By Andrew L. Jaffee

When confronted with a tragedy of epic proportions, like Cho Seung-Hui’s massacre at Virginia Tech, it is natural for people to search for a reason why such an event occurred. Perhaps people are thinking too much, looking for rational explanations where there are none, especially in the twisted, evil mind of a mass murderer. Internet surfers and bloggers have concentrated on the term, “Ismail Ax,” for which a Technorati search returns 2,400 results. The words were:

…scrawled in red ink on the arm of the Virginia Tech gunman after his shooting rampage that left him and 32 others dead. It was written on an overnight postage Seung-Hui Cho sent between the two shootings. And a variation of it appeared on a file contained in the package sent to NBC that included Cho’s rambling, hate-filled video, incoherent written messages and photos.

I have speculated that Cho might have been influenced by violent movie imagery. I have rejected the notion that Cho’s experiences as a youth rationalize his atrocity. Speculated, rejected, de-rationalized…

Concentrating on the babble scrawled by a madman may be fruitless. We may indeed never know why Cho went on a rampage. Yet at least we can try to prevent such an event from occurring again — and remember that there is a difference between right and wrong.

Full Virginia Tech/Cho Seung-Hui Coverage:

• Virginia Tech: Mendacity!
• Virginia Tech and Adolescence
• Lessons from Virginia Tech: We Had Better Learn Them
• Ideas for Virginia Tech killer Cho Seung-Hui
• The true measure of a man
• When PR supersedes safety
• Hollywood hasn’t raised concerns?

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Related: Society, Media/Blogsphere, Virginia Tech Shooting

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