Ismail Ax: Five Theories Floated (Update: Mystery Partially Solved)
John on April 17, 2007 at 8:51 pm
Wed. 10:30PM: The mystery has been partially solved. The package sent to NBC was sent from “A. Ishmael.” So he was using it as a name. Allah at HotAir thinks the new spelling discounts the Islamic connection. I’m not convinced it does. Check this post for more.
Update Wed. 2:00PM: New theories are floating…
- Was Ismale Ax a trigger word for a brainwashed Cho?
- Was it the name of a South Korean boy kidnapped in 1971?
- Phonetic spelling of Brother Ismael?
- Is it the mass murder equivalent of Rosebud?
Don’t miss the comments where several more explanations have been offered including a reference to machine code, an Islamic name, his World of Warcraft alias…?
Update11:20PM: Allah at HotAir notes this Washington Post story which changes the playing field by reporting that the mysterious words on Cho’s arm were spelled differently. It’s “Ismale Ax” not “Ismail Ax.”
Also, the story says the words were tattooed on his arm, not written with a pen as earlier reports suggested.
Some enterprising reporter needs to find out which tattoo parlor did the work.
[End update]
Ever since word came out that Cho Seung-Hui had the words “Ismail Ax” written on the inside of his arm in red marker, the web has been working to decipher the meaning of the cryptic phrase. Quite a few people have offered theories at this point. I thought I’d pull the top five together in one place.
- One – Ismail is an Islamic spelling of Ishmael and Ax refers to either the sacrifice of Ismail (in the Islamic tradition) or to a specific act of iconoclasm.
- Source: This one was floated by The Islamic Threat and picked up by a number of people. The iconoclasm story was posted here and picked up by Boing Boing.
- Pros: The spelling of Ismail seems to be almost exclusively Islamic. The iconoclasm story seems to be a major part of the tale. Also, some of Cho’s behavior could be described as moralistic.
- Cons: How did a suburban South Korean kid from Centerville get exposed to Islam? Why didn’t he tell anyone about his views? Also, it’s really Ibrahim’s ax in the iconoclasm story, not Ismail’s.
- Two – Ismail Ax is a reference to Ismail YK a popular Turkish pop singer.
- Source: Paul at Wizbang offered this one.
- Pros: This singer does appear to be famous in other parts of the world. Cho reportedly spent a lot of time downloading music.
- Cons: Why did he mispell the name and what does this have to do with shooting people?
- Three – Ismail may have been a literary reference to James Fennimore Cooper’s story “The Prairie,” in which Ishmael Bush sets out across the prairie with a gun and an axe.
- Source: Suggested by a Hot Air reader.
- Pros: Cho was an English major and may have know the book.
- Cons: Mispelled again. A bit highbrow for a guy contemplating murder.
- Four – Ax refers to Alpha Chi Omega sorority.
- Source: unknown, I found it on Boing Boing.
- Pros: Cho had serious girl trouble and may even have had an imaginary girlfriend. Sorority obsession seems possible.
- Cons: What about Ismail?
- Five – A reference to this book?
- Source: Unknown, but I’ve seen it mentioned a couple places.
- Pros: The title.
- Cons: Obscure squared.
That’s it for now. If you know of another theory floating around, post a link in the comments. Personally, I don’t find any of the theories very convincing but I do think the first has the most going for it. Perhaps when the note is released something will make sense.
Category: Crime & the Law |
” ismail ax = ismailax = is mai lax = is my luck “
April 17, 2007 @ 10:47 pm[...] Verum Serum [...]
April 18, 2007 @ 4:42 amPerhaps searching for meaning in this case is futile. To state the sad obvious, this man seems to have lost complete control over his mind and any semblance of reality. The words might not withhold meaning to anyone but him.
April 18, 2007 @ 5:24 amCould it be an anagram? I tried an anagram decoder and didn’t see anything that stood out. If it has a name in it or the anagram is in Korean, that could prove difficult to decipher.
Diego
April 18, 2007 @ 7:09 amActually it was ismale AX. ismale being a computer code gender question. AX is used in virus executables. Therefore ismale AX is a male virus.
