the man in Air Force uniform said he was “an active duty member of the U.S. Air Force and I will no longer be complicit in genocide.” Filming himself walking, he said that what he was going to do would be minimal compared to what is happening to Palestinians. He then set himself on fire and repeatedly shouted “Free Palestine.” […] In the video the airman identifies himself as Aaron Bushnell
holy FUCKING based
this is the only type of military worker i will thank for their service. i hope he is able to recover.
No, suicidal. Nothing about his death makes any sense to anyone. Wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out he was experiencing personal problems or mental health issues.
Getting killed by the IDF smuggling relief supplies into or people out of Palestine is dying for a cause. Going to fight and die in Ukraine is dying for a cause. Running into a building to save people is dying for a cause. This wasn’t dying for a cause any more than if he’d gone on a shooting spree or blew up a building and said it was for Palestine…simply saying Free Palestine while committing suicide contributes nothing to the issue aside from more tragedy.
I wonder if the deceased left any writing that might give a glimpse of his state of mind.
Its war and a very old war. The world did a very stupid thing by creating Isreal and displacing Palastine. Anyone with a sibling should be able to predict the never ending chain of tit for tat such an act would engender. Lots of ethnicities dont have their ‘own country’. Why should the world create an ethno-state for Zionist and not say, one for Kurdish people?
At this point everyone in power in that region has been in power too long, they lost the pot, and arent even considering peaceful solutions. People with heart see children dying on both sides, and it hurts, man, hurts bad. Even more if you have your own babies.
Im going to speculate now
The deceased spent his adult life believing in justice and service and courage but being confronted with the grim reality that the leaders are cowardly murderers on both sides he had an “are we the baddies?” moment and if the deceased was already struggling with depression he could easily internalize that trauma and let it become self loathing. I think the suicide is his way to condemn those he percieves as culpable. Like saying the situation is so rotten he would rather be on fire than put up with another day of mans inhumanity towards man, or saying we arent worthy of his continued participation.
And that makes sense… but regardless of his mental state at the time, I’m not speaking about his motivations or disagreeing with them. In fact, I agree with his views and can empathize with feeling hopeless to help.
It’s possible I feel so negatively about his decision to end his own life is because I empathize so strongly with the guy. I’m a veteran (in fact, after seeing where he was stationed and his job, it’s pretty likely that I was stationed on the same base and worked in the same windowless building as him) and I also feel like I’ve been complicit in acts I find abhorrent by means of serving in the military of the nation that perpetrating or supporting those acts. I also have issues with depression, anxiety, and PTSD. I never met this guy, so I can’t say I’ve walked in his shoes… but I do know this. The people who can be outraged by anything the Israeli government does are already outraged.
I’d have rather had him donate time and money to a candidate he believes in, or protest, or whistleblow if he had access to information we don’t that makes things even worse - as unimaginable as that seems, or just try to leverage his personal relationships to try and convert someone who might listen to him. The world doesn’t need empathetic martyrs… it needs empathetic leaders and fighters.
Yes it is. Doubt that is the case here at all. It was a profoundly stupid act that leaves everyone scratching their heads. Best comparison I’ve seen is if a Confederate soldier set themselves alight to protest slavery and even the Union is going wtf.
I think it takes a great deal of mental health issues to self-immolate, no matter how good the cause, but that doesn’t change the fact that this airman died in protest of genocide.
For all you know he self immolated because he hadn’t been taking his meds. In any event it was a dumb, painful, pointless way to die for somebody who has NOTHING to do with the conflict. If he thought as an airman he was contributing somehow, he could have just resigned.
Don’t hate service members. Most of them are poor kids looking for a way to get to college. That said, you should absolutely criticize our military and it’s leaders.
holy FUCKING based
this is the only type of military worker i will thank for their service. i hope he is able to recover.
He’s reportedly dead now.
rest in peace, he’s a hero
No, suicidal. Nothing about his death makes any sense to anyone. Wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out he was experiencing personal problems or mental health issues.
Surprise mothefucker it’s possible to die for a cause and have mental health issues at the same time. Crazy, I know.
Getting killed by the IDF smuggling relief supplies into or people out of Palestine is dying for a cause. Going to fight and die in Ukraine is dying for a cause. Running into a building to save people is dying for a cause. This wasn’t dying for a cause any more than if he’d gone on a shooting spree or blew up a building and said it was for Palestine…simply saying Free Palestine while committing suicide contributes nothing to the issue aside from more tragedy.
I wonder if the deceased left any writing that might give a glimpse of his state of mind.
Its war and a very old war. The world did a very stupid thing by creating Isreal and displacing Palastine. Anyone with a sibling should be able to predict the never ending chain of tit for tat such an act would engender. Lots of ethnicities dont have their ‘own country’. Why should the world create an ethno-state for Zionist and not say, one for Kurdish people?
At this point everyone in power in that region has been in power too long, they lost the pot, and arent even considering peaceful solutions. People with heart see children dying on both sides, and it hurts, man, hurts bad. Even more if you have your own babies.
Im going to speculate now
The deceased spent his adult life believing in justice and service and courage but being confronted with the grim reality that the leaders are cowardly murderers on both sides he had an “are we the baddies?” moment and if the deceased was already struggling with depression he could easily internalize that trauma and let it become self loathing. I think the suicide is his way to condemn those he percieves as culpable. Like saying the situation is so rotten he would rather be on fire than put up with another day of mans inhumanity towards man, or saying we arent worthy of his continued participation.
But Im speculating, I dont really know
And that makes sense… but regardless of his mental state at the time, I’m not speaking about his motivations or disagreeing with them. In fact, I agree with his views and can empathize with feeling hopeless to help.
It’s possible I feel so negatively about his decision to end his own life is because I empathize so strongly with the guy. I’m a veteran (in fact, after seeing where he was stationed and his job, it’s pretty likely that I was stationed on the same base and worked in the same windowless building as him) and I also feel like I’ve been complicit in acts I find abhorrent by means of serving in the military of the nation that perpetrating or supporting those acts. I also have issues with depression, anxiety, and PTSD. I never met this guy, so I can’t say I’ve walked in his shoes… but I do know this. The people who can be outraged by anything the Israeli government does are already outraged.
I’d have rather had him donate time and money to a candidate he believes in, or protest, or whistleblow if he had access to information we don’t that makes things even worse - as unimaginable as that seems, or just try to leverage his personal relationships to try and convert someone who might listen to him. The world doesn’t need empathetic martyrs… it needs empathetic leaders and fighters.
Yes it is. Doubt that is the case here at all. It was a profoundly stupid act that leaves everyone scratching their heads. Best comparison I’ve seen is if a Confederate soldier set themselves alight to protest slavery and even the Union is going wtf.
It’s not “irregular”, and it’s been done before as protest. A Buddhist monk did it in the past to protest the slaughter of cattle.
https://www.nydailynews.com/2013/05/24/buddhist-monk-sets-himself-on-fire-to-protest-slaughter-of-cattle-in-sri-lanka/
Are you vegan?
I think it takes a great deal of mental health issues to self-immolate, no matter how good the cause, but that doesn’t change the fact that this airman died in protest of genocide.
For all you know he self immolated because he hadn’t been taking his meds. In any event it was a dumb, painful, pointless way to die for somebody who has NOTHING to do with the conflict. If he thought as an airman he was contributing somehow, he could have just resigned.
He directly stated what he was going to do before hand.
Don’t hate service members. Most of them are poor kids looking for a way to get to college. That said, you should absolutely criticize our military and it’s leaders.
Reluctant Disclaimer: am a veteran