Who is Crazy?

Yesterday in class we were talking about ways that people are qualified as crazy.  By now you have probably heard of the man in Austin, TX, Joseph Stack, who crashed his plane into the building thgat houses the Internal Revenue Service.

Nearly every person that I have talked to thus far and every article that I have seen refers to the pilot as a 'crazy' man.  I'm not sure if calling him that is fair (to us or him).  This is a copy of a manuscript that he wrote (allegedly) and he makes some very interesting points.  He talks about corporate big-wigs being bailed out as pertinent, but healthcare reform, which costs many more lives, is merely discussed.  He was fighting to get financial equality for those disenfranchised by large corporations and the capitalist system.  He is very well educated and is trained as an engineer.

I think that he may have been confused about how to make his argument but he was certainly not crazy.  In fact, he didn't even choose the worst possible way to get his message across.  You may say, "he injured (and possibly killed) 2 people.  There is another person as of yet unaccounted for." My answer is that he was fighting for something that he believed would save many more lives.  If you can justify war (especially the sort that targets civilians), surely you should be able to justify this.


In fact, this was probably the only way that he could get his idea across.  If he had made a speech, no one would show up.  He talked about fruitlessly writing letters to representatives.  I don't think that this is the man is crazy, confused certainely, but not crazy. Calling him crazy is just easier...