Cho Seung-Hui & Oldboy: Killer May Have Re-Enacted Violent Film ( Made in Korea )

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Police investigating the Virginia Tech killings are looking at whether Cho Seung-Hui was copying parts of a violent film titled 'Oldboy' when he murdered 32 people and killed himself in a massacre earlier this week. "Oldboy," from the respected director Chan-woo Park, is about a man unjustly imprisoned for 15 years. After escaping, he goes on a rampage against his captor. In one scene, he dispatches more than a dozen henchmen with the aid of a hammer, reports the Associated Press.

In the package of materials that Cho Seung-Hui sent to NBC News, one photo shows the killer brandishing a hammer in a pose similar to one from the film

A report from Sky News notes that police officers believe he repeatedly watched Oldboy as part of his preparation for the killing spree. The film, which won the Grand Prix award at the 2004 Cannes film festival, has been described as "an ultra-violent movie of obsession and revenge." It contains stylized scenes of killings and an attempted suicide, and is filled with what one critic called "punishing emotional violence."

Cho's video diary, along with his collection of movies, writings and that fact that he bought a gun last month reveal that, rather than the killing spree being a spontaneous event, he had planned the massacre in advance.

AP notes in another report that one blogger for the Huffington Post, filmmaker Bob Cesca, dismissed the connection as "the most ridiculous hypothesis yet" about the Virginia Tech massacre.

There was no apparent link between Cho and "Oldboy" besides the lone photograph among the 28 video clips, 23-page written message and 43 self-portrait photos that he sent to NBC. Cho killed the 32 victims with a handgun and a pistol, not a hammer. He did not seem to reference the film in any of his notes or messages.

But Sky News speculates that the fact that he seems to have been influenced by the film will re-ignite the debate over whether violence in movies and video games can lead to people becoming more violent themselves.

No doubt martial arts movies may have been one source of the violence. They don’t have that effect on a normal person, but they might have it on a nutcase.

Another source would seem to be Muslim terrorists. It’s not clear that Cho was a Muslim, although he may have been if that Indonesian connection is genuine. But no doubt he admired them.

Where does “Ismail Ax” come from? We have seen several different theories, but the most plausible one is that it comes from Ismail, the Muslim version of Ishmael, the son of Abraham/Ibraham and progenitor of the Arabs. The ax is the weapon with which Ibrahim and Ismail destroyed the pagan idols before building the Kaaba and paving the way for Islam.

It’s obvious that he was an America-hater.

<< He was referring to Jesus and seems to be motivated by the Israelite history of getting rid of sinners and idolaters. To me that is exactly what he believed in. He was a mental nutcase and a psychopath who used religion to justify his actions. >>

Wrong. Go back and read his rants again.

The “Ismail Ax” reference to getting rid of idols comes from a MUSLIM story, NOT an Israelite story.

Cho criticized Christians in his rant and said that he himself was tantamount to Christ in that he was being crucified and would be looked up to by future generations of the weak and the defenseless. To a Christian that is BLASPHEMY. Cho was no follower of Christ.

Based on what has been released so far, the only realistic suggestion that Cho was religious and that religion that motivated his actions is that he repeated the islamist rant about America being “hedonist and degenerate.” But again, I very much doubt that he was a real muslim.

His rants are a mishmash of much evil things, but the closest thing I would compare him to would be a radical leftist such as a Maoist or Shining Path.

“The “Ismail Ax” reference to getting rid of idols comes from a MUSLIM story, NOT an Israelite story.”

Perhaps I shouldn’t have called it “Israelite.” I meant the Abrahamic story, where the Patriarch and the family(Israelites, Ishmaelites) going on against the sinners.

Cho certianly believed that his murders were religious in nature. Which religious branch, who really knows. But he makes it clear about his religious motive and refers to Jesus and Ishmael.

“Cho criticized Christians in his rant”

Criticizing(and killing) Christians has nothing to do with whether or not he was justifying his acts using religion. He obviously saw the people he was killing as sinners and oppressors who had to be killed, not oppressed .

“and said that he himself was tantamount to Christ in that he was being crucified and would be looked up to by future generations of the weak and the defenseless. To a Christian that is BLASPHEMY. Cho was no follower of Christ.”

True, but to himself, it WAS NOT blasphemy. In fact, that was exactly what he believed in.

“Based on what has been released so far, the only realistic suggestion that Cho was religious and that religion that motivated his actions is that he repeated the islamist rant about America being “hedonist and degenerate.” But again, I very much doubt that he was a real muslim.”

Again, who knows what religious branch he was following. Probably nothing because he was a loner and psychopath, not exactly your typical mainstream religious person. But, his motives — his inspiration — are religious and mythological/historical in nature. He drew inspiration from the religious accounts of the destruction of the hedonists and the degenerates.

“His rants are a mishmash of much evil things, but the closest thing I would compare him to would be a radical leftist such as a Maoist or Shining Path.”

Perhaps. The maoist/Commie rhetoric is similar to a loner psychopath’s religious rhetoric in a sense they are claiming to do something good, and kill people en masse.

Let's be clear, the story about Ibraham (Abraham) smashing the idols is a Muslim story, it is not found ANYWHERE in the Christian Bible or the Jewish Torah. If Ismail Ax is a reference to this it can ONLY be Muslim. (If you don't happen to be a Christian or a Jew I am not going to hold you to being an expert on these texts, but I just want to make that clear.)

Furthermore, this guy was an English Literature major. In English Literature, writers employ the name "Ishmael" to signify an outsider. This is done, for example, in what many students of English Literature consider to be the finest American novel, a book called "Moby Dick." So an English Literature major making reference to "Ishmael" does not necessarily mean it is a religious reference. And if it IS a religious reference, it would be Muslim, because Ishmael is only an important name in Islam, not for Jews or Christians.

The references he makes to Jesus Christ are the following:

"Because of your actions the ground you stand on and you that harbor its principles will forever be known (unintelligible word) the world as Holy Ground of Terrorism, Lovers of Terrorism and Sadism, Rapists of Souls, (unintelligible word) Christian Nazis, Apostles of Sin, Crucifiers of the Innocent, Kim-Jong II's of the West, American (unintelligible word) and Osamas of America."

"Christian Nazis" is not being used as a sympathetic term here. No reasonable person would think Cho was a Christian because of his reference to Christ in this way.

The other reference he makes to Christ is this:

“Thanks to you,” he writes, “I die like Jesus Christ to inspire generations of the weak and defenseless — my brothers, sisters and children — that you f---ed.”

This happens to be the Marxist interpretation of Christ - that he was a man who died to inspire the downtrodden people of the world. On the other hand, Christians believe that Christ as the Son sacrificed himself to make sinful man acceptable in the sight of a perfect and holy God the Father.

It appears he is comparing himself to the historical character of Christ (in particular as interpreted by Marxists). There is absolutely NO reason to think from this he considers himself a Christian.

Further, while he does rail against the hedonism and degeneracy of those he considers is enemies, he makes absolutely NO reference anywhere to "religious accounts of the destruction of the hedonists and the degenerates." I don't know where you get that from.

The guy did use religious-sounding terminology at times (e.g., the "holy ground of terrorism") but based on everything else he says there is no reason to believe this isn't just language used for dramatic effect as opposed to coming out of an actual religious belief.

I will concede to you this point, however: They have not made public either the note or most of his package to NBC. It may well be the case that if we saw those materials, it would be clear that he WAS in fact motivated from a religious belief, perhaps an islamist belief.

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