Influence

This piece in the Guardian is confusingly argued:

Bloggers reading [Cho's] plays have been quick to comment that they are "obviously evidence of someone really disturbed". But in truth, the plays are no more violent than Shakespeare's. In fact, despite their banality, Shakespeare is arguably a key influence, as is shown in the following Hamlet-to-Claudius exchange between 13-year-old John and his new stepfather[...]

The writer says we shouldn't blame literary influences for the massacre, then trots in Shakespeare, as if people have been objecting to Shakespeare in the wake of the killings. (Earlier he writes, "[I]t is alarming to think that majoring in English might have contributed to Cho's problems or even inspired him to become a mass murderer.")

Don't worry: The Bard is safe. No one's going to protest the next staging of Hamlet. (But as Cathy notes, that Oldboy remake is probably going to get the kibosh.)

(Via the More Prolific Ed)