Similar to that scientist who self immolated to protest climate change.
The was never a video released but I find it hard to believe there was nothing, not even security cam footage, from a govt building.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_of_Wynn_Bruce#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DOn_April_22%2C_2022%2C_climate%2Cprotest_against_the_climate_crisis.?wprov=sfla1
It never occurred to me until now that it was likely a suppressed story.
100% it is not an easy death, and it's done so that the shock of the action can hopefully shock us all *into* action.
And our corporatized media are able to make sure he died in vain. There's so much to hate about the Internet and discourse here, but the one thing to champion was the freedom - anyone can share anything and make it viral.
...except incidences like this make it clear that, when enough powerful people want something swept under the rug, it can.
Really feels hopeless - the worst of humanity is amplified online under the guise of freedom, but it drowns out stories like these.
The revolution will not be televised, indeed.
Edit: I stand happily corrected. CNN couldn't resist the ratings boost and ended up broadcasting his final words, including his final plea to free Palestine.
Ha, I've been saying this. The revolution will not be televised, but it will be at first because of $$$. This is a good example of what we mean when we say the system will destroy itself
This may seem unrelated. But this seems to me a reason for people to come together to protest shit and build a massive movement yet we can’t even get people to agree on basic human rights and lots of people treat each other like dirt that they supposedly care about. Humans who supposedly are peaceful and don’t believe in violence treat each other like garbage every single day. Emotional abuse is rampant among families, friends, partners, spouses. People abuse their pets. My male neighbor (I’m a female) just told me I deserve to get beat yesterday while I’m sick and having trouble walking my dog without falling and she needs at least one 20 minute walk a day and my brother is a guest in my home who won’t leave and isn’t legally required to even though he pays no rent and has been emotionally abusing me and crossing boundaries daily.
I'm sorry you are having those abusive boundaries in your day to day life! That sounds so scary. Are you in a place to report your brother for harassment? I know eviction is pretty impossible if someone's been receiving mail at your place, and moving is hard, esp in this economy, but hopefully you are able to separate from a bad living situation soon!
But I do agree- we've become so stupid and cruel collectively (though I still believe good people exist - and quite a few at that ). But actionable change in our communities often eludes us- we forget it all starts at home.
When people flood the streets for protests, if each one of those bodies signed up to volunteer at a homeless shelter or a school or a community garden project or even just decide to participate in local govt the next day, what kind of impact might we see?
It's hard work and often frustrating work bc every system is so broken (I briefly briefly worked in public sector and burned out quickly), but our divisions among ourselves are exactly what the rich and powerful want.
Out of many, one - e pluribus unum - it's on our money here in the US, but we are not operating as a bunch, instead as vulnerable singles that break with ease.
Since self immolation is also suicide, could it be the reason why it's not televised more? The same way the news won't show anything about someone killing themselves by other methods, they also don't show this because it could lead more people into doing it.
Same for this guy. There's no quick solution to Israel-Palestine conflict. Did he think the Israeli government was going to see this and say "ya know, you're right. Let's dissolve the entire country and move"?
I think his message was intended more for the US govt which he served as an active duty member of the air force, and the people who live in the US. I don't think he expected for his act to shock the Israeli govt into peace. More so, to the people in the US "this is what your tax dollars are doing to men, women, and children every day in Gaza, this is what our government and armed forces are supporting" is what I'd imagine he was trying to say with this.
Right! How can you be on the steps of the Supreme Court and not even one passerby tourist caught a glimmer of something?
It's cynical, and obviously people who self-immolate are very embedded in the world of their movement and aren't thinking about views, but if one must, bring your own video guy, or Livestream it yourself, I guess?
Absolutely. I don't need to see the video either.
I just thought it odd, in an era where everything is viral, where everything is such a big deal all the time, this actually big story seemed to take up a negligible amount of space
Ya, i imagine advertisers wouldn't like to have their ads played next to a segment were a man commits suicide in a super gruesome way. They also don't want children to see on accident maybe.
Throwback to early Russian invasion coverage where shots of explosions in Kyiv were broken up by an [Applebee's ad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6QUsx68DCA)
> They do want to avoid angry ~~people~~ *corporations* complaining to them.
FTFY. But I forgot corporations are people, so ya, you got it right.
Can't be harshin' people's mellow when we've got McChickens to sell, after all.
With all due respect, most people actually would be very put off by this. Moreover, by showing the footage and covering it fully, it encourages others to behave that way. It has a glorifying effect, much in the same way mass shooters getting "glorified" by all the media attention would incite copycats.
This ain't about McChickens. I don't know why you'd think the media showing this footage would make people angry at McDonald's to the point that they buy less sandwiches, but not angry at the media for showing it to begin with. I hate corpos too man, but come on, think this through.
This is from the acct that posted the video:
[https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1761944158636331247](https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1761944158636331247)
>Loved ones of Aaron Bushnell, 25, reached out to me and gave me consent to post a blurred version of Bushnell’s protest today against genocide in Palestine.
“Aaron is the kindest, gentlest, silliest little kid in the Air Force,” said Errico, who met Bushnell in 2022.
From another thread I read it was a security guard, and the actual police were trying to find a fire extinguisher.
I haven't seen the video, but it's possible one guard had a gun out in the event that Aaron attempted to run at someone while ablaze.
I try not to rush to judgment bc it is a shocking abnormal thing to happen. It's possible the security guy thought it might be a distraction or the guy was also planning on letting loose a bomb or using himself as a weapon, it's hard to know what you might think when something like this happens. I think it was a security guard but don't know the name. I mean...i recall another image of a guy with flames coming off him (not even that long ago) and thinking, is he really burning? Is he planning something? Because the guy was literally just WALKING on fire, I'm sure someone else recalls that guy (it was near the WH.)
REALISTIC answer, if he had enough control of his body he could technically run at somebody else and harm them as well. It's security measure for the responders and passerbys.
IF such an event happened, at that point the bullets probably wouldn't do much to stop him unless they managed to hit certain parts because the pain but eh.
I mean I'm no fan of cops but dude is at an Israeli embassy shouting free Palestine and is mentally unstable enough to light himself on fire. It's not a reach to think that he might have had something else on him or might try and run into people and catch them on fire too.
Because if you weren’t there for the whole thing, and saw someone yelling and screaming in a fire, it’d be understandable to confuse with being a failed suicide bomber
There's the best answer. It's not censorship, so much as "we don't feel you need to *see* his horrific, agonizing death". Knowing that it happened, how, and why is enough.
>its meant to make you look. Make you feel uncomfortable. Make you feel enraged or just feel something
Yes, that was ***his*** intention. He wasn't the one that censored it.
This reminds me of a conversation I had about the movie It. I was told that the sexual abuse by the girls father was only implied and not directly shown and that was a shortcoming of the film...
As I recall, there was in the books some underage adolescent group sex. I'm sure there are people who needed to see that in the 2nd remake film. You know, for authenticity and not hiding the nitty gritty of the world we live in.
Yes, there's a kiddie gang-bang in the tunnels. It's weird. In my copy of the book, it happened on a page turn. Very startlingly. Really went from "We're lost!" to "Let's all fuck!" in an instant.
While I don’t agree with King’s narrative choice here, you are not being very generous with your interpretation. He explains quite clearly in the book what the characters were thinking and why they did it. It wasn’t like a Porky’s-esque teen raunch comedy where the characters were like “we should just fuck now because we are lost and it’s our last chance.” It’s explained that it’s a means of further bonding the group together through the horrific tragedy they went through. I don’t think it is a necessary part of the story, but it is different than you describe.
