re: #290 J.S.

there are many times that a health care professional (or a team) will need to assess an individual — that’s to determine whether or not the person is in need of hospitalization (due to mental health issues). Could be an elderly person suffering from dementia (but who insists he wants to live independently, etc., and family member want him to be supervised), etc. So the health personnel conduct interviews, and have the patient fill out paper and pencil tests, etc. In other words, the person’s mental health is evaluated. If the person is deemed to be sufficiently unstable or ill or presents a danger to himself or others, he may face a hospital stay…Theoretically, terrorists given such an assessment, would be given a “thumbs up” — they wouldn’t present the kinds of symptoms that would get them hospitalized…they’d “pass.” Hence, they’re not “deranged” or “out of the realm of normal.”

Yes, of course. But I ascribe that to the methods of assessment and evaluation. And for anyone but a half-wit or an individual with a debilitating mental condition, there’s nothing easier to simulate than normality. My hypothesis is that when someone decides on the wholesale murder of anyone who happens to be in his/her path while knowing that such a course of action can only lead to his/her own annihilation, that person is by definition deranged.