User blog comment:SomeoneYouUsedToKnow/SYUTK's V5E3 - "You're a Maiden, Oscar" - Impressions/Recap/@comment-34633327-20171101045850

In regards to Ilia, I believe her acting irrational was supposed to be the point. Remember she visited the night before and tried to convince Blake to go while there's still a chance, and when Blake refused, she went to a Last Resort, this stunt. The point of the whole scene was to make it seem like the humans hurt her bad enough to warrant an irrational outburst, then cast doubt in the peoples minds. It was meant to grab their attention enough that they can't just write her off in their heads. Is it dumb, yes, but is it an effective means of propaganda? ....50/50. Like you said, some will see her as a raving lunatic, others will sympathize and find it easier to agree. With the school argument, that could be rationalized as the Faunus there being traitors by interacting peacefully with Humans, like what Ghira was suggesting.

As to whether she meant it or not.... I can argue for both cases. At first it could be faked but as she got more worked up, her real feelings slipped through and led to her bringing up her parents death. And as for how she blames the humans for their death, remember they were dust miners in Atlas, the Kingdom known for treating Faunus badly, and died due to a volatile dust explosion. Ilia may believe the reason they died is because the humans didn't bother to try helping them or because the humans forced her parents into having to work there if they wanted to survive in Atlas. Doesn't help the memory itself is traumatic enough that just remotely bringing up something to it triggers her (Sun saying she looks non-faunus reminding her of her time pretending to be human when it happened).

Is Ilia acting smart? No. But that is the point. She isn't meant to come across as intelligent or rational right now. She is meant to come across as someone broken and left in a state of misanthropy, but still has a chance at redemption. For this is something that definitely seperates her from Adam. Adam will not hesitate to kill for what he wants. Ilia has so far only been shown, or said, to resort to non-lethal methods (The stab for Sun was non-fatal, she only knocked the teeth out of the Atlas Bitches who laughed at people dying, and she downright has refused to attack Blake). There is one line from the trailer still not said, that being Blake pointing out that if Adam does make Haven fall, the situation for the Faunus will be worse. If I'm right, and she says this to Ilia, we may very well see the point where Ilia does Redeem herself.