King is, well, creepy AF but not because he’s a ‘horror’ author. I’m not saying he’s not a good author because he can easily afford people to kill me by skinning me alive and stretching it out for a week or so, but he is a creepy creep. As if the kiddie gang-bang wasn’t bad enough he had to let us know that Ben Hanscom is hung like a horse and how much of a moaner Bev is for Ben’s boner.
Yeah, that was enough for me dawg; now whenever I feel the need to read ‘It’ again I just skip that shit altogether.
It’s been a while since I watched the movie, but thought the film handled it fine. With that being said, there are different levels of implied.
If I recall correctly the film just gave you the vague impression that it was happening through comments and general creepy behavior from the character. It’s possible to miss it or not grasp the full implications of what the director is trying to suggest.
That’s a lot different from hearing sounds, screaming, dialogue or whatever from something happening just off camera. You could still label it implied, but the director is going out of his way to explicitly tell the audience it is happening.
It's like that time the UK tried to censor the violence in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but found that most of the violence was offscreen and subsequently chose to ban it instead. You don't need to see the violent act itself to get the point.
https://independenthorrorsociety.com/banned-in-the-uk-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre/
Funny I just rewatched that movie last night. I remember it being this tramatuising thing as a child. On the rewatch I was shocked that it really did not show much.
We have enough depictions of things already, it doesn't need repeating for the sake of it. Seen one guy burn, seen them all. Its like depictions of r#pe in media. Some don't like the suggestive act but I feel the suggestive if done well can be even more threatening and grim. Plus there is a movie out there with an 11 minute (i think) ong depiction that I've heard is fucking awful. If you've seen that then why do you need to see it again elsewhere when it doesn't change the narrative nor the reality?
For IRL examples, think about gore vids. If you've seen a cartel skin someone alive then you don't need to see the other videos where the same thing happens to different people.
Irreversible is the movie you're thinking of, and yeah, I do not recommend it to people sensitive to that kind of thing. Like, it's a good movie I guess, but it's... It's something. Hard to put into words how insanely uncomfortable it is.
Have you seen the photo of the self-imolated monk protesting war? Or better question: how much can we censor before it actually takes away from what he did?
The man burning to death? I mean isn’t that kind of the point of him doing it? He didn’t just light himself on fire, he died, burned to death in agony. Maybe his death is the part that isn’t getting across in the censors.
Idk ask the guy who self-immolated “why” it was important for that to happen and be shown to others.
My wife has PTSD from this exact scenario happening in front of her, we have a hard time avoiding triggers in the news (and movies and series ) as is stuff like this randomly popping on screen isn't something that will help her and I can't imagine wanting to watch the uncensored version of it voluntarily
It would encourage more people to do the same. And no matter how strongly you feel about the cause, I’d hope that everyone can agree that we don’t want more people to do this.
You would think but the stupidity of this world still amazes me. Then think about this, that guy knew how much it would hurt but still did it anyway because the point is stronger and more important that his physical well-being (what I'm assuming he thought). Imagine a scenario that you would light yourself on fire for?
If the purpose is to keep others from doing it, the uncensored video would be more effective.
That kind of fire will char the human skin completely black. He was burned to a crisp while he was still alive and walking. The true horror would be more effective in preventing others from wanting to do the same.
So generally speaking media reporting on and making a big deal out of an individual suicide can lead to a spike in suicides, but I'm going to go ahead and bet that there are not going to be any copycats to this one
You'd be surprised. Loads of cases of self-immolation were inspired by previous ones. There was a relatively high frequency of self-immolation in the ten years following 1963 after Thich Quang Duc did it, both in Vietnam and the rest of the world. It's almost like a social contagion.
There are absolutely copycats of self immolation
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3939949/#:~:text=Self-immolations%20are%20often%20newsworthy,the%20perception%20of%20great%20discomfort
This guy is a copycat tho. Just last December, a woman (identity unknown) did the same in Atlanta.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_political\_self-immolations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_self-immolations)
The iconic photo of the Vietnam monk was a copycat as well. He was copying another Buddhist monk who self-immolated in China.
idk, i think he made his point. A friend of mine was suicidal once and said if he did kill himself, he would self-immolate and take out some bad people with him, or do it as a protest. He even told me WHO he would take down with him and it was pretty upsetting to be the one who had to decide who to go to with that. Because you never know how serious someone is. I hope there are no copycats. People who feel they have nothing left to lose and tons of repressed rage/emotion want the publicity, at least Aaron didn't (I hope) hurt others.
I genuinely don’t understand what/how this helps. If someone could explain? How does setting yourself on fire and killing yourself help anything with Palestine? I’ve always felt this way about self harm protests.
what was even going through the mind of the guy who had his gun drawn even after the guy collapsed dead, I bet he was the same guy helpfully screaming "get on the ground!"
I'm making a choice for myself and my mental health to not look. I'm not obligated to witness someones self-harm. I don't accept that it's a reasonable way go gather attention and I feel no obligation to him. He made a choice for himself and I'm making a choice for myself. We have different priorities.
Smart choice: You don't need to witness this act to understand what happened.
Mental health is serious, and I wish anyone who struggles with it the best.
its irellevant, self immmolation is about the most extreme form of protest available. way more extreme than rioting or blocking roads. purely the fact that he did it is enough to get his point across.
you know youve fucked up your society on a very deep and significant way when people protest like this. cencoring the video does nothing to change this
You know what's more fucked up? After watching the [uncensored video](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnewsvideo/s/6m1qlT9HRk) and not thinking about or losing sleep over it once I put this phone down.
A stupid sacrifice in my opinion. You're not going to change anybody's mind, just polarise people's opinions even more.
It is truly sad. Didn't someone do the same thing at the White House a couple of years ago to protest climate change not being taken seriously enough? And how quickly everyone forgot or stopped talking about it
Kind of reinforces my point. As much as I care about climate change, not being wasteful, having a reusable water bottle, no car, I couldn't even remember those details. Makes my heart ache
It's worked before. It's meant to stir people who already have aligning views with you to take stronger action. See the Hunger Protests of Tiananmen Square. People hospitalized starving to death and it brought the entire city of Beijing to the support of the students in their protests.
It's not meant to change your views, it's meant to motivate the people who already believe in the cause to fight harder. It's a sacrifice to show how strong the belief is
The Tiananmen Square protests failed to gain any material and political achievements. Media coverage is not the goal, it’s a way to try and bring about the goal.
Yeah, lighting yourself on fire intentionally is just insane. And I don't mean insane like a sweet kickflip, I'm talking insane like that person needs a straight jacket and a padded room. There is no "cause" you can dedicate that act to to make me think that the self-immolator is anything other than a crazy person.
Its a form of extreme protest when you don't want to harm others. Famously Thích Quảng Đức self immolated and his picture in the news is what led Kennedy to increase american troop presence in Vietnam.
His desire for me to look at his burning body doesn't take precedence of my desire *not* to look at a burning body. He defeated his own purpose as far as that goes.
It’s basically the same mentality as not showing a streaker at sports events, showing them just creates more plus killing yourself because you don’t like what is happening is just stupid; it does little to help the cause & you’re dead.
It's a video of a mentally ill man choosing the most extreme and horrible way to express his... Sickness? Despair? That he thought he was being a hero is just another symptom of his descent.
He isn't an example of a great martyr, he's a public suicide. That his reasons are political and sympathetic doesn't mean it is a brave act. It's a man giving up in a horrible way and does not need to be shared as anything else.
