Posted on 04/17/2007 1:10:00 PM PDT by em2vn
The kid was an English major, so there are quite a few possible interpretations as to what Ismail's Ax might mean. It also might be a reference some crazy crap that this idiot made up, he was a writer of some sort.
Point is, it's too early to make assumptions about this guy's motives. More information will be forthcoming in the coming days and we'll have a better understanding then.
I agree with you but seems a lot of people don't want to go there. Who would have ever thought Jihad Johnnie from Marin County, CA would be found on a battlefield in Afghanistan fighting alongside the Taliban? How many American converts are there? Recruiters prey on loners.
You said — “Virginia Tech. Virgin. Virgins. 72 Virgins. I think I’m on to something here...”
Thanks for the good laugh!
I think you’ve got the “logic” down perfectly. That’s the exact logic that is being used to connect this nutball to Islam...
Regards,
Star Traveler
You said — “I don’t know if he converted to Islam but there is rantings that sure looks like he may have tinkered in it.”
That may very well be true. He may have tinkered in it — like many of us go to smorgasbog (all you can eat restaurant) and pick at this and that, and load up our plates.
He probably “picked at this and picked at that” and loaded up in his mind a mish-mash and collection of different and disparate and even conflicting ideas, philosophies and religions. And whatever “worked” for his justification, well, apparently it “justified” his shooting of many of his fellow students...
Regards,
Star Traveler
I don't think the cute, sociable girl who was the initial victim had anything to do with this hostile creep. He may have stalked her. I tend to doubt he was an Islamic terrorist, as you do. But I think you're wrong that Islamists (like commies, Nazis, etc.) find no use for "nutjobs." After all, the leaders of these movements aren't the ones who blow themselves up; they recruit marginal, immature people to do so. And normal people don't saw heads off live victims. Sadists, sociopaths, and other creeps find ready employment in Islam and other inherently aggressive and violent movements.
In my view they are but from their indoctrination they are martyrs -- I will wait to decide. If he viewed himself a "martyr" I hope it's 72 Virginians that he meets up there.
You said — “ WOW! Finally! Somebody that thinks the way I do!........Let’s chat!.............”
Well..., before we chat, let’s just make sure you haven’t been buying glocks, recently and don’t have some chains stashed away and aren’t stocking a bunch of extra loaded clips... okay?? :-)
Regards,
Star Traveler
Barring a judge sealing the note, at what point in this process should the note be made publicly available for Drudge or smokinggun to post?
Ismail would indicate the position of a son, a servant to the father, a carrying on of the father’s activity. Ibrahim would indicate he was assuming the position of the father.
ISMAIL AK
NOT
ISMAIL AX
See posts 197, 210, 214, 225, 234, and 242 on this thread:
Killer's Note: 'You Caused Me to Do This'
This is an angle the investigators need to pursue with the school's counseling service, the killer's computer, and Dr. Ismail Ak himself.
You saId — “But I think you’re wrong that Islamists (like commies, Nazis, etc.) find no use for “nutjobs.” After all, the leaders of these movements aren’t the ones who blow themselves up; they recruit marginal, immature people to do so. And normal people don’t saw heads off live victims. Sadists, sociopaths, and other creeps find ready employment in Islam and other inherently aggressive and violent movements.”
Well, “nutballs” like we would normally refer to here in this country — would (in many people’s minds) include the Islamic terrorists. But, I don’t think they are “nutballs” in the same sense.
I see nutballs here (as we normally hear and see) in that they are unstable, unable to carry out tasks and duties properly, unable (incapable) of carrying out clandestine types of goals and remain “under cover”.
However, these Islamic terrorists are more dedicated and a bit more disciplined and know what they are fighting for (even if it is wrong). They are not nutballs in that sense.
Regards,
Star Traveler
You are awfully sure of yourself. My resume is Afghanistan based, 2003-2007—saw many “nutballs” engaging in many (beginning in real large numbers in 2006) suicide attacks.
In my estimation, Cho was attracted to Islam, superficial or not, it likely fed his obviously disturbed ego.
It is not sophisticated to append to Islamists what you think motivates them. They don’t care what we think and are incapable of thinking as normal people think.
They are destroying themselves and as many others as they can believing a reward is extant for their efforts.
You cannot reason with them, “treat them”, or otherwise defang them. Some, very few, extricate themselves from Islam even after being active in terrorism and do repent of their actions.
Most are so far gone, it isn’t even in the realm of possibility.
