Empathic recognition
I think many can feel some measure of empathy for Rex. He was obviously a desperate man. It appears he had fallen quite far from his once esteemed position as president of a successful business, revered political activist, volunteer minister, and 30+ year OT7.
I watched some footage of him giving a speech on the long-standing battle between Austrian and Keynesian economics. Furthermore, I read some of his artistic reviews on Amazon.com. He exuded a secular and savvy tone that was consistent with somebody who was well-read and intellectually sophisticated. His meltdown seems almost inexplicable.
However, I imagine he felt like an abject failure. He was probably a mentor to a lot of kids who worked at his business. He planned to officiate the wedding of an attractive young couple that worked for him. Also, I'm sure he was revered as an intellectual by friends, family, co-workers, and cohorts from the Denver Area Citizens for Liberty. He was well-educated, having received degrees in mathematics and economics from two separate colleges (Harvey Mudd College and the University of Southern California).
Ultimately, given his intellectual talents, I want to hold Rex more accountable for his cowardly actions. Yes, he fell prey to rigid ideologies. He thought he found organizing principles that held all of the world's answers (e.g. Scientology, libertarian economics). Rex illustrates the folly of black and white, all-or-nothing, dichotomous thinking. He vested too much faith in formulas for living. He became puffed up and thought he mastered life's games; his convoluted theories and formulas for success had demonstrated their utility for several decades.
However, life is chaotic and there are always unaccounted for contingencies, which any prescription for living will fail to encapsulate. Despite the obvious failings of his rigid belief system, Rex persisted in believing to be true what was false. Or at least he behaved that way. One can't imagine the cognitive dissonance that Rex might have suffered. His life is a testament to the folly of putting faith in rigid belief systems. He killed a man and shot himself in the head rather than admit the failure of his philosophy. Rex would not admit his philosophy lacked integrity. As a fanatic, he believed integrity was standing by his judgments. However, real integrity is making moral decisions. Integrity is not foolishly adhering to convictions, irrespective of whether or not they are right or wrong.
Jeffrey
Quote from Rex:
"Thank you, Mr. Kraus, for this excellent comparison. The reasoning and even terminology of Keynesians is duplicated perfectly. The absurdity of an Austrian stimulus package financed by credit expansion is hilarious. Thank you for this excellent paper.
Published: October 16, 2009 6:26 PM"