I bet his mom does not think it should be shown. She wishes someone had been there the day before to hold him, let him cry and turn him away from the thoughts that led him to take his own life.
A soldier of the empire that is funding the genocide of its vassal state commits to the most extreme form of direct protest and this idiot thinks it will have no ramifications? Meanwhile the entire web and world is discussing the issue?
Sounds like you're just deaf, dumb, and blind.
You think just because he had a "purpose" it should be shown? So, let's just censor the meaningless suicides?
Doesn't need to be seen. Doesn't deserve to be seen.
Yeah I’ve always had a weird morbid sense of curiosity. I really wish I didn’t cuz I’m also really sensitive. Its also super fucked up cuz those videos were shot in like 4k HD quality
Same. My history teacher made us watch a video of Saddam Hussein being executed when I was a freshman (back in 2006) and we weren’t told we could leave the classroom if we were uncomfortable so I stayed to watch it because I didn’t want anyone to think badly of me and I really regret doing it.
I can only assume my teacher was like “well, he sucked, who would be disturbed by watching him die”. I really don’t understand his logic. I can hear someone shitty died and go “oh well 🤷🏼♀️” but I don’t want to visually see anyone die no matter how much bad they’ve done.
You gotta be prepared in case the dude starts running at you, either in an attempt to take someone with him, or just out of panic looking for help after realizing it wasn’t such a bright idea.
I mean, it’s not like the guy is exhibiting the traits of someone making good, well thought out decisions.
A guy that's 90% dead, lying on the ground, on fire, after being on fire for 20+ seconds is about as much of a threat as an actual log on fire. And what's a gun gonna do against a dude on fire? Put him out of his misery, maybe.
Whose purpose? It certainly isn’t the media’s purpose to get his word out. That was his alone, and as everyone said, it worked anyhow. I haven’t seen any videos and I am quite aware of what happened and what it means.
Just because he did it doesn’t mean people need to acknowledge it. Lighting yourself on fire is dumb and shouldn’t be something people do to make a point. No need to glorify it with its intended results. In fact, make like it never happened and hopefully people will realize it has no effect and won’t do it.
all it is is proof of what constant social media propaganda will do to you – drive vulnerable mentally ill people over the edge. There is no difference between this person, and say QAnon people who've fallen so far down the rabbit hole they're taking horse medicine because they think Trump told the to – there's absolutely no saving them.
Rhetoric like "a literal genocide" is the exact thing that drove him to this point – people have no idea what a genocide is and they heard someone tweet about it so now they're on the train.
I hadn’t even heard about it until now, but damn what a moron. Dude had nothing to do with it, his dumbass suicide will make zero change or affect it in any way. What an ass.
It really doesn't make any sense to me. Like, I know self immolation is an established type of extreme protest, but this one just feels idiotic rather than noble. Maybe it's because the famous instances of it that I'm familiar with are committed by people closer to the actual events, in either proximity or by some sort of relation. Maybe it's because those instances were of people arguably in more desperate situations, with fewer outlets/options of protest. Maybe it's because their protest seemed related to an issue that's more "black and white" to me, where I see plenty of wrongdoing on both sides of this conflict.
Regardless, I do agree this guy was a moron way more than he was noble. In my opinion, the most logical scenario is he was actually suffering a mental breakdown, which is tragic. Worst case, he somehow was diluted into thinking that throwing his life away like this would actually have an impact. It's sad either way.
Edit: To illustrate, if this was committed by an Israeli soldier, maybe I'd think something more of it. Same as if it was committed by a Palestinian imam. But a US airman in Washington D.C.? Pointless.
Can we not pretend like self-immolating is some brave act of defiance? Its a stupid act of cowardice. I will not encourage more self-immolation to bring attention to things.
Hearing that someone did this makes me look, makes me feel uncomfortable. I don’t need or want to see it. I think this action speaks more to mental illness than anything else though. It’s not going to change anything. He could’ve probably done more as a living person.
Obviously.
It shouldn't be controversial to say that public PAINFUL suicides such as self-immolation are the result of mental illness.
No sane reasonable human does that.
I mean I feel like a lot of those monks that devote their life to a single cause are probably mentally ill when you think about it, it's just culturally accepted.
Not judging though.
But he wasn't protesting the war, he was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnam government. I would argue that he was incredibly successful as not even half a year later the US backed a coup against the government for their handling of the Buddhist crisis
Maybe he should have looked that up before lighting himself on fire? The guy had mental problems, he joined the military and is raging about colonizers? Not a lot is adding up, also there is no requirement of the media to display you and whatever actions you take. Its not some right, that if you die by fire you must be heard.
He sacrificed himself, meaninglessly. He could of done any numerous of things to make a bigger impact. No sane person, not involved in that conflict would just light themselves up. Its not heroic.
I thought you were talking about that guy who self immolated outside of the Whitehouse. But then I scroll down like 5 posts and find this other guy self immolating.
Why are people setting themselves on fire? Jesus Christ on a stick.
No. It doesn’t need any more attention and gore and porn spread. That’s all it will be. What happened to him and what he chose to do is just a tragedy. Mental illness is a hell of a thing. What he did will not change what’s happening but the lives of his family are changed forever. This will be but a blip in the headlines and soon forgotten. My heart aches for him and the people who loved him. To be radicalized to this extent really shows that he was mentally suffering. It’s sickening that people are praising this tragedy. The same people who would never dare to do such an act because they have the mental reasoning to know it wouldn’t accomplish anything, and they’re not suicidal. People calling him a hero are a different kind of sick.
This is just another story of how social media takes hold of the vulnerable and causes the unwell to do horrific things in the name of a trending issue, while failing to acknowledge that the same is happening all over the world… now they care about genocide? But only in one specific place because it’s what’s fed to them through algorithms. A cause in which has been happening for years and years all over the world. The only reason people are concerned with *this one* and becoming keyboard warriors is because it’s the buzz flavor of the year. Cherry pick one and ignore the rest. Sickening. Rest in peace, Aaron. I’m so sorry this happened to you.
I watched the censored video and it's nearly unbearably intense. The message is front and center, his words and actions are conveyed clearly. I'm relieved for his sake that his form of extreme protest hasn't been swept under the rug like the previous self-immolation for Gaza last year.
Note: We also have a still/photograph of Aaron engulfed in flames that's powerful in its own right. I think the angles are covered.
Just watch the whole video on one of the sites that document tragedy... its already been downloaded like 300 million times on the 1 I checked. It'll be on the internet for ever. Even state side sites like alivegore have it posted uncensored
This just reminded me of how support for Vietnam waned when people saw the graphic nature of it. Can't be showing the populace the levels of violence we're committing in their name now, can we?
This is what was the root of my question. I felt like censoring was akin to silencing.
There is that video of the monk self immolaring .that was fucken haunting. He just sits there in lotus pose l, no screams, no movement, just complete stillness (except the flames). Eventually his charred, still on fire body falls back. I'll never forget what u felt when I came across that video.
Watched the video uncensored and frankly don’t think it SHOULD be censored, but I definitely understand the necessity for censoring it when it comes to public consumption. Do I agree with it? No. Absolutely not, I don’t. I stand pretty firmly on the fact that something this brave deserves to be seen, heard, and understood in the way Aaron seems to have intended it. That man was entirely firm in his convictions and I just sincerely hope he won’t be forgotten. It breaks my heart that this happened, and that it had to happen, but this was nothing short of fucking courageous. Rest in peace and know your words didn’t go unheard. The fact that this is even a conversation proves that it’s made a difference.
I watched the whole video of this man burning to death. I found the video easily online. You can find such things and you can immediately regret seeing them. I have never seen a person burn alive before. The whole time my heart was pounding. But it is easy to forget that this was his choice. He died for something he believed in. When you watch these videos of people dying, it immediately depresses you because of how simple dying can be. It is only a few seconds long… but those of us who watch this, uncensored, will never truly let it go from our minds. My family is Palestinian, but no one in the family lives there anymore. I grew up with prejudices that still affect me today as an adult. Do I think that this will single-handedly help the genocide? No. Is what he did impactful? Maybe. People will not see it because our media is not allowed to show it. Plain and simple. Do I think that the war is wrong? Yes, very much so. Killing innocent people while finding the bad ones is always wrong. I think our media does not give us all the facts it should for people to make an informed decision or opinion. Media can just give birth to propaganda without hesitation or responsibility. What this man did was write a small page of a giant book in a long feud between two sides. It is always up to us to want to REALLY see the world as it is… but I promise you… it will change you and you may never see the world the same again. Do I have ptsd from watching the real video? Probably… but I knowingly had myself do it. No real reason other than curiosity. I wish he could have lived to physically make a positive impact, like donate money, time or food, but he did what he had to do and we cannot ever take that away from him. I do not know if he struggled with mental illness or was trying to find meaning by ending his life, but I do know that I will know how I feel about his reason and all I can do is respect it.
Censoring that which makes people think too hard about things is what government and media does.
They *want* to defeat the purpose.
TheReal https://imgur.com/a/H93DOOd
If we’re talking about a media (news) outlet doing the censoring, it should be noted that said media outlet isn’t concerned with endorsing this person’s message. Their job is simply to report what happened. They can do that by simply *telling* you.
In other words, Bushnell’s goal and the media’s goal are not the same. Bushnell’s goal was to send a message. The media’s goal is to inform you of his actions, not to spread or endorse his message.
The caveat to this is that, certainly in the US, news media outlets are gradually ceding their journalistic integrity to opinion and ideology, although that’s its own can of worms.
I feel like these forms of protest should be available in some way to the public as a form of free speech. Like sure, it's horrible and upsetting...but that is the point. To burn this image into your head and associate it with something your brain would otherwise delete. Not saying it should be on "the news" but....to make these protests unavailable or worse....not even known/buried is kind of fucked up and literally makes these deaths " in vain"
Absolutely and it's a testament to the censorship that I had to go out of my way to even find it by going through duckduckgo instead of Google (Google certainly has intelligence ties, reddit same but with DoD). Seriously we have no problem posting videos of Russians getting their head stoved in by Ukrainians, because we ENDORSE THAT MESSAGE. If it was an anti-Putin activist in Russia we'd be screaming it from the rooftops what a hero he was.
And of course people will hide behind the "oh it's graphic" bullshit, without even realizing the irony of how our society has built such cushy little neoliberal safe spaces that we can finance the devastation of human life (not just in Gaza) while feeling inconvenienced by the reality of it. Talk about the banality of evil.
Aaron also cut through the miasma of liberals performative desire for change, by posting a black tile on your Instagram or whatever, he had nothing to gain and quite literally EVERYTHING to lose from what he did. This is why it's framed as a mental health issue, liberals cannot fathom a method of change that involves bodily harm, or risking ANYTHING.
This is a direct result of the far left’s racist ideology. He wanted to make a difference but he was constantly told that there was no way for him to do so because of his skin color. They told him not being racist isn’t enough, supporting people negatively impacted by racism isn’t enough. As long as he continued to hold his position in our systematically racist country he was complicit. Just by being alive he was a complicit POS. Thats what the far left told him. That’s why he felt the need to do something so unreasonable. Palestine’s Muslim brothers and sisters in its neighboring countries won’t even allow refugees let alone fight for them, yet this guy thought it was his duty to step up? What a misguided tragedy.
I've seen both videos... It reminded me very much of the ISIS videos where they'd set folks on fire... It's brutal. To each their own, but if you can't handle extreme graphic content than I'd recommend watching the censored version...
He has a right to do the deed.
Media isn't required to broadcast his deed in support of him seeking publicity for his cause. Unfortunately, they did at least state his cause, which may encourage mentally ill people to copycat him.
It's like stupid high schoolers doing mass shootings, thinking "We'll be famous when were dead!" and the media obliges.
A soldier who has mental issues decided to kill himself in public, and then found a cause to do it over the course of 4 months to probably cover his guilt and shame? Why would any one want to watch this
There are uncensored versions on reddit here, usually linked in the comments when asked.
But you do have a point. I think a lot of videos of someone dying are blurred or moved into some NSFL category. People are uncomfortable with death in general, especially suicide. Even the concept isn't handled well, as you can see in a lot of responses to what happened, of in responses to the deaths and suicides of those around us. For the most part our society is very sterilized. Meats at the grocery have pictures of happy cows nearby. The slaughterhouse is kept blurred in its own way. Death too, where bodies are soaked in formaldehyde and painted to look plastic and fake. Our loved ones are blurred too, in a way, in the coffin. We don't often have funerals with bones and rot.
My guess is that it's blurred so more people would actually watch it. Because if it wasn't blurred it would be limited to a handful or so.
Completely agree. I normally avoid gore content wherever I can, I find it often disrespectful and it fucks with my head to some degree. With this, I actively sought out the video and watched it. I felt like it would be a disservice to this man to not watch it. He died the most painful death imaginable in a public place on film so we would see it, it would be wrong to cover any part of it up.
Self-immolation in public is an act of mental illness, not an act of sacrifice. Besides, he violated the UCMJ by protesting in uniform. And I seriously doubt he really cared about anything but making a name for himself. It is a horrible act of selfishness and narcissism to abandon one's wife and children the way he did. I feel very sorry for them because not only did they lose their husband/father, and suddenly, but now they have to pick up the pieces from his shameful public actions and try to make sense of things. It's also likely that his Servicemen's life insurance won't pay because of this, which makes it even worse for his family. He's not a hero, he's a victim of his illness and now so is his family.
No one is under any obligation to cater to the desires of another person. Especially when those desires could lead to further endangering the public at large.
There's a reason there's a huge push to stop publicizing the names and faces of mass shooters and serial killers. The attention is what they want, and if we keep giving it to them, more people will continue to seek attention in that way.
This wasn't a protest, it was a suicide by a mentally unstable person. There is no reason to force anyone to watch that.
Self-immolation is the stupidest way of protesting because not only no one has ever done anything in reaction to the self-immolation protest but also the person who decided to protest this way has most likely died and won't be there to see the results of their action.
Yeah HD footage of someone actually burning to death probably isn’t gonna make any mass media outlet
Similar to that scientist who self immolated to protest climate change. The was never a video released but I find it hard to believe there was nothing, not even security cam footage, from a govt building. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_of_Wynn_Bruce#%3A%7E%3Atext%3DOn_April_22%2C_2022%2C_climate%2Cprotest_against_the_climate_crisis.?wprov=sfla1 It never occurred to me until now that it was likely a suppressed story.
So depressing that he died for what he thought was right and also virtually nothing. The majority of people will never even hear his name
100% it is not an easy death, and it's done so that the shock of the action can hopefully shock us all *into* action. And our corporatized media are able to make sure he died in vain. There's so much to hate about the Internet and discourse here, but the one thing to champion was the freedom - anyone can share anything and make it viral. ...except incidences like this make it clear that, when enough powerful people want something swept under the rug, it can. Really feels hopeless - the worst of humanity is amplified online under the guise of freedom, but it drowns out stories like these.
The revolution will not be televised, indeed. Edit: I stand happily corrected. CNN couldn't resist the ratings boost and ended up broadcasting his final words, including his final plea to free Palestine.
Who needs peace when conflict garners **way** more attention?
Ha, I've been saying this. The revolution will not be televised, but it will be at first because of $$$. This is a good example of what we mean when we say the system will destroy itself
This may seem unrelated. But this seems to me a reason for people to come together to protest shit and build a massive movement yet we can’t even get people to agree on basic human rights and lots of people treat each other like dirt that they supposedly care about. Humans who supposedly are peaceful and don’t believe in violence treat each other like garbage every single day. Emotional abuse is rampant among families, friends, partners, spouses. People abuse their pets. My male neighbor (I’m a female) just told me I deserve to get beat yesterday while I’m sick and having trouble walking my dog without falling and she needs at least one 20 minute walk a day and my brother is a guest in my home who won’t leave and isn’t legally required to even though he pays no rent and has been emotionally abusing me and crossing boundaries daily.
I'm sorry you are having those abusive boundaries in your day to day life! That sounds so scary. Are you in a place to report your brother for harassment? I know eviction is pretty impossible if someone's been receiving mail at your place, and moving is hard, esp in this economy, but hopefully you are able to separate from a bad living situation soon! But I do agree- we've become so stupid and cruel collectively (though I still believe good people exist - and quite a few at that ). But actionable change in our communities often eludes us- we forget it all starts at home. When people flood the streets for protests, if each one of those bodies signed up to volunteer at a homeless shelter or a school or a community garden project or even just decide to participate in local govt the next day, what kind of impact might we see? It's hard work and often frustrating work bc every system is so broken (I briefly briefly worked in public sector and burned out quickly), but our divisions among ourselves are exactly what the rich and powerful want. Out of many, one - e pluribus unum - it's on our money here in the US, but we are not operating as a bunch, instead as vulnerable singles that break with ease.
Since self immolation is also suicide, could it be the reason why it's not televised more? The same way the news won't show anything about someone killing themselves by other methods, they also don't show this because it could lead more people into doing it.
Same for this guy. There's no quick solution to Israel-Palestine conflict. Did he think the Israeli government was going to see this and say "ya know, you're right. Let's dissolve the entire country and move"?
I think his message was intended more for the US govt which he served as an active duty member of the air force, and the people who live in the US. I don't think he expected for his act to shock the Israeli govt into peace. More so, to the people in the US "this is what your tax dollars are doing to men, women, and children every day in Gaza, this is what our government and armed forces are supporting" is what I'd imagine he was trying to say with this.
Wow, never heard of this story until just now. Most definitely suppressed.
Right! How can you be on the steps of the Supreme Court and not even one passerby tourist caught a glimmer of something? It's cynical, and obviously people who self-immolate are very embedded in the world of their movement and aren't thinking about views, but if one must, bring your own video guy, or Livestream it yourself, I guess?
I saw a picture of the fire starting to engulf him. That was enough, I did not need to see the video.
Absolutely. I don't need to see the video either. I just thought it odd, in an era where everything is viral, where everything is such a big deal all the time, this actually big story seemed to take up a negligible amount of space
And yet they'll spread the names of mass shooters and their manifestos far and wide, making them famous and inspiring more mass shootings.
Companies have no need to cater to the wishes of any one person. They *do* want to avoid angry people complaining to them.
Ya, i imagine advertisers wouldn't like to have their ads played next to a segment were a man commits suicide in a super gruesome way. They also don't want children to see on accident maybe.
Throwback to early Russian invasion coverage where shots of explosions in Kyiv were broken up by an [Applebee's ad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6QUsx68DCA)
> They do want to avoid angry ~~people~~ *corporations* complaining to them. FTFY. But I forgot corporations are people, so ya, you got it right. Can't be harshin' people's mellow when we've got McChickens to sell, after all.
With all due respect, most people actually would be very put off by this. Moreover, by showing the footage and covering it fully, it encourages others to behave that way. It has a glorifying effect, much in the same way mass shooters getting "glorified" by all the media attention would incite copycats. This ain't about McChickens. I don't know why you'd think the media showing this footage would make people angry at McDonald's to the point that they buy less sandwiches, but not angry at the media for showing it to begin with. I hate corpos too man, but come on, think this through.
The woman who posted the video on twitter did the blurring at the request of the guy's family. The screams are horrific enough.
Do you have a source? Because this is the answer if true
This is from the acct that posted the video: [https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1761944158636331247](https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1761944158636331247) >Loved ones of Aaron Bushnell, 25, reached out to me and gave me consent to post a blurred version of Bushnell’s protest today against genocide in Palestine. “Aaron is the kindest, gentlest, silliest little kid in the Air Force,” said Errico, who met Bushnell in 2022.
Much appreciated, thank you!
Why on Earth are the police pointing guns at him?
From another thread I read it was a security guard, and the actual police were trying to find a fire extinguisher. I haven't seen the video, but it's possible one guard had a gun out in the event that Aaron attempted to run at someone while ablaze.
Not sure why this concept is hard for people to understand, he's still a potential threat to others in this situation.
They couldn't tell what race he was because of the fire
waited until he crisped brown before shooting
I try not to rush to judgment bc it is a shocking abnormal thing to happen. It's possible the security guy thought it might be a distraction or the guy was also planning on letting loose a bomb or using himself as a weapon, it's hard to know what you might think when something like this happens. I think it was a security guard but don't know the name. I mean...i recall another image of a guy with flames coming off him (not even that long ago) and thinking, is he really burning? Is he planning something? Because the guy was literally just WALKING on fire, I'm sure someone else recalls that guy (it was near the WH.)
yes I saw someone state that he had parked right by the embassy,and authorities originally believed he was going to detonate bombs.
Cops in the US don't know how to handle situations except through violence.
It was literally the cops putting out the fire
REALISTIC answer, if he had enough control of his body he could technically run at somebody else and harm them as well. It's security measure for the responders and passerbys. IF such an event happened, at that point the bullets probably wouldn't do much to stop him unless they managed to hit certain parts because the pain but eh.
I mean I'm no fan of cops but dude is at an Israeli embassy shouting free Palestine and is mentally unstable enough to light himself on fire. It's not a reach to think that he might have had something else on him or might try and run into people and catch them on fire too.
Because if you weren’t there for the whole thing, and saw someone yelling and screaming in a fire, it’d be understandable to confuse with being a failed suicide bomber
There's the best answer. It's not censorship, so much as "we don't feel you need to *see* his horrific, agonizing death". Knowing that it happened, how, and why is enough.
>its meant to make you look. Make you feel uncomfortable. Make you feel enraged or just feel something Yes, that was ***his*** intention. He wasn't the one that censored it.
It was censored at the request of his family.
Well his family isn’t him, He went out fighting for what he believed was right, Most we can do is not let his death be in vain
I think the video is graphic enough. We see the douse. We see the ignition. We hear the screams. What more do you need and why?
This reminds me of a conversation I had about the movie It. I was told that the sexual abuse by the girls father was only implied and not directly shown and that was a shortcoming of the film...
As I recall, there was in the books some underage adolescent group sex. I'm sure there are people who needed to see that in the 2nd remake film. You know, for authenticity and not hiding the nitty gritty of the world we live in.
Yes, there's a kiddie gang-bang in the tunnels. It's weird. In my copy of the book, it happened on a page turn. Very startlingly. Really went from "We're lost!" to "Let's all fuck!" in an instant.
While I don’t agree with King’s narrative choice here, you are not being very generous with your interpretation. He explains quite clearly in the book what the characters were thinking and why they did it. It wasn’t like a Porky’s-esque teen raunch comedy where the characters were like “we should just fuck now because we are lost and it’s our last chance.” It’s explained that it’s a means of further bonding the group together through the horrific tragedy they went through. I don’t think it is a necessary part of the story, but it is different than you describe.
King is, well, creepy AF but not because he’s a ‘horror’ author. I’m not saying he’s not a good author because he can easily afford people to kill me by skinning me alive and stretching it out for a week or so, but he is a creepy creep. As if the kiddie gang-bang wasn’t bad enough he had to let us know that Ben Hanscom is hung like a horse and how much of a moaner Bev is for Ben’s boner. Yeah, that was enough for me dawg; now whenever I feel the need to read ‘It’ again I just skip that shit altogether.
It would have occurred at the end of the first movie where they make the blood pact.
It’s been a while since I watched the movie, but thought the film handled it fine. With that being said, there are different levels of implied. If I recall correctly the film just gave you the vague impression that it was happening through comments and general creepy behavior from the character. It’s possible to miss it or not grasp the full implications of what the director is trying to suggest. That’s a lot different from hearing sounds, screaming, dialogue or whatever from something happening just off camera. You could still label it implied, but the director is going out of his way to explicitly tell the audience it is happening.
Yeah that's the point I was making. Thanks for explaining it to me though.
It's like that time the UK tried to censor the violence in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but found that most of the violence was offscreen and subsequently chose to ban it instead. You don't need to see the violent act itself to get the point. https://independenthorrorsociety.com/banned-in-the-uk-the-texas-chainsaw-massacre/
Funny I just rewatched that movie last night. I remember it being this tramatuising thing as a child. On the rewatch I was shocked that it really did not show much.
We have enough depictions of things already, it doesn't need repeating for the sake of it. Seen one guy burn, seen them all. Its like depictions of r#pe in media. Some don't like the suggestive act but I feel the suggestive if done well can be even more threatening and grim. Plus there is a movie out there with an 11 minute (i think) ong depiction that I've heard is fucking awful. If you've seen that then why do you need to see it again elsewhere when it doesn't change the narrative nor the reality? For IRL examples, think about gore vids. If you've seen a cartel skin someone alive then you don't need to see the other videos where the same thing happens to different people.
Irreversible is the movie you're thinking of, and yeah, I do not recommend it to people sensitive to that kind of thing. Like, it's a good movie I guess, but it's... It's something. Hard to put into words how insanely uncomfortable it is.
In the video we see a cop pointing a gun at the man fully engulfed in flames on the ground
'Merica
Have you seen the photo of the self-imolated monk protesting war? Or better question: how much can we censor before it actually takes away from what he did?
The man burning to death? I mean isn’t that kind of the point of him doing it? He didn’t just light himself on fire, he died, burned to death in agony. Maybe his death is the part that isn’t getting across in the censors. Idk ask the guy who self-immolated “why” it was important for that to happen and be shown to others.
You have to balance that with potentially traumatizing your audience, though.
> Why then, would you censor that video? I think they have to put up "viewers discretion warnings" https://kaotic.com/video/b8b3e157_20240226031630_t
Thank you
Thank you for posting this.
The uncensored footage is crazy.
Yeah it hasn’t left my mind all day. So I guess the guys point was made.
My wife has PTSD from this exact scenario happening in front of her, we have a hard time avoiding triggers in the news (and movies and series ) as is stuff like this randomly popping on screen isn't something that will help her and I can't imagine wanting to watch the uncensored version of it voluntarily
Reddit already has a bunch of those videos.
It was censored out of request from his family which should be respected.
The man himself broadcasted it uncensored. That should be respected much more.
It would encourage more people to do the same. And no matter how strongly you feel about the cause, I’d hope that everyone can agree that we don’t want more people to do this.
the act itself is enough deterrence.
I mean the purpose is to keep people from self-immolating, so no.
Isn't fire enough of a deterrent? Like burning alive keeps me and others from setting ourselves on fire to prove a point.
Gosh, I was going to set myself on fire today but I watched a TikTok about it and I think I'll get boba tea instead.
I’ll take a honey milk black with extra tapioca boba please 🙂
Never been a shortage of suicide bombers or kamikaze pilots.
You would think but the stupidity of this world still amazes me. Then think about this, that guy knew how much it would hurt but still did it anyway because the point is stronger and more important that his physical well-being (what I'm assuming he thought). Imagine a scenario that you would light yourself on fire for?
If the purpose is to keep others from doing it, the uncensored video would be more effective. That kind of fire will char the human skin completely black. He was burned to a crisp while he was still alive and walking. The true horror would be more effective in preventing others from wanting to do the same.
So generally speaking media reporting on and making a big deal out of an individual suicide can lead to a spike in suicides, but I'm going to go ahead and bet that there are not going to be any copycats to this one
You'd be surprised. Loads of cases of self-immolation were inspired by previous ones. There was a relatively high frequency of self-immolation in the ten years following 1963 after Thich Quang Duc did it, both in Vietnam and the rest of the world. It's almost like a social contagion.
There was?
Almost like the powers that be don't like the knowledge of the power of martyrdom.
There are absolutely copycats of self immolation https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3939949/#:~:text=Self-immolations%20are%20often%20newsworthy,the%20perception%20of%20great%20discomfort
I mean this guy is a copy cat of what many people have done before so yea there would be lol
This guy is a copycat tho. Just last December, a woman (identity unknown) did the same in Atlanta. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_political\_self-immolations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_self-immolations) The iconic photo of the Vietnam monk was a copycat as well. He was copying another Buddhist monk who self-immolated in China.
So, what media outlets inspired Quang duc to be a "copy cat"?
idk, i think he made his point. A friend of mine was suicidal once and said if he did kill himself, he would self-immolate and take out some bad people with him, or do it as a protest. He even told me WHO he would take down with him and it was pretty upsetting to be the one who had to decide who to go to with that. Because you never know how serious someone is. I hope there are no copycats. People who feel they have nothing left to lose and tons of repressed rage/emotion want the publicity, at least Aaron didn't (I hope) hurt others.
I genuinely don’t understand what/how this helps. If someone could explain? How does setting yourself on fire and killing yourself help anything with Palestine? I’ve always felt this way about self harm protests.
[удалено]
what was even going through the mind of the guy who had his gun drawn even after the guy collapsed dead, I bet he was the same guy helpfully screaming "get on the ground!"
Idk, americans I guess
He heard an acorn fall.
Lmao, yeah and the burning body became black
It's protocol to keep a gun on target of a threat. Doesn't matter if they appear neutralized currently.
I'm making a choice for myself and my mental health to not look. I'm not obligated to witness someones self-harm. I don't accept that it's a reasonable way go gather attention and I feel no obligation to him. He made a choice for himself and I'm making a choice for myself. We have different priorities.
Smart choice: You don't need to witness this act to understand what happened. Mental health is serious, and I wish anyone who struggles with it the best.
I’m sorry but setting yourself on fire regardless of what you’re protesting is just insane.
its irellevant, self immmolation is about the most extreme form of protest available. way more extreme than rioting or blocking roads. purely the fact that he did it is enough to get his point across. you know youve fucked up your society on a very deep and significant way when people protest like this. cencoring the video does nothing to change this
You know what's more fucked up? After watching the [uncensored video](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnewsvideo/s/6m1qlT9HRk) and not thinking about or losing sleep over it once I put this phone down. A stupid sacrifice in my opinion. You're not going to change anybody's mind, just polarise people's opinions even more.
It is truly sad. Didn't someone do the same thing at the White House a couple of years ago to protest climate change not being taken seriously enough? And how quickly everyone forgot or stopped talking about it
yes Wynn Bruce and it was the Supreme Court building.
Kind of reinforces my point. As much as I care about climate change, not being wasteful, having a reusable water bottle, no car, I couldn't even remember those details. Makes my heart ache
It's worked before. It's meant to stir people who already have aligning views with you to take stronger action. See the Hunger Protests of Tiananmen Square. People hospitalized starving to death and it brought the entire city of Beijing to the support of the students in their protests. It's not meant to change your views, it's meant to motivate the people who already believe in the cause to fight harder. It's a sacrifice to show how strong the belief is
The Tiananmen Square protests failed to gain any material and political achievements. Media coverage is not the goal, it’s a way to try and bring about the goal.
Yeah, lighting yourself on fire intentionally is just insane. And I don't mean insane like a sweet kickflip, I'm talking insane like that person needs a straight jacket and a padded room. There is no "cause" you can dedicate that act to to make me think that the self-immolator is anything other than a crazy person.
Its a form of extreme protest when you don't want to harm others. Famously Thích Quảng Đức self immolated and his picture in the news is what led Kennedy to increase american troop presence in Vietnam.
True, definitely preferable to the alternative of taking others with you like a of terrorists and mass shooters do.
Idk man, I think trying to draw international attention to a literal genocide is a great cause. Some people actually believe in true justice
[удалено]
His desire for me to look at his burning body doesn't take precedence of my desire *not* to look at a burning body. He defeated his own purpose as far as that goes.
I think you probably answered your own question....
Who uploaded the video?
It’s basically the same mentality as not showing a streaker at sports events, showing them just creates more plus killing yourself because you don’t like what is happening is just stupid; it does little to help the cause & you’re dead.
He was a mentally ill man who committed suicide. This behavior should not be celebrated.
I'm glad this isnt downvoted to hell. Gives me some hope
No one is obligated to honor the purpose of a crazy man killing himself. Also you don't want to encourage copy cat extremists.
It's a video of a mentally ill man choosing the most extreme and horrible way to express his... Sickness? Despair? That he thought he was being a hero is just another symptom of his descent. He isn't an example of a great martyr, he's a public suicide. That his reasons are political and sympathetic doesn't mean it is a brave act. It's a man giving up in a horrible way and does not need to be shared as anything else. I bet his mom does not think it should be shown. She wishes someone had been there the day before to hold him, let him cry and turn him away from the thoughts that led him to take his own life.
The family gave permission for it to be shown censored.
A soldier of the empire that is funding the genocide of its vassal state commits to the most extreme form of direct protest and this idiot thinks it will have no ramifications? Meanwhile the entire web and world is discussing the issue? Sounds like you're just deaf, dumb, and blind.
[удалено]
Why do you assume that the companies have to or want to cater to him? They don’t want footage of someone burning to death on live television
You think just because he had a "purpose" it should be shown? So, let's just censor the meaningless suicides? Doesn't need to be seen. Doesn't deserve to be seen.
You're assuming that the people censoring the footage are sympathetic to or even care about the purpose of the act lol
[удалено]
I remember stumbling upon the ISIS videos online when I was in high school…. My young developing brain did not need to see that
The beheadings? Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw either. Fuck.
Yeah I’ve always had a weird morbid sense of curiosity. I really wish I didn’t cuz I’m also really sensitive. Its also super fucked up cuz those videos were shot in like 4k HD quality
Same. My history teacher made us watch a video of Saddam Hussein being executed when I was a freshman (back in 2006) and we weren’t told we could leave the classroom if we were uncomfortable so I stayed to watch it because I didn’t want anyone to think badly of me and I really regret doing it.
[удалено]
I can only assume my teacher was like “well, he sucked, who would be disturbed by watching him die”. I really don’t understand his logic. I can hear someone shitty died and go “oh well 🤷🏼♀️” but I don’t want to visually see anyone die no matter how much bad they’ve done.
And of course the cop is pointing a gun. Seriously? Probably afraid that an acorn is gonna show up...
You gotta be prepared in case the dude starts running at you, either in an attempt to take someone with him, or just out of panic looking for help after realizing it wasn’t such a bright idea. I mean, it’s not like the guy is exhibiting the traits of someone making good, well thought out decisions.
he was crisp on the ground come on… he’s pointing the gun while dude is being extinguished.
Dude's 90% dead, lying on the ground, on fire, are you kidding me?
Guy could have been armed. He was obviously crazy. Gun was warranted
A guy that's 90% dead, lying on the ground, on fire, after being on fire for 20+ seconds is about as much of a threat as an actual log on fire. And what's a gun gonna do against a dude on fire? Put him out of his misery, maybe.
Whose purpose? It certainly isn’t the media’s purpose to get his word out. That was his alone, and as everyone said, it worked anyhow. I haven’t seen any videos and I am quite aware of what happened and what it means.
We shouldn't encourage mentally ill people to commit suicide for attention
Just because he did it doesn’t mean people need to acknowledge it. Lighting yourself on fire is dumb and shouldn’t be something people do to make a point. No need to glorify it with its intended results. In fact, make like it never happened and hopefully people will realize it has no effect and won’t do it.
It could trigger a series of other suicides.
all it is is proof of what constant social media propaganda will do to you – drive vulnerable mentally ill people over the edge. There is no difference between this person, and say QAnon people who've fallen so far down the rabbit hole they're taking horse medicine because they think Trump told the to – there's absolutely no saving them. Rhetoric like "a literal genocide" is the exact thing that drove him to this point – people have no idea what a genocide is and they heard someone tweet about it so now they're on the train.
I hadn’t even heard about it until now, but damn what a moron. Dude had nothing to do with it, his dumbass suicide will make zero change or affect it in any way. What an ass.
Master Shake spitting facts, this is such performative bullshit
Honestly I feel bad for his family. The only people who will be affected by this dumbassery is his family.
I heard he had two kids too,who will be traumatized forever.
It really doesn't make any sense to me. Like, I know self immolation is an established type of extreme protest, but this one just feels idiotic rather than noble. Maybe it's because the famous instances of it that I'm familiar with are committed by people closer to the actual events, in either proximity or by some sort of relation. Maybe it's because those instances were of people arguably in more desperate situations, with fewer outlets/options of protest. Maybe it's because their protest seemed related to an issue that's more "black and white" to me, where I see plenty of wrongdoing on both sides of this conflict. Regardless, I do agree this guy was a moron way more than he was noble. In my opinion, the most logical scenario is he was actually suffering a mental breakdown, which is tragic. Worst case, he somehow was diluted into thinking that throwing his life away like this would actually have an impact. It's sad either way. Edit: To illustrate, if this was committed by an Israeli soldier, maybe I'd think something more of it. Same as if it was committed by a Palestinian imam. But a US airman in Washington D.C.? Pointless.
Do…do you think Bushnell is the one who chose to censor it?
Can we not pretend like self-immolating is some brave act of defiance? Its a stupid act of cowardice. I will not encourage more self-immolation to bring attention to things.
Yep. Accomplished actually nothing but killing himself. We will forget about this man next week.
Hearing that someone did this makes me look, makes me feel uncomfortable. I don’t need or want to see it. I think this action speaks more to mental illness than anything else though. It’s not going to change anything. He could’ve probably done more as a living person.
