I asked whether that “air rage” passenger who died after restrained by other passengers really represented a threat. People have written with what strike me as both thoughtful and kneejerk responses. The former mostly reflect on when they were perceived — or misperceived — as scary and threatening by others when they were distraught. The latter were mostly along the lines of projections of what the unfortunate young man could’ve done if not prevented — e.g., depressurize the cabin by his actions — or assumptions about what he had done — hurt other passengers. (“Shit yeah, he was dangerous!”) This all confirms my point. While, of course, neither those who wrote responses to me nor I know anything about what really happened up there, and we’re not likely to, he might still be alive (and everyone safe) if his fellow passengers had tempered reacting from their own fears with a grasp of the situation from his panic-stricken viewpoint and realized that, when someone scares us, it is often a reflection of how scared they themselves feel at the time. I just wanted to suggest that he, or someone in his position the next time, might not really need to be subdued quite so vehemently at such a time. My work with the psychiatrically ill has alot to do with sensitivity to the stigmatization and negative reactions they suffer from those around them.