A crazy man and an anti-capitalist paradigm

Crazy people — really crazy, the ones with serious schizophrenia or other mental illnesses — reflect the times.  (And yes, you’ve heard me say this before.)  In a pre-scientific era, they heard voices from God or the Devil.  In the post-WWII era, the men from Mars spoke to them, and they paraded around in tinfoil hats.  That’s why I found it unsurprising that a manifestly delusional 24 year old, after hearing the anti-capitalist voices in his head, took a gun to a local bank so that his “manifesto” could be heard:

Anthony Lee, 24, told police that he had planned to protest the bank on March 14 because 3.14 is the number for pi, according to a court affidavit filed by Twin Cities police Detective Cheryl Paris.

“Lee said he felt that everyone deserved a piece of the pie in reference to the amount of wealth in the United States,” Paris wrote.

The affidavit also provides excerpts from a manifesto Lee wrote in the hopes of garnering publicity for his cause.

“goal: change the capitalist monetary system (non-violently); gain national media coverage,” Lee wrote.

“suppliez: poster board w/ writin on it, pizza money, BB gun, backpack full of water, sheetz w/ subject content (az evidence) 2 discuss with the bank president, n maybe a rolled up blunt w/ an ipod the boredom-az well az a positive frame of mind.

“when: 3.14, before the House of Reps makez the final decision, n the government shutz down (unemployin millionz)-2 pay off the $14 trillion deficit…”

This was not a terrorist act:  That is, this was not a sane person deliberately using terror to advance a specific political/religious agenda.  This was a truly crazy guy, whose craziness takes on the coloring of the world around him.