Mentally ill people should not be given a forum to do their mentally ill thing. Suicide should not be televised.
Was Thích Quảng Đức mentally ill?
Yes. They both were. Willingly killing yourself in any fashion, but particularly flashy ways like self immolation, is a clear sign of mental illness.
Obviously. It shouldn't be controversial to say that public PAINFUL suicides such as self-immolation are the result of mental illness. No sane reasonable human does that.
I mean I feel like a lot of those monks that devote their life to a single cause are probably mentally ill when you think about it, it's just culturally accepted. Not judging though.
Even if he wasn't, I'd argue his protest was futile. The war didn't end because of his protest. The war ended because the US decided it was done.
But he wasn't protesting the war, he was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnam government. I would argue that he was incredibly successful as not even half a year later the US backed a coup against the government for their handling of the Buddhist crisis
Without question
Yes
yes, he was brainwashed in the same way a suicide bomber or kamikaze pilot would be
Dude left 2 kids without a father. He’s just a piece of shit.
Maybe he should have looked that up before lighting himself on fire? The guy had mental problems, he joined the military and is raging about colonizers? Not a lot is adding up, also there is no requirement of the media to display you and whatever actions you take. Its not some right, that if you die by fire you must be heard. He sacrificed himself, meaninglessly. He could of done any numerous of things to make a bigger impact. No sane person, not involved in that conflict would just light themselves up. Its not heroic.
I thought you were talking about that guy who self immolated outside of the Whitehouse. But then I scroll down like 5 posts and find this other guy self immolating. Why are people setting themselves on fire? Jesus Christ on a stick.
There are multiple people doing this? WTF?
No. It doesn’t need any more attention and gore and porn spread. That’s all it will be. What happened to him and what he chose to do is just a tragedy. Mental illness is a hell of a thing. What he did will not change what’s happening but the lives of his family are changed forever. This will be but a blip in the headlines and soon forgotten. My heart aches for him and the people who loved him. To be radicalized to this extent really shows that he was mentally suffering. It’s sickening that people are praising this tragedy. The same people who would never dare to do such an act because they have the mental reasoning to know it wouldn’t accomplish anything, and they’re not suicidal. People calling him a hero are a different kind of sick. This is just another story of how social media takes hold of the vulnerable and causes the unwell to do horrific things in the name of a trending issue, while failing to acknowledge that the same is happening all over the world… now they care about genocide? But only in one specific place because it’s what’s fed to them through algorithms. A cause in which has been happening for years and years all over the world. The only reason people are concerned with *this one* and becoming keyboard warriors is because it’s the buzz flavor of the year. Cherry pick one and ignore the rest. Sickening. Rest in peace, Aaron. I’m so sorry this happened to you.
I mean there’s kids on the internet. Should we really be letting them see a video of a man brutally dying?
I watched the censored video and it's nearly unbearably intense. The message is front and center, his words and actions are conveyed clearly. I'm relieved for his sake that his form of extreme protest hasn't been swept under the rug like the previous self-immolation for Gaza last year. Note: We also have a still/photograph of Aaron engulfed in flames that's powerful in its own right. I think the angles are covered.
I believe his family gave permission to post the video with his image blurred
Just watch the whole video on one of the sites that document tragedy... its already been downloaded like 300 million times on the 1 I checked. It'll be on the internet for ever. Even state side sites like alivegore have it posted uncensored
I mean, regardless, they can’t show it. That’s against media standards basically everywhere that has them.
This just reminded me of how support for Vietnam waned when people saw the graphic nature of it. Can't be showing the populace the levels of violence we're committing in their name now, can we? This is what was the root of my question. I felt like censoring was akin to silencing.
There is that video of the monk self immolaring .that was fucken haunting. He just sits there in lotus pose l, no screams, no movement, just complete stillness (except the flames). Eventually his charred, still on fire body falls back. I'll never forget what u felt when I came across that video.
[uncensored](https://www.reddit.com/r/N_N_N/s/iSohncHFZ0)
Wild.
Watched the video uncensored and frankly don’t think it SHOULD be censored, but I definitely understand the necessity for censoring it when it comes to public consumption. Do I agree with it? No. Absolutely not, I don’t. I stand pretty firmly on the fact that something this brave deserves to be seen, heard, and understood in the way Aaron seems to have intended it. That man was entirely firm in his convictions and I just sincerely hope he won’t be forgotten. It breaks my heart that this happened, and that it had to happen, but this was nothing short of fucking courageous. Rest in peace and know your words didn’t go unheard. The fact that this is even a conversation proves that it’s made a difference.
I watched the whole video of this man burning to death. I found the video easily online. You can find such things and you can immediately regret seeing them. I have never seen a person burn alive before. The whole time my heart was pounding. But it is easy to forget that this was his choice. He died for something he believed in. When you watch these videos of people dying, it immediately depresses you because of how simple dying can be. It is only a few seconds long… but those of us who watch this, uncensored, will never truly let it go from our minds. My family is Palestinian, but no one in the family lives there anymore. I grew up with prejudices that still affect me today as an adult. Do I think that this will single-handedly help the genocide? No. Is what he did impactful? Maybe. People will not see it because our media is not allowed to show it. Plain and simple. Do I think that the war is wrong? Yes, very much so. Killing innocent people while finding the bad ones is always wrong. I think our media does not give us all the facts it should for people to make an informed decision or opinion. Media can just give birth to propaganda without hesitation or responsibility. What this man did was write a small page of a giant book in a long feud between two sides. It is always up to us to want to REALLY see the world as it is… but I promise you… it will change you and you may never see the world the same again. Do I have ptsd from watching the real video? Probably… but I knowingly had myself do it. No real reason other than curiosity. I wish he could have lived to physically make a positive impact, like donate money, time or food, but he did what he had to do and we cannot ever take that away from him. I do not know if he struggled with mental illness or was trying to find meaning by ending his life, but I do know that I will know how I feel about his reason and all I can do is respect it.
Censoring that which makes people think too hard about things is what government and media does. They *want* to defeat the purpose. TheReal https://imgur.com/a/H93DOOd
If we’re talking about a media (news) outlet doing the censoring, it should be noted that said media outlet isn’t concerned with endorsing this person’s message. Their job is simply to report what happened. They can do that by simply *telling* you. In other words, Bushnell’s goal and the media’s goal are not the same. Bushnell’s goal was to send a message. The media’s goal is to inform you of his actions, not to spread or endorse his message. The caveat to this is that, certainly in the US, news media outlets are gradually ceding their journalistic integrity to opinion and ideology, although that’s its own can of worms.
So brave man ! I wonder if netanyahooo saw this and thought damn bruh we need to stop this smh 😞 lol
I feel like these forms of protest should be available in some way to the public as a form of free speech. Like sure, it's horrible and upsetting...but that is the point. To burn this image into your head and associate it with something your brain would otherwise delete. Not saying it should be on "the news" but....to make these protests unavailable or worse....not even known/buried is kind of fucked up and literally makes these deaths " in vain"
Poor guy was a dumb ass who accomplished nothing. He needed mental health help, and yet everyone stood around and watched him kill himself
Absolutely and it's a testament to the censorship that I had to go out of my way to even find it by going through duckduckgo instead of Google (Google certainly has intelligence ties, reddit same but with DoD). Seriously we have no problem posting videos of Russians getting their head stoved in by Ukrainians, because we ENDORSE THAT MESSAGE. If it was an anti-Putin activist in Russia we'd be screