this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2024
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“I will no longer be complicit in genocide [in Gaza]. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest,” the man apparently said before setting himself alight and repeatedly shouting “Free Palestine!”

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[–] [email protected] 226 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (11 children)

It's a bit of a beleaguered point, but it's very telling that this will assuredly get almost no coverage on big news networks like abc, cbs, fox, etc. and virtually no coverage in the larger papers like the NYT, sure the press agencies like Reuters and the AP will cover it and then redistributors like your source will publish this, but little thought among the media class/commentariet will be given to the man who decided there was so little hope of being able to do anything through legal/electoral means to stop a genocide that he could no longer stand idly by and had to do something to protest the sheer inhumanity of what's going on. Barely anyone probably still remembers the person who did the same thing and died in 2022 on earth day protesting inaction on climate change/destruction, that story was absolutely buried. I don't support any kind of self harm, but doing something as drastic as this requires a pretty compelling reason, most people remember Tibetan monks doing the same thing, but the same importance was not extended to that person in 2022 and will almost definitely not be extended to this person now. I may end up being wrong, but I expect this to be out of the news cycle/discourse in days at most.

[–] [email protected] 124 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I was listening to BBC World Report this morning. They made quick mention of it along with some other things happening in the conflict, then went on to introduce their "expert" who would illuminate the situation.

Their so called expert was an employee of some Israeli institute of security or whatever, and he talked on for ages with minimal push-back about how the israeli army is doing everything by the book and how "Gaza is safe for civilians, and if it's not it's the fault of Hamas".

That was all the coverage they did.

What a fucking joke.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

If anyone would like a bit of an overview about the conflict I found Shaun’s Palestine video interesting (and infuriating). I also thought Shattered Dreams of Peace by Frontline was informative on the further background

(putting it here because the parent is about misinformation and lies)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

Shaun’s Palestine video

Shattered Dreams of Peace

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 66 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 75 points 9 months ago

"gee why did he set himself on fire? must just be something people do"

it's laughable how US media attributes self-immolation in Tibet to what must be CPC oppression, but self-immolation in the US must just be a cute little coincidence due to poor mental health

[–] [email protected] 45 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

most people remember Tibetan monks doing the same thing

Out of political selfimmolations there were 7 Tibetan cases, but dozens of others including many Americans. I wonder why "most people" remember particularly those. Would it be that US media wasn't fair to report not only this one here?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It was on a cover of a rage against the machine album.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 9 months ago

Lmao that's what i was talking about, the one on this album cover wasn't even Tibetan, he was Thích Quảng Đức, a Vietnamese buddhist monk, selfimmolating in Saigon in 1963 as protest against US-backed South Vietnam government persecuting buddhists.
So why people like you think he was Tibetan if not for media misleading you? This was literally the most famous of public selfimmolation and the one that started it all for in XX century.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 9 months ago

doing something as drastic as this requires a pretty compelling reason

I've already had a couple people immediately retort "wow mental health is scary", then say "nobody will remember his name".

These people will shamelessly undermine any action then act disappointed that these actions are quickly ignored.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Few people will remember him, but if any are spurred into action by his act, then it won't be a completely wasteful loss of life.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Yeah, I've seen some discourse that things like this when done by an individual as opposed to a group effort like the Tibetan monks are primarily to take their own life and the message is secondary/additional, but I would like to think that on some level something positive will come out of someone doing something as drastic and sad as this. Dying or taking your own life is not something positive or to be glorified, but when someone feels so hopeless to the point that they turn to this, I hope it's at least a wake up call for some people to take this seriously and not just ignore/tune out one of the biggest genocides in recent history.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 9 months ago (3 children)

They didn't even share his name, either it is something middle eastern sounding or they just want everyone to forget about him.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 9 months ago

From lower down in this post, his name is Aaron Bushnell.

There's already a Wikipedia article about the incident.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

From what I recall on Twitter it's a white dude, but they didn't want to share his name.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago (1 children)

He's definitely white from the video but they probably want to scrub his social media history before they release his name.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

I saw he was an anarchist? Not much info that I saw but yeah I could see him having a hard time in the military. I was an anarchist when I was younger too.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 9 months ago (6 children)

Yes, my first thought was, "Crikey! Has anyone in the united states self -immolated, before?!"

It's a horrific way to call attention to a cause. I'm sure after his best possible recovery, his military unit will rally to prosecute to add to his anguish.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

I'm sure after his best possible recovery

I don’t think he’ll recover. (In fact, apparently it is already being reported that he died. But even if he hasn’t yet he will.) He was taking deep lungfuls of flame and smoke to continue his chant. He’ll have destroyed his lungs. He knew going in that he wouldn’t come out of this alive.

What a brave man.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

I'm aware of one:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Change

but there are certainly others.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

@Maeve i
He died. It's actually not as uncommon as you'd think.

Quite a few US Americans in this list of political self immolations.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Thank you for sharing this list, we should probably be more aware of the sacrifice these people have made. The vast majority of the Americans have done it for honorable causes.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Winn Bruce last year

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago

Honestly, the megacorps will only allow this on main TV when pushing regulation against protesting.

Like, "think of how many innocent ~~moneys~~ lives we would save if we shoot protesters'.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

A person I know wrote a song about Winn Bruce, got lots of play on SoundCloud. He definitely wasn't forgotten

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I got a notification for it from Washington Post. Reuters and nbc has it on the front page.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I get so tired of this talking point. New York times, Washington Post, and even Fox news each have an article (or multiple) on this event.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

OMG THEY HAVE AN ARTICLE OMG THAT WAS TOTALLY MY POINT, I QUITE LITERALLY TALKED ABOUT REDISTRIBUTING THINGS FROM PRESS AGENCIES JFC, HOW CAN YOU READ WHAT I WROTE AND GET TO THIS, IS THERE ANYTHING RESIDING IN BETWEEN YOUR EARS ???

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

God, an unironic "you mad bro" go back to reddit lmao