What do you think of Max Leonard’s actions at the end?

What do you think of Max Leonard’s actions at the end? Are they understandable?

Max Leonard's idealism got in the way of his common sense. He was so determined to let the world know of his message for the sake of the youngs that he failed to realize that killing to accomplish an ideal is never the answer. He probably had no intention of ever killing anyone but his zealousness took over and when that happens, as history has shown over and over, respect for others lives is lost. When the cause becomes more important than the people massacres happen.

I agree with joyces on this. When the cause is more important than the people, bad things happen. There still would not have been deaths if the one member hadn't panicked. It shows that the leader is not always in control and things have a way of always getting out of control. What was surprising was the inclusion of drugs in the equation. It makes one wonder what Max's choices would have been if drugs were not involved. Would he have been more rational? Would he have considered a different path? The drugs muddy the idealism.

I saw the drugs as more evidence that he'd crossed some line within himself and starting considering options most people would not. It's always, always, always a bad idea to let ideas be more important than humans.

And you can't use violent means and not expect violence to break out - anything else is lying to yourself.

Actually, we have no way of knowing what Max's actions - ultimately - would have been since he was cut down by a blaze of gunfire. I do think his speech to the president made a lot of sense in a basic way, and so, in fact, did the president. If Max had not been on drugs, he may have never reached the point of taking any action at all, but on the drugs his behavior was erratic and unpredictable. He was doomed for failure, in any case, even if he had lived. President Bernstein could never admit to anyone that he sympathized with Max's philosophies in any way, but it didn't matter in the end because he couldn't get reelected anyway. If the book had continued, there would have been more "Max" types cropping up, some with even more violent solutions, and more followers.

I agree with bevula that the drugs were evidence that he'd really gone off the deep end. Really, hijacking a ship just to talk to the president... that's really stupid. I also agree with susank that he was doomed for failure from the start. I also think that he wasn't near as smart as he thought he was.