[volunteers] Armchair psychiatrist...

[Michael Robinson]

I've never heard of libel being nothing more than making public claims
that someone could be mentally ill and encouraging them to get help.  I
tried to avoid saying, "Mr. Bilk, you have a mental health issue."  I'm
sorry that what I wrote on svlug at lists.svlug.org is being taken as
thinly veiled libel.  In reality, I was making an extremely poor attempt
to reach out to a stranger, Mr. Bilk, who showed signs in my opinion of
being mentally ill.  Mr. Bilk, if you are reading this, I don't agree
with the 9/11 was a US government conspiracy rhetoric and I never will.
The truth is quite different and I hope you can see that some day soon.
Finally, hoping you are reading this, I'm sorry Mr. Bilk for saying
publicly that you might be in need of mental health care.

I'm not a psychiatrist, psychologist, or social worker.  I can't
diagnose and treat mental illness, I can only suspect it.  I just want
to do the right thing, encourage someone who is in need of help to get
the help they need.  Can Mr. Bilk refrain in the future from anti
American rantings?  He will only alienate himself as far as I can tell
if he continues with conspiracy propaganda and anti American propaganda
in general.  Imagine Mr. Bilk is on the street and starts ranting in
public, he could be arrested for disturbing the peace.  If an attempt to
steer him towards mental health care prevents that, that's a good thing.