US Soldier Sets Himself on Fire outside Israeli Embassy in Washington to Protest Gaza War
US Soldier Sets Himself on Fire outside Israeli Embassy in Washington to Protest Gaza War
A US Air Force soldier is in critical condition after he set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, Sunday. He live streamed the self-immolation action on Twitch where he captured himself standing outside the gates of the Israeli embassy and identifying himself as a member of...
“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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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.
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.
but it’s very telling that this will assuredly get almost no coverage on big news networks like abc, cbs, fox, etc.
ABC News - Active-duty airman sets himself on fire outside Israeli Embassy, Air Force confirms
Fox News - US service member sets himself on fire outside Israeli Embassy in DC
and virtually no coverage in the larger papers like the NYT
"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
Don't confuse people whose whole narrative is build on some conspiracy of media suppression with facts.
I guess skipping the term "Lügenpresse" to avoid the obvious link was deemed enough progress to keep that same 100 years old tactic alive...
They said almost no and virtually no coverege. It's not anti-semitic to point out that western media is heavily skewed towards Israel. You're completely delusional if you think that's not the case.
Obviously there were going to be articles about the man who set himself on fire just as there was for the person who did it in 2022 due to the climate crisis. The point is the attention the media places on WHY it happens that is being ignored or heavily downplayed.
The ABC article felt like satire in how much it avoided context or referencing what was said in the video
you managed so thoroughly to miss the point I was making, I'm impressed
You made an objective point, then a subjective one.
The objective one: "it's very telling that this will assuredly get almost no coverage on big news networks like abc, cbs, fox, etc." They addressed the objective one with their links.
The subjective one cannot be addressed yet, as it's so soon after the event. You will probably end up correct that this event will not visibly persist, but you can't know for sure, time will tell.
fact check! deboonked!
"There's no global warming stuuuuupid, lookit all the snow!"
edit: /s ? do i need an /s here?
What fucking show? It’s almost March and it has snowed like four times.
that was the joke
I was rolling with you
i wasn’t the joke guy
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.
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.
They didn't even share his name, either it is something middle eastern sounding or they just want everyone to forget about him.
From lower down in this post, his name is Aaron Bushnell.
There's already a Wikipedia article about the incident.
From what I recall on Twitter it's a white dude, but they didn't want to share his name.
He's definitely white from the video but they probably want to scrub his social media history before they release his name.
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.
He has since died, and releasing his name was pending notification of next of kin. His name was Aaron Bushnell.
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?
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.
:-(
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.
@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.
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.
This is the first case. We've witnessed something that's never been done before.
The first case of an active duty serviceman self immolating in the US. Alice Herz was the first one in the US, but there have been a dozen or two since then.
From the wikipedia page: Self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell
This event marks the first time that a member of the United States military on active duty has immolated themself.
Right, which I confirmed. The person you replied to asked if it had ever happened in the US before, without specifying the military service. That’s why I clarified that this is not close to the first US self immolation generally (not even the first in response to the same thing), only for active service members.
That's right. It says a lot, either way and this thread makes me feel very sad. It says a lot, and not on the actors. It's rather too much to bang out on social media but it gives one a long pause for deep reflection. It feels about like one little old self confronting the collective unconscious again.
Honestly, the megacorps will only allow this on main TV when pushing regulation against protesting.
Like, "think of how many innocent
moneyslives we would save if we shoot protesters'.I got a notification for it from Washington Post. Reuters and nbc has it on the front page.
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.
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 ???
This post smells like mad.
God, an unironic "you mad bro" go back to reddit lmao