Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ishmael's Axe
http://external.oneonta.edu/cooper/articles/suny/2001suny-pikus.html ^

Posted on 04/17/2007 11:25:47 AM PDT by TexasBud

One possible source of the gunman's reference to "Ismail Ax" on inside of his arm is... James Fenimore Cooper's The Prairie. Character Ishmael Bush had an axe. "And the axe, which created and transformed through destruction, clears the figurative way for the deflowering of the New World."

The axe is apparently both literal and symbolic, and references are made about the character's having moved from the east to the west, creating change through the destruction (using the axe), and the like. Just a possibility, esp. for someone who was an English major?


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: gunman; ishmaelsaxe; ishmailsaxe; ismail; ismailsaxe; vatech
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 221-233 next last
To: MeanWestTexan
Phonetic spelling if he heard the phrase instead of reading it.
41 posted on 04/17/2007 11:45:26 AM PDT by mnehring (McCain '08 -------------------------------------- just kidding...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: mnehrling
From what I’ve heard recently, that was misreported. Comments on what was on his arm and the note got bungled together..

Oh. Well, that wouldn't surprise me.

42 posted on 04/17/2007 11:46:03 AM PDT by alnick
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: VRWCTexan

Check out Eldarossell’s slide show....


43 posted on 04/17/2007 11:46:58 AM PDT by ScreamingFist (Annihilation - The result of underestimating your enemies. NRA)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: TexasBud

Are people really so skeptical of the possibility that a sympathy with Islam (especially since he apparently rails on in his note about degeneracy and materialism) figured into at least part of Cho’s motivation, that they are now seriously trying to suggest that James Fenimore Cooper or Herman Melville was the motivation for the words he had written on his arm prior to going and committing mass murder? Absurdly far-fetched, IMO.


44 posted on 04/17/2007 11:47:22 AM PDT by SirJohnBarleycorn
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: VRWCTexan
Ramadan, or Fasting and Humiliation, was to continue all day, I did not choose to disturb him till towards night-fall; for I cherish the greatest respect towards everybody’s religious obligations, ............... I say, we good Presbyterian Christians should be charitable in these things, and not fancy ourselves so vastly superior to other mortals, pagans and what not,

Chills down my spine! Add the Arabic spelling Ismail and you get quite a message.

45 posted on 04/17/2007 11:47:46 AM PDT by Veto! (Opinions freely dispensed as advice)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: aCDNinUSA
A link to the world’s most populous islamic country? Just damm.
46 posted on 04/17/2007 11:48:49 AM PDT by null and void (To Marines, male bonding happens in Boot Camp, to Democrats, it happens at a Gay Pride parade...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Lonesome in Massachussets

Another variant - Izmayil. There are additional variants.


47 posted on 04/17/2007 11:49:09 AM PDT by GOP_1900AD (Stomping on "PC," destroying the Left, and smoking out faux "conservatives" - Take Back The GOP!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: TexasBud
To the contrary of other posters, I don’t think this means he is NOT islamic.

You are right. The two meanings and spellings are not mutually exclusive. English majors and creative writing majors love puns and double meanings. It all fits. Actually, it's clever. Evil, but still clever.

48 posted on 04/17/2007 11:49:48 AM PDT by Samwise (Excellence speaks for itself.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: aCDNinUSA

Well done, the dude in the slide show.....I think that’s Cho...the shooter.....


49 posted on 04/17/2007 11:50:35 AM PDT by ScreamingFist (Annihilation - The result of underestimating your enemies. NRA)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: TexasBud

3254: AMERICAN LITERATURE BEFORE 1900
This course presents American literature from before 1900 in its representative modes and defining contexts, including colonization, the founding of the republic, the Civil War, the settlement of the west, American Romanticism, and American Realism. Specific authors and texts will vary, but will include poetry and fictional and non-fictional prose. Pre: 1106 or H1204 or COMM 1016. (3H,3C)

I think you are correct!


50 posted on 04/17/2007 11:50:40 AM PDT by BurbankKarl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ScreamingFist
Check out Eldarossell’s slide show....

