Crazy ≠ Evil

Terrorists and dictators are often labeled in media as "crazy" or "insane". I can't help but question whether that's true or an insult from a biased source. "Crazy" is wearing shoes on your feet. Targeting children and innocent civilians with bombs is evil. An emotional reporter might report such as an act committed by “insane” criminals, but I'm pretty sure they knew what they were doing. As much as it sickens me to say it, they're economizing. The terrorists aren't a sovereign nation with access to planes and bombs, so they're seeking to do the most damage (or get the most attention, at least) they can with their limited means. Their methods are immoral, but clearly calculated.

I'm uncertain whether a dictator who rose to power could have truly been insane, either. While I've learned never to underestimate the stupidity of large groups of people, especially in the case of those who rose from humble beginnings I feel as though at least some rational people, somewhere, would have protested contesting their freedoms to a literal lunatic, and prevented that assent to power. Joesph Stalin was born into poverty, a far cry from where he ended up. I confess I'm not educated enough on to history to know the full details of his rise to rule. He must have had a good deal of charisma to reach his position. On the other hand, I have heard of his paranoia. Lenin himself wrote that he was not to be trusted. Maybe his rise was the result of freak circumstance. It is unfortunate he wasn't stopped somewhere, and curious because he had a long road from the bottom to the top - he wasn't born with an army under him. Caligula was, and he really was insane. Many medieval monarchs born with armies under them were also insane, what with the inbreeding and all.

What kills me is when people say that Adolf Hitler was the most evil person ever...AND he was crazy. I just find that to be inconsistent. The state of insanity grants clemency by removing one from the responsibility of their actions - indeed, it's a legal defense (in this country, anyway). I feel that in naming Hitler "insane" he is (at least partially) exonerated of the atrocities he committed against millions. I believe that sanity is a necessary condition for sin, and I believe it's a condition met by most terrorists and dictators. That should be considered before the individual(s) be named "insane". True evil is knowing what you're doing is wrong and then doing it anyway.