June 18, 2026

Collective Madness

Madness, in the strictly medical sense, is a pathology that affects individuals, not societies. By extension, we call “collective madness” those ideologies that, from OUR point of view, appear insane.

Consider those who crashed into the Twin Towers: they embraced a fanatical ideology, yet they were regarded as heroes in much of the Arab world.

Likewise, were those Christians who allowed themselves to be killed in order to bear witness to their faith (martyrdom in Greek, shahada in Arabic) insane?

Were those who massacred the Albigensian heretics insane? And what about the knights who set out on the Crusades?

It depends on one's point of view.