge storm hit the Gulf Coast of the United States.

Hurricane Katrina, of course, caused devastating flooding and widespread destruction across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

In the aftermath of the disaster, people had many basic needs.

They needed shelter, they needed food, but they also needed to feel like they weren't abandoned.

Talk about this idea that after a mass disaster, a huge problem, as a collective, we can feel like we need to matter.