Interesting. It seems that "Ismail" is a name he used, because his real name is hard for some to pronounce. At least, that's what he told her, and is stated there.
51 posted on 04/17/2007 11:50:48 AM PDT by mutley
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: aCDNinUSA

good find


52 posted on 04/17/2007 11:51:03 AM PDT by SirJohnBarleycorn
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: faq
If he was an English major, why would he spell Ishmael as Ismail?

Ismail Haniya was a relatively unknown figure until he headed the Hamas list that won the Palestinian legislative election of January 2006.


53 posted on 04/17/2007 11:51:13 AM PDT by Capt. Tom (Don't confuse the Bushies with the dumb Republicans - Capt. Tom)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: aCDNinUSA

I don’t think its him for a few reasons: No glasses in his published pic. Head looks too elongated: guy in the published pic is very rounded/squarish. Pics in the Flickr members whole thread appear to be taken in Southeast Asia somewhere and the perp resided in VA (obviously, he could have been visiting, which would make it very interesting, especially if it was Indonesia, a country of close to 200 million Muslims and home of Jama’a al Islamia). Perp described as a dour character: this guy looks like a happy chap.

I know none of my analysis alone is conclusive or even especially strong but, added together, I don’t think this is the same person. Could be wrong, but that never happens to me /s.


54 posted on 04/17/2007 11:51:15 AM PDT by JewishRighter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: HawaiianGecko

>Well, it doesn’t mean his tattoo artist majored in English.<

Oh, come on. The guy was a senior - he majored in English - do you think he wouldn’t tell his tattoo-ist how he wanted a word spelled? (Of course, the first reports said he was NOT a student, that he WAS Chinese, etc., etc., etc.). This murderous act was not the sudden attack of a madman. It was carefully thought out, to the extreme of deleting the registration number on the weapon(s); the amount of ammo needed to accomplish his mission. The guy lined his victims up execution style, for Heaven’s sake!


55 posted on 04/17/2007 11:52:00 AM PDT by Paperdoll
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: SirJohnBarleycorn

Why is it far-fetched? He’s known to be an English major, not a Muslim convert. You don’t have to be Muslim to be against degeneracy and materialism. And remember Sirhan Sirhan, Mark David Chapman, John Hinckley, Jr., and the whole connection to The Catcher in the Rye.

You don’t have to be inspired by a religion to kill if you’re a crazy. Sometimes a work of literature would work.


56 posted on 04/17/2007 11:52:25 AM PDT by RightCenter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: VRWCTexan

You have to wonder why he would use the name “Ismail”? Why not John, or Paul or some other American name that would be easy to pronounce? I think he got involved somehow with a local mosque.


57 posted on 04/17/2007 11:52:40 AM PDT by aCDNinUSA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Lonesome in Massachussets

I’ll also ad some info I got from a friend
_
Ismail, or Ishmael, as spelled in the Bible, was the son born to Abraham and Hagar (Sarah’s maid-servant). The Bible said of Ishamel in Genesis 16:12 He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” The root of all Islam comes from Ishmael. Muslims actually believe that it was he, Ishmael, and not Isaac, that Abraham was willing to sacrifice to God. They also believe that all their prophets came through him.

I really could not find any alternative meanings for “ax,” other than the obvious, except for this: According to muslim beliefs, Abraham destroyed all the false idols of his people with an ax.

Of course, the Bible teaches that through Abraham, and his son Isaac, the savior of the world came ... Jesus.

I also found this:
Is·ma·i·li (?s’mä-?’l?) Pronunciation Key n. pl. Is·ma·i·lis also Is·ma·i·li·ans - A member of a branch of Shiism that follows a living imam and is noted for esoteric philosophy.


58 posted on 04/17/2007 11:52:45 AM PDT by CrappieLuck
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: JewishRighter

Lets get a side by side, anyone with graphics?


59 posted on 04/17/2007 11:53:05 AM PDT by ScreamingFist (Annihilation - The result of underestimating your enemies. NRA)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: JewishRighter

Your glasses comment is not correct, as there was a picture of the VATech Cho posted on another thread (from a news article) in which he was wearing glasses.


60 posted on 04/17/2007 11:53:40 AM PDT by SirJohnBarleycorn
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 221-233 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson