April 17, 2007

Consulting the Oracle

The details of the killer's last day begin to emerge. One of those early details states that "Cho also died with the words in red ink on the inside of one of his arms."

An incomprehensible detail dredged up from the midst of an incomprehensible crime. Our reaction? 'What Can It Mean?' is the question that arises in millions of parts of the global hive mind. And when incomprehensible questions arise in the human mind we have a long, long history of going to ask the Oracle. And so millions do.


But today our Oracle is not found in a crack in the rock, a temple dedicated to Amun, or from patterns found on bones or entrails. Today our post-modern Oracle is closest to the classic "Voice from the Sky" -- the Oracle of Google.

And so we consult this Oracle because in the age of information even oracles are easy. We plug in Ismail Ax (without quotes) and hit search. And because 'Ismail' is the Muslim variation of 'Ishmael' a million minds go "Ah HA! -- The Muslim in the woodpile. Launch your blog post software.... and follow it down.'

And follow it down they do into the ever darkening and more tangled link forest; looking for that elusive but conclusive "Muslim connection" because many have convinced themselves that no act of senseless mass violence can occur without a Muslim connection; that insanity can come from any human mind and not just the Muslim mind.

Deep in the link forest you will find, among other things, that 'ismailax.com' is already taken. Registered today and parked to await further developments. And you can go on into the now rapidly growing forest of links to Ismail Ax as the speculation about "Ismail Ax" grows. You can go on ever deeper tomorrow as the Googlebots sweep the web, and next week ever closer to what may reside at the heart of that phrase. What you are looking for is, of course, not just more clues but a final answer, something that "explains it all."

In the end, like the center of Peer Gynt's onion, it won't be there. In the end your quest for the answer will always be like the final scene of Blowup. You go back to find the who and the why and the what. You go back to find the murdered body you saw out of the corner of your eye or in an extreme blowup of the frame. You go back to find the proof of what you think you saw. And it isn't there. It will never be there.

Instead you always find yourself back where you began: Asking the Oracle of Google, hoping that in your time away, it has got a newer, better, brighter answer to illuminate the darkness that we all carry within us.

Maybe someday, if we ask long enough, if like lab rats we press the return key often enough, if we can find just the right search phrase with all the right Boolean operators in the right order, we will finally get "The Answer." Maybe that's the reason for the persistence of the Oracle of Google's "I feel lucky" option.

So. 'Do we feel lucky? Well,do we?'

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Posted by Vanderleun at April 17, 2007 10:12 AM | TrackBack
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AMERICAN DIGEST HOME
"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

The folks at HotAir had 2 responses:

1. Aha! He was a muslim!
2. It must be a handle for a random online video game.


Posted by: Dan L at April 17, 2007 2:35 PM

All I can say is WOW. After such a tragedy and something like this is revealed but no one knows its meaning?? Not even Wiki? was it misspelled? :)

Posted by: confused at April 17, 2007 4:14 PM

I really love this post... it emphasizes everything i have been trying to tell people since i read the phrase "Ismail Ax" and i know that everyone within a week will have a million theories and no real explanation... thank you for stating my thoughts in such a well written and thought out manner.

Posted by: Eric S. at April 17, 2007 5:53 PM

You know, it's perfectly possible that going into this he wrote it on the arm thinking, "Heh, this will give the Net something to chew on."

Posted by: Gerard Van der Leun at April 17, 2007 7:18 PM

Who is this idiot, and why is he waisting my time with this philosophical rant about people trying to find out what Ismail Ax means?

[This idiot takes comfort in the fact he knows the difference between "waste" and "waist." And suggests you might want to find out what the words mean.]

Posted by: Troy at April 17, 2007 7:48 PM

Are you sure it isn't AxIs mail?

Posted by: Eizu at April 17, 2007 7:53 PM

Are you sure it isn't AxIs mail?

Posted by: Eizu at April 17, 2007 7:55 PM

Has it ever occurred to anyone that this young man is approaching the ages where most serious mental illnesses surface and maybe, just maybe it would be a wise move for gun issuing authorities take this possibility into mind and make a psychiatric exam by 3 separate Doctors manatory before granting licenses/permits to carry or using any form of gun.

Posted by: George Barrett at April 17, 2007 8:09 PM

Off and on the other day, after I read about the shootings at VT, I looked up some verses from the book of Psalms, which are eternal in their reflection of the tragedies and losses of Man, and the constant comfort in faith from God.
How banal are the constant analyzers of this tragedy! Trying to derive some meaning out of madness; for that is truly what drove that poor lost young man to evil and murder; madness.
Madness, craziness abounds in our society today, manifesting in a hundred different forms; most harmless, much of it irritaiting, and on this occasion, deadly and tragic.
I wonder if many are driven mad simply by the banality of the popular culture, that extols the life of a borderline imbecile (Anna Nicole Smith), and makes an old obnoxious overpaid drunk (Imus) into either a devil or a martyr (neither in my book, just an obnoxious old drunk)Perhps the banality of it all is truly the Heart of Darkness.

Posted by: David at April 17, 2007 8:27 PM

Hi
If you break down Ismail ax to two words and profile what he was thinking at the time of this ordeal He was having a conflict with religeon and what was happening in his own life. If I look at it from his religeon view. Ismail is a son of a profet and one thing in this passage of Islamic Doctain is the refrence to TRUTH or In search of the truth refrence it here http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/ibrahim.htm and How we as people have become statues and was ignoring his silent cries for help.
As far as the Ax There was two scpitures from the Bible that repeated the same refrence to a ax.
Matthew 3:10 and Luke 3:9 And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
But since there has been no finding of cunbustable materials at the campus. or none as of yet if there is. If so then part to the refrence of the Ax would explain the shootings more clear.
No one listen to his cries and the biggest cry which religeon is true????? Or Ordeals to what some people have done to him in the past.
Now another thing ismail also a term use in email or place or computer to human refrence my mail and the only place this show up is in Korea but my Korean is not as good as it use to be. But there only one place I know of that uses ismail as part of the email coding. Sorry spent a lot time in Korea. http://english.ohmynews.com/menu=c10400&no=287752&rel_no=1&isMail=mail a korean base news site is Ax a refrence to his ID?????
Or like said useing diffrent religeon textes and the final result was Nobody care and what is the Truth?
But As this all unrivals and people trying to seek why? The real awnser to it all lies with in him and his maker or his search for true religion and god.
So what is the truth what is the true religeon. Each man has his way of Worship. Is one better then the other to get back to our Creator?
We all live on one planet all I know some of our biggest wars is over what another man believes in.
Maybe one day man will figure it out. We all live on one planet. It not a god who will destroy us in our last day. But us as man ourself. For not beleaving in some type of Faith, Worship and prayer. Because not all things a man can awnser so there got to be something more out there. But what is the Truth????????????????
For me it all boil down to one true god and he has many names in many religeon. Just got to think Who wrote there belief at the time.
Sorry don't mean to get off on a rant. On religeon. My biggest fear will all these Religeons one day they will become like Greek mytholigy??????????
And man just becomes a machine with no soul????
This is Just my view and there be people who will condem or flame me for it. Some may agree.
But as for me I'll be just me and Believe.
C.O.G. Michael

Posted by: C.O.G. Michael at April 17, 2007 9:23 PM

Gerard, How is it possible not to ask the question. The media doesn't ask the question. It may very well be nothing but what are we? Lemmings? DO NOT ASK.

No one is talking about the "Ismail AX" fact. I mean no one. No TV, little print. I watched the whole late afternoon press conference and not one, not one, reporter asked about it. They asked about everything from soup to nuts (down to the class scheduling going forward) but not one query about Ismail AX. Am I nuts? The man had Ismail AX written in red on his arm (and the rambling quasi suicide letter.) Is that not deserving of some investigation or question?
They keep saying he talked to no one, that he was a loner and hung with no one but but but but he killed his girlfiend? But he was always alone.............
Back to Ismail (and yes the spelling is different, it is the Arabic ISMAIL. Not insignificant).... Is it not more than curious? And if it is curiouser and curiouser, why no questions?
Didn't the media cover up the fact that the shooter in Salt Lake City shooter was a Muslim, that Alexander Litvinenko was a convert to Islam, the shooter in Owings Mill that killed his Jew- Paul Schrum was a Muslim, Hesham Hadayet opening fire at Los Angeles International Airport while standing in line at the ticket counter of Israel's El Al Airline was a Muslim, Michael Julius Ford killed one and injures five in a shooting spree because of perceived insults to Islam, Abu Kamal, a Palestinian teacher shoots seven tourists on the 86th-floor observation deck of the Empire State Building, killing one, San Francisco hit and run was a Muslim, the DC sniper shootings, Galvastan's Dr. Wameeth Fadhli, blah blah blah ---- too many to list here.
My point? Leaving it to the media is at once naive and dangerous. The individual is the one that exposed the lone jihad syndrome in most of these examples.

And the people want to know.At ChicagoTribune.com, the report about Ismail Ax and other details set off the busiest hour in the site's history, with 524,000 page views during the early afternoon. The hits on my blog went berserk. 20,000 plus. Who knew?

We only ask. That's all.

PS A TV repair shop owner in Corpus Christi, Texas, registered the domain name http://www.ismailax.com the morning after the shootings.

Posted by: Pamela aka Atlas at April 18, 2007 12:29 AM

You know, it's perfectly possible that going into this time, G-d wrote Gerard Van der Leun to give us something to think about.

Posted by: askmom at April 18, 2007 4:47 AM

Thanks for this post, Gerard. You're a voice of responsibility in a network gone wild.

Posted by: ZionistYoungster at April 18, 2007 5:24 AM

FWIW, Hot Air is speculating that it's related to.. "Cooper’s story “The Prairie,” the settler Ishmael Bush, who is attempting to escape from civilization, sets out across the prairie with two key tools, a gun and an axe. Each has a symbolic meaning. The axe — which can either kill or provide shelter — stands for both creation and destruction. Given that the VT killer was an English major, might this be the likely meaning of the words on his arm? Just my two cents."

http://hotair.com/archives/2007/04/17/breaking-abc-news-ids-gunman-as-seung-hui-cho/

Posted by: Duffy at April 18, 2007 9:46 AM

As someone who typically signs h(is mail Ax), I'm thinking about getting off the grid...

--Ax

Posted by: Alan Chamberlain at April 21, 2007 9:53 PM
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