You look at what is available and draw your own inferences. The Cessna pilot crashing his plane into a tower in Florida was a lone disturbed Jihadist acting out of incredibly deranged support for Osama Bin Laden. This took days to emerge (reluctantly)from the MSM. The Left beats up Jews and Christians daily. They continue to excuse Islamists and Stalinists—in the belief that they are worldly, broad minded, and nuanced, most importantly they excuse acts against America because they too hate America; in their core faith that the US is the premier cause of terrorism.
I think you are in danger of succumbing to this particular conceit. Islamists; I “interviewed” many in Afghanistan. They were largely dirt farmers. A few were “players”.
They would rub the words of the US supplied Koran in a manner that led me to wonder aloud if they were alumni of the Evelyn Woods Speed Reading Course. An Afghan interpretor laughed and said, “they can’t read; they were told by the Mullahs that even if you are illiterate, Allah will bless you for tracing his words in the Koran”.
You ascribe cahacteristics to Islamists that simply do not exist. They do not discriminate on who they will employ. Willingness to explode is the only screening.
And another stupid thread. Posted through Islamic links to everything colored glasses.
One of his plays lashed out at Roman Catholicism and American bourgeois culture. His last note alludes to just the sorts of “Western ills” that the 9-11 attackers enraged themselves with. One way or another he had an apocalyptic point of view and he certainly acted out on that premise.
Who would have thought a Jewish kid from the OC would have become a jihadi either? But indeed, it happened. Indeed, I’m not ruling out the possibility here.
Check out her facebook (or is it myspace, I forgot which) page. She was sort of odd herself and certainly a bit wild.
You asked — “Are “suicide” bombers mere nutballs?”
Actually, no, they’re not. When you look at the training that kids are given (for example in the PA) from kindergarten upwards, they are told that this is the highest accomplishment they could achieve. I’ve seen the interviews on their TV, with 12-year-olds, telling how they think about being a “Shahid” and how they “long” for it. They have music videos for kids, extoling the virtues of being a Shahid.
Now, are those kids, who grow up that way, incapable of thinking properly and are their brains “whacked”? For the most part, no — but they are brainwashed into believing something that is not true. They don’t know any different and they are absolutely committed to the ideals that they are given. And they believe that they are victims in all this.
BUT — if one can break out of that and grasp the *real facts* (and not just the propaganda alone), then their thinking processes are sufficient to be able to do that. They are not “nutballs” — but rather *heavily indoctrinated* into wrong-headed thinking and lies and evil philosophies and religion.
The ones who are carrying out these suicide bombings are, many times, quite intelligent and are capable of doing quite well in normal society. They are not misfits. They are only misfits by way of their evil philosophy or religion, not by “thinking processes”.
On the other hand, people like this nutball (yesterday) shooting up the college campus and killing his fellow students has a problem in his head. He hasn’t been indoctrinated. He’s had the benefit of all the information he needs and something simply is wrong inside his head. He tries to burn up his own room twice. It’s thought that he called in the bomb threats. His girlfriend probably wants nothing to do with a nutball. So, he decides to take it out on everyone else. That’s a real nutball.
And then you said — “In my view they are but from their indoctrination they are martyrs — I will wait to decide. If he viewed himself a “martyr” I hope it’s 72 Virginians that he meets up there.”
Most likely he won’t be seen as presenting himself as a martyr. He doesn’t seem to have the capacity to stick with any kind of indoctrination (either good or bad). The only martyr he probably thought he was, was a martyr unto himself for the slights of society upon him.
Regards,
Star Traveler
Ismail (or Ishmael in Hebrew) was Abraham’s son by Hagar, the slave girl. In Mohammedan fancy, it is he, not Abraham’s son by Sarah, Isaac, who it taken out to be sacrificed at the behest of God, only to be ransomed by divine provision of a ram.
Apparently some Mohammedan tellings of the story suggest the sacrifice would have been carried out with an ax, rather than a knife.
It is curious that he chose the Arabic variant of the name, rather than the Hebrew (and English) variant, as in the James Fennimore Cooper story another poster cited as possible source for the phrase ‘Ismail’s ax’.
Nut balls are persons of great interest to the enemies of the USA. A person such as Sheehan doing what she does is one level of interest, whereas, a person willing to blow away several people with a 9, or, shoot an RPG off, is a whole other, higher level of interest. Thanks for posting. Too early to rule anyting either out or in.
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