Virginia Tech Thoughts
1) The "ISMAIL AX" tattoo
Virginia Tech police discovered Cho Seung-Hui's body in one of the classrooms, and found that he scrawled the words "ISMAIL AX" on the inside of one arm. According to the Chicago Tribune, it may be a reference to the Islamic account of the Biblical sacrifice of Abraham.
However, it looks to come from the James Fennimore Cooper's story "The Prairie." Settler Ishmael Bush had a gun and an axe. The axe - which can either kill or provide shelter - stands for both creation and destruction. Obviously, given his major in English.
2) Exactly what medication was Cho using?
Investigators believe Cho had been taking medication for depression. Was it Prozac? Could the medication have lead to his violent, aberrant behaviour? During his time at Virginia Tech, he set a fire in a dorm room and was allegedly stalking female students.
If it was Prozac, such a side effect means that this drug is actually dangerous and must be taken out of circulation.
3) Asian American Journalists Association starts the political correctness bullsh*t
The AAJA is urging all media to avoid using "racial identifers" unless there is a compelling or germane reason. They ask that the standards of news reporting should be universal and applied equally no matter the platform or medium, including blogs.
The shooter definitely looked asian. If I see a black person shooting the place up, I would say it was a black person. Maybe the correct wording is "dark-skinned." So instead of asian, should I say "yellow-skinned" with "slanty eyes." Or maybe we can just say "I think it was a male." Oh wait, that would insult the females.
The notion that saying Asian would unfairly portray an entire race of people is narrow-minded and ridiculous. I rather believe that we are all educated and smart to know that if any person trying to murder someone does not mean that his race, religion, or the color of his/her skin contributes a major factor to it.
I would even bet that some asian journalists were noting the ethnicity of black or white criminals. So hypocritical of them.
5) Do we really need to care about what the lawyers say during a crisis?
6) Unarmed and vulnerable - Bradford Wiles, a graduate student and licensed to carry a concealed weapon laments on the campus handgun ban
Interesting, what can we do if we know that the campus police cannot protect us?
7) Alex Leo of the Huffington Post tries to do the 9/11 comparison
"September 11 will forever live in our consciousness, but let us not forget those that perished at the hands of Americans."
Huh?
8) Remembering a true hero: Professor Liviu Librescu
Comments