April 18, 2007 @ 8:03 amDid a quick search and turned up the following:
Ismale (we now know it’s not Ismail): Hebrew name(variant) meaning “God will hear” or some sources seem to suggest “He who listens.”
Ax: If I’m not mistaken translates in Hebrew to “rabbi”
Doesn’t make total sense to me…but thought I’d throw it out there…
April 18, 2007 @ 8:23 amIt may have been ‘I Small Axe’ mispelled.
April 18, 2007 @ 10:02 amThere’s a reggae song…
The second thing coming to mind is that this guy WAS a believer in Islam… making it real, hard core terrorism. His “alias” or whatever you want to call it, tattooed on his arm was “Ismale Ax” (not, as some previously reported, “Ismail Ax”. In examining this, I believe it is his “Islamic Name” which he chose sometime earlier.
April 18, 2007 @ 11:19 amPerhaps it is simply an alias or character for someone who was increasingly disconnected from the world. Maybe Ismale = Is male, a boolean attribute. Ax could be many things, from the literal alternate spelling of ax, a weapon that can destroy ememies, to:
Accumulator eXtended (x86 processor register in computing)
Åland Islands (2-letter ISO country code)
Alpha Chi Omega
American Express
Amman Exchange
Anime Expo
Architecture eXtended (Japanese computing architecture)
Armani Exchange
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
Autocross
Automatic transmission
Citroën AX
F-Zero AX (video game)
AX The Demon (furry artist and entrepreneur)
Trans State Airlines IATA code
Ax, a 87th Precinct story written in 1964 by Ed McBain (Evan Hunter)
Ax, a WWE World Tag-Team Champion professional wrestler
Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill’s nickname, a fictional Animorphs character Ax
The Ax Kickboxing Website http://www.axkickboxing.com/
According to his roomate he liked to watch wrestling. Maybe it was a fantasy fighter name.
April 18, 2007 @ 11:33 amAnother possibility:
Boolean logic Ismale (= is male)
April 18, 2007 @ 11:40 amMachine code Ax
I wondered if as an English major he had read E.D.E.N. Southworth’s novel “Ishmael.” It’s pretty well known in literary circles. In it, Ishmael is a young man who grows up in poverty, but falls in love with a wealthy young woman. His love is unrequited. Just after Claudia leaves Ishmael he becomes very ill, but he picks up an ax and begins to feverishly chop wood. The effort makes him more gravely ill. He later speaks of this as a “turning point” in his life. The chapter starts with part of a poem by Browning:
“With such wrong and woe exhausted, what I suffered and occasioned—
April 18, 2007 @ 12:13 pmAs a wild horse through a city, runs, with lightning in his eyes,
And then dashing at a church’s cold and passive wall impassioned,
Strikes the death into his burning brain, and blindly drops and dies—
So I fell struck down before her! Do you blame me, friends, for weakness?
‘Twas my strength of passion slew me! fell before her like a stone;
Fast the dreadful world rolled from me, on its roaring wheels of blackness!
When the light came, I was lying in this chamber—and alone.”
Maybe coincidentally, but I had just made a post like that at FreeRepublic when I was googling the cryptic Ismale Ax thing. Which is also how I wound up here.
Anyways, the rest of the speculation was, I was wondering if Ismale and Ax – as programming code – might have meant something to him in a Christian, Revelations context such as the “number of a man” might be evoked from the code, if that’s what it is. Again, just pure, idle speculation.
But doesn’t all the coverage about his reported personality remind anyone else of what a “Manchurian Candidate” programmed personality would be like (Monarch, MKultra type wierd stuff)? Wonder if he was medicated on psychiatric-type drugs and, if so, for how long?
April 18, 2007 @ 12:41 pmIsmale is a dummy variable indicating gender, a math equation that deals with “outliers” (an unusual occurrence).
April 18, 2007 @ 1:36 pmAx is a separator, not compatible with ismale.
My interpretation is this man’s masculine identity was castrated or negated (evidenced by his writings).
From http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/1819078/posts , post #82:
“From hotair: Ismail Ax is a character’s name in the World of Warcraft. His character’s name is Ismail_ax.
Hmmmm…..
82 posted on 04/18/2007 2:31:15 PM MDT by redgirlinabluestate “
April 18, 2007 @ 1:56 pmI’ve been looking at theories for this… “Male virus”. I think that interpretation makes sense. Did he view HIMSELF as a virus? Maybe he wanted to be a virus, unbeatable and spreading?
I haven’t heard that anywhere else but here… but it seems like an intelligent theory.
April 18, 2007 @ 6:00 pmAnd Deborah, I like yours too…
there is definite evidence here that this guy was sexually abused in one way or another. I’m not going to pretend to be a genius here; I can’t find my own theory to this.
April 18, 2007 @ 6:04 pm[...] This has been debunked here (Eteraz), and a few theories offering an explanation can be found here. Personally, I think there’s a better chance of the ‘ax’ standing for Armani [...]
April 18, 2007 @ 9:38 pmHere’s a less out there take on a crazy person’s thought process
April 19, 2007 @ 9:17 amHow about a simple abbreviated thing like
I snail mailed AX (anthrax)…..in his delusional mind maybe an attempt at an inside joke. Or using the AX as in the computer virus terms…the same thought.
I snail mailed an infection……..the virus of fear, hate and delusional thinking.
Just also curious to find out the toxicology reports….is it possible that he was doing steroids? Taking accutane for acne? Both items that are reported to create some delusional thinking.
He’s created a meme to pass on his memetic legacy if he couldn’t pass on a genetic one.
April 19, 2007 @ 11:24 pm“Ismail Ax” is anagram for “Axis Mali” which is Latin for “Axis of Evil” so there you have your connection to North Korea.
April 20, 2007 @ 4:00 amhow about:
“Call me Ishmael”
May 9, 2007 @ 7:24 amthis cat was huntuing the big white whale (americans) with his gun and ax in hand. being an english major may be the ironic part. dunno how good his spelling is, you can be a major in english and still have spelling trouble, especially if there is a question of his mental copacity.
danm i just saw this (that’s what i get for starting at the bottom…
“The package sent to NBC was sent from “A. Ishmael.”
a. ishmael as the sender’s name? what more direct clue do you need? ok, so my earlier post doesn’t sound so lame anymore. the name ishmael has come to symbolize orphans, exiles, and social outcasts. ishmael tells us that he has turned to the sea out of a feeling of alienation from human society. cho seemed very alienated for most of his life. ahab is the tyrannical captain who is driven by a monomaniacal desire to kill Moby Dick. the whale is of extraordinary ferocity and size, ineffable strength, mystery, and power. to cho, the whale(s) were the people who tease like fellow students, staff, and the “richies”; the people who kill like us troops invading and desecrating forgein lands (in his mind, yeah, put the keyboard back); the people who rape and desicrate children like debra la faves and john mark karrs whom he mentioned in his manefesto as examples. Ahab believes he is fated to kill Moby Dick, and lives for this purpose alone. ahab and cho both die over their obsessions. cho in the extremely depressive mental state that he was in couldn’t decern his personal desires with the sad reality that we have to except things for what they are. yes, there are people who tease and belittle. yes, there are wars that we do not aggree with. yes, there are rapers and murderers that go scott free and we just except it. cho didn’t. he went to the extreme and took matters into his own hands. we as a nation are too busy WATCHING the news and tragedies and DOING anything about it. we all talk the talk on line, but no one’s walkin’…
May 9, 2007 @ 8:02 amNo one has ever thought of this one. I thought it was “Ismaili ” and not “Ismail” Well, anyone ever here of the Islamic “Ismaili” sect? I doubt most know this sect unless they are familiar with history. The Ismaili were also known as “the assasins”. They were a heretical group known to the knights templar during the crusaders. However, this heretical group also went underground…they still exist as somekind of hidden order in Syria and Iran. There is not much info on about them…but I do know they still exist in soem from and may have some sort of ties to Sufism and esoteric teaching as well. Just a thought. No one else has ever remotely mentioned it.
November 17, 2007 @ 5:55 am