Apr 19, 2007

Mystery of Virginia shooter's arm solved?

According to Wikipedia and The Brisbane Times, the term "Ismail Ax", which was found on the shooter's arm, is a reference to a nickname he used on some gaming sites and was his Xbox gaming tag. He also apparently used the name to sign his final letter with, suggesting he wanted it to be known that he was the same person, perhaps.

However, it is a little odd. Not least where he got the name from, and that he felt compelled to use it. The media jumping on the Islamic connection was obvious and to be expected because, well, the media could find an Islamic connection in a KKK rally if they felt inventive enough, and this was a bit more obvious than their usual scaremongering.

So yeah, apparently, we have a mentally ill gamer who had problems distinguishing between reality and fiction. Or at least, that is the picture being portrayed. So we can expect endless rounds of "ban this sick filth"-ists calling for every game that isn't Super Mario Kart to be pulled from the shelves, the gun lobby and NRA insisting the mentally ill be allowed any sort of weapon they want and inbetween, the victims basically not given a shit about except as political tools for various agendas.

Welcome to the 21st century.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

But who cares about Cho, his family or why this happened.
Those that were shot were obviously victims but why did this happen?
Was he simply "mentally ill", how did he acquire his illness?
Little mention seems to be made of his hatred for the rich, or the problems of being a geek in cool school. Of course, he's just "mentally ill", answers all the difficult questions, ask no further...
Would gun controls REALLY have made a difference?

Cain said...

Yet his targets were chosen pretty much at random, there is little evidence to suggest he actually valued killing "rich kids" over anyone else, which is unusual in many workplace/school shootings and lends credence to the mentally ill argument.

Also, yes, some tighter gun control could have helped. Its not an infringement of the Second Amendment to make sure someone is sane enough to use their weapon responsibly before being allowed one. His history of unresolved mental issues should have been a matter of record when it comes to weapons like that.

However, equally, the Campus should be investigated for that shambles of an evacuation. That he was given near on 3 hours to kill who he wanted suggests a serious problem there as well.