Since the massacre of innocents at Sandy Hook Elementary School,
calls have rung out for improving "mental health services." This
deflects from actions that would save lives. Such calls blur the
distinction between what is crazy and what is evil. Further,
they compound our national reluctance to face facts about what
can and cannot be changed.In modern scientific parlance, the
label crazy centers on delusions, hallucinations and bizarre
beliefs. More commonly used technical terms are insane,
psychotic or schizophrenic.Evil is at least as ancient a concept
as crazy. Its hallmark is a narrow moral circle in which other
people are objects of moral indifference or hatred, people
deemed not to deserve to live. In this usage, the label evil is
not mysterious nor derived from a belief in "the devil." Rather,
it is clarifying; it denotes people inclined to be violent and
to put many other people at risk.We know evil when we see it.
Mean, violent, full of hate, selfish, grandiose, without a
conscience and bullying all