Aaron Bushnell's Facebook Reveals Final Message Before Self-Immolation
"What would I do if my country was committing genocide?" the airman wrote on Facebook before setting himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy.
First off, that website is an ad dumpster fire. UBlock is a requirement.
Second, here's the write from the article referencing his Facebook post:
He wrote: "Many of us like to ask ourselves, 'What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?' The answer is, you're doing it. Right now."
The video shows one officer pointing a gun at Bushnell, while others extinguished the flames. The MPD spokesperson did not confirm if that officer worked for the police department, but said the matter is under investigation.
Okay wtf is that supposed to mean? Who else should the pig be working for?
There are dozens of police agencies in just a couple blocks of that area. And they can all dress similarly. MPD is for the entire district, but each government agency can have their own police.
https://publicsafety.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_law_enforcement_agencies_in_the_District_of_Columbia
(don't pay any attention to the similarities to the Roman Empire and its multitude of "security" organizations)
Not defending the practice, but at least in North America, it's relatively common for cops to get hired to work security by private companies. It's usually called Paid Duty and those are the cops you see who seem to be working security guard like details at retail shops and sports games etc. They are still technically working for the police department in that situation though I believe.
@masterspace yikes that sounds like all kinds of conflict of interest.
It also sounds like an extreme form of policing for the rich only.
Could be feds, or another branch of LE
The embassy?
Then he'd be a security guard, not an officer, no?
How do we convince conservatives that self-immolation is their ticket to heaven?
Apparently, vaccine mandates.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A man who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. in protest at Israel's war in Gaza posted a final message on Facebook.
Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force, repeatedly yelled "free Palestine" as he set himself alight in what he called an "extreme" act of protest on Sunday.
The footage shows him walk up the driveway of the embassy, set his phone down on the ground and pour an unknown liquid from a bottle over himself and ignite it while yelling "Free Palestine" repeatedly.
The department is working with the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to investigate the incident, the spokesperson added.
A LinkedIn account apparently belonging to Bushnell describes him as an "aspiring software engineer" with "a talent and passion for solving complex problems with code."
Bushnell's protest comes as Israel's war on Hamas has killed about 30,000 Palestinians, The Associated Press reported, citing the Health Ministry in Gaza.
The original article contains 556 words, the summary contains 165 words. Saved 70%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
I don't want to sound cynical, but I really struggle with understanding what someone thinks they'll actually accomplish setting themselves on fire. I it would be the most horrific way to die let alone doing it to yourself.
You're Joe Biden. You need to win an election.
A US soldier just lit himself on fire about controversy that you know voters do not like about you. The situation clearly is developing for the worse for you.
You don't think they care? You should read up on Johnson's feelings about protestors mocking his killing of America's youth in Vietnam. He did not like it. I feel Biden is sensing much of the same.
Yeah. Understand the power now rereading your sentence? It’s horrifying to think someone would do that by choice because society is so evil.
I remember someone years ago killed themselves because they disagreed with how George W. Bush won re-election. Like, that totally did nothing and the machine kept rolling on.
I mean, kudos to anyone who's actually brave enough to have the strength to decide that this world is beyond repair that they check themselves out early. Tragic, but brave. Though, it doesn't really say anything.
If a group of people, set themselves up on fire infront of the target of the thing they have a problem with, now that is saying something and would be very powerful.
Self Immolation in public is much different than the typical suicide. If this guy just shot himself, it sadly probably wouldn't mean much. Not only did he self immolate, he managed to keep yelling his position while being on fire. Instead of yelling for help while feeling the worst pain a human can, he yelled "free Palestine". Flame carries with it an intent that a gun, a noose, or pills never can.
There is a reason the image of the burning monk has endured with so much impact
It didn't work for climate change and veganism, why would it now? It doesn't
You're trying to understand mental illness. Look at this story for what it is: Yet another tragedy caused by America's lack of attention to mental health care, especially for our enlisted personnel.
You're trying to find the glory in this suicide because this story of suicide is being glorified; we're supposed to know better than that but clearly we don't.
Self-immolation is not mental illness any more than any other intentional sacrifice intended to support a cause. That soldier was no doubt taught that wearing the uniform may require the ultimate sacrifice for his comrades and country and that those who did so would be heroes, this is no different.
The department is working with the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to investigate the incident, the spokesperson added.
Seems pretty self-explanatory. What is there to investigate?
I will never understand this kind of "protest," because it presumes that you have value to the people you are protesting. Israel certainly doesn't give a fuck about a US citizens' opinions, and the US government doesn't know who you are. You are killing yourself to make a point to people who literally don't care if you live or die, and any meaningful activism you could have done as an able-bodied person is lost forever.
People might remember that this happened, but it will be like a half-remembered dream when the next event oozes out of the ragebait news machine.
Based on what I leaned from the article about his final message, the protest wasn't for Israel's sake, it was to draw those living under the rule of a government's attention (whether Israel's, the U.S.'s, or wherever else's) to the situation. To point out that we are indeed living through a genocide perpetuated by our own government. Like I question his method, but realisticly speaking, you and I wouldn't be talking about it if he hadn't.
And maybe nothing will ultimately come of it, maybe it was a desperate act against his own powerlessness to stop it.
I would argue self immolation is a pretty powerful statement though, you weigh everything you are, everything you could be; against the hope that a message takes off somewhere.
Agree, this is an extremely brave and selfless act. There have been many cases of self immolation over the years and they stick in the mind. Jan Palach and the many Tibetans spring to mind
Like I question his method, but realisticly speaking, you and I wouldn't be talking about it if he hadn't.
And that's just it. We're talking about his methodology more than what he was trying to say. And for the government supporting a regime that's commiting genocide, that is already talked about ad nauseum online. There's already pro-Palestine protests, there's groups joining the "Uncommitted" movement—like, his act of self-immolation will be lost among every other act of protest going on.
Was it extreme? Yes. Was it effective? I don't think so.
Never thought I'd see someone tone policing self immolation.
Surely, voting for Biden will fix this.
— Every neolib on lemmy telling me to vote blue.