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US soldier dies after self-immolation

148 replies

DecisionFatigue · 27/02/2024 17:15

I don’t know if there has already been a thread about this but I’ve just seen his last message/video and his cries and I just feel so exasperated that it’s come to this. Sources say he was a very proud airman and noted as being “top of the class” but he could no longer be complicit.

The Burning Monk obviously comes to mind, who changed the course of history forever. I hope this man’s actions and subsequent death won’t be in vain.

RIP Aaron Bushnell

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DecisionFatigue · 27/02/2024 20:34

OoooohSpookyGhost · 27/02/2024 20:32

Quite frankly, I think the only thing it’s a sign off is mental health issues resulting in desperation.

Or mental health issues as a result of desperation?

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Whataretalkingabout · 27/02/2024 20:34

FYI There was another self-immolation a few months ago in front of another Israeli embassy in another US state I read about on the BBC website in conjunction with this one.

DecisionFatigue · 27/02/2024 20:36

DontBeAPrickDarren · 27/02/2024 20:34

Having seen the video over the past few days, he is remarkably calm and composed up until the point of self-immolation. You could obviously say anyone who sets fire to themselves has “severe mental illness”. But my sense is it was an extreme act of principle, not madness.

And at the risk of sounding like a conspiracy loon, it suits the US agenda to paint Aaron as a lone-wolf mentally ill person, rather than a clear-eyed serviceman who couldn’t let what his employer is doing in the Middle East stand.

Yes the US government/media will be desperately scrambling to find something. Anything.

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Deebee90 · 27/02/2024 20:39

He needed help. What he’s done will not change anything at all. It’s happened time and time again he isn’t special . I feel sorry for him and for his family.

Allthingsdecember · 27/02/2024 20:41

I feel desperately sorry for him. Mentally well people don't set themselves on fire.

You sound almost impressed though? His actions aren't something to be celebrated.

Icloud54 · 27/02/2024 20:43

Once I saw the video I couldn't think of much else for the rest of the day.

Thoughts are with his family.

DecisionFatigue · 27/02/2024 20:45

Allthingsdecember · 27/02/2024 20:41

I feel desperately sorry for him. Mentally well people don't set themselves on fire.

You sound almost impressed though? His actions aren't something to be celebrated.

Not impressed, it’s desperately sad that it got to that point, but he was obviously a very principled young man who wanted to make a change and I hope he’s remembered as that. I also hope he didn’t die in vain, time will tell.

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WandaWonder · 27/02/2024 20:46

What he did was not a good thing you do realise that?

5YearsLeft · 27/02/2024 20:47

DontBeAPrickDarren · 27/02/2024 20:29

In what way does that article suggest he was ‘a very troubled young man”? There’s next to no information about him in the article.

It talks about the fact that he was raised by a sect that had to pay $10 million in Canada for their terrible methods of “education.” The reason it’s not an issue in the US is because the US lets religious sects get away with a good deal more. Then he goes from that environment into the military. THEN he becomes an anarchist. Then he lights himself on fire? And it very much talks about him - we hear about how his last call before this act was to his anarchist friend telling him that he “has” to do this, due to what they previously discussed, which we ALSO read about in the article. We even know what his will was. I don’t know what you read, but you didn’t read this article. So I would say yes, he had mental health issues.

DecisionFatigue · 27/02/2024 20:47

His final message:

“My name is Aaron Bushnell, I am an active-duty member of the United States Air Force and I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest but, compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonisers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”

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jamswell · 27/02/2024 20:47

Poor sod. What a desperate and sad thing to do. No way should he be praised or seen as a martyr. Suicide solves nothing

5YearsLeft · 27/02/2024 20:49

DontBeAPrickDarren · 27/02/2024 20:34

Having seen the video over the past few days, he is remarkably calm and composed up until the point of self-immolation. You could obviously say anyone who sets fire to themselves has “severe mental illness”. But my sense is it was an extreme act of principle, not madness.

And at the risk of sounding like a conspiracy loon, it suits the US agenda to paint Aaron as a lone-wolf mentally ill person, rather than a clear-eyed serviceman who couldn’t let what his employer is doing in the Middle East stand.

I did not see this comment before replying. Indeed, I will never convince you of anything then and there is no point in further discussion.

Sdpbody · 27/02/2024 20:49

I think it's one stop away from being a suicide bomber.

I think he was stupid and dangerous.

AuntiePushpa · 27/02/2024 21:03

This is an article by one of the groups he wrote to before doing what he did. Worth reading something by people who understood where Aaron was coming from.
https://crimethinc.com/2024/02/26/this-is-what-our-ruling-class-has-decided-will-be-normal-on-aaron-bushnells-action-in-solidarity-with-gaza
I'd add - disagreeing with what Aaron Bushnell did is one thing (most people will!) but it is a cop out to suggest mental illness. There is no evidence of mental illness from his friends, colleagues, family.

“This Is What Our Ruling Class Has Decided Will Be Normal”

On February 25, we received an email from a person who signed himself Aaron Bushnell, announcing an act of protest against the genocide of Palestinians.

https://crimethinc.com/2024/02/26/this-is-what-our-ruling-class-has-decided-will-be-normal-on-aaron-bushnells-action-in-solidarity-with-gaza

Prawncow · 27/02/2024 21:03

Lost people go looking for a place to fit in, for meaning in their lives, for clarity. Unfortunately there are plenty of idiots out there to encourage them and tell them that they’ll be martyrs for the cause.

TinkerTiger · 27/02/2024 21:26

MiltonNorthern · 27/02/2024 20:08

Incredible? It's not incredible to burn yourself to death for a political cause. It's tragic and disturbing. Sympathy to his family.

This is now I feel. No one who willingly sets themselves on fire is of sound mind.

Caravaggiouch · 27/02/2024 21:28

For those who disagree it’s mental illness and seem to be considering it some kind of noble sacrifice, have you really asked yourself, deep down, what you would think if this man had done this in the name of a cause you didn’t agree with? Would you be reacting the same way?

PurpleChrayn · 27/02/2024 21:33

What is it about this particular conflict that makes people set themselves on fire and kidnap/torture people associated with Israel, like the current case in Australia?

Are people self-immolating to protest Russian aggression? China's treatment of the Uyghurs? The situation in Sudan?

DecisionFatigue · 27/02/2024 21:38

Caravaggiouch · 27/02/2024 21:28

For those who disagree it’s mental illness and seem to be considering it some kind of noble sacrifice, have you really asked yourself, deep down, what you would think if this man had done this in the name of a cause you didn’t agree with? Would you be reacting the same way?

I think it’s mental instability rooting from sheer desperation and not being heard/nothing changing whilst others continue to be harmed.

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MandyRiceDavies · 27/02/2024 21:39

This hasn’t received much coverage due to the new guidance on reporting suicide.

The whole thing is tragic. I don’t believe anyone’s mind will be changed by his death.

DecisionFatigue · 27/02/2024 21:40

PurpleChrayn · 27/02/2024 21:33

What is it about this particular conflict that makes people set themselves on fire and kidnap/torture people associated with Israel, like the current case in Australia?

Are people self-immolating to protest Russian aggression? China's treatment of the Uyghurs? The situation in Sudan?

The US isn’t supporting, funding or supplying arms to Russia, China or Sudan.

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therealcookiemonster · 27/02/2024 21:41

so far, there has been no evidence to indicate this man had mental health issues. self immolation has been used as a form of protest by many groups - tibetan monks, Indian liberation activists. . . the list goes on.

this is also not the first time an immolation has happened in front of an Israeli embassy in protest of the occupation

of course I hope no one else does the same.

DontBeAPrickDarren · 27/02/2024 21:53

5YearsLeft · 27/02/2024 20:47

It talks about the fact that he was raised by a sect that had to pay $10 million in Canada for their terrible methods of “education.” The reason it’s not an issue in the US is because the US lets religious sects get away with a good deal more. Then he goes from that environment into the military. THEN he becomes an anarchist. Then he lights himself on fire? And it very much talks about him - we hear about how his last call before this act was to his anarchist friend telling him that he “has” to do this, due to what they previously discussed, which we ALSO read about in the article. We even know what his will was. I don’t know what you read, but you didn’t read this article. So I would say yes, he had mental health issues.

The article is snippets of information with little context, implying links between them where there aren’t necessarily connections, at least based on the currently available information.

There’s no suggestion he went to the school in question. He didn’t go directly from the sect to the military - the Post article which the guardian is lifting heavily from says “Bushnell was raised in a religious compound in Orleans, Mass., on Cape Cod, according to Susan Wilkins, 59, who said she was a member of the group from 1970 to 2005. She said that she knew Bushnell and his family on the compound and that he was still a member when she left. Wilkins said she heard through members of Bushnell’s family that he eventually left the group.” So she knew him when he was 6? We have no idea what age he was when he left though the article suggests it was when he was young: “Wilkins’s account is consistent with those of multiple others who said Bushnell had told them about his childhood in the religious group”.

He also didn’t go from military to anarchy - the Post again says “Lupe Barboza, 32, said she met Bushnell in San Antonio in 2022 at an event for a socialist organization. She said they bonded over their politics and started working together to deliver clothing and food to people experiencing homelessness.”

As for the anonymous anarchist friend, “Bushnell, 25, mentioned nothing violent or self-sacrificial, the friend said.”

I don’t see how his final calls, texts or “will” speak to his mental state. I’m sure more will come out in the next few days about him. If he was suffering from severe mental health it seems the deterioration was extremely rapid given the description of him singing karaoke at his leaving past just last month.

DontBeAPrickDarren · 27/02/2024 21:56

Prawncow · 27/02/2024 21:03

Lost people go looking for a place to fit in, for meaning in their lives, for clarity. Unfortunately there are plenty of idiots out there to encourage them and tell them that they’ll be martyrs for the cause.

There’s not been any suggestion that I’ve seen he was acting on behalf of a particular group or ideology?

kaiadeluded · 27/02/2024 22:03

You can seem normal & be suicidal at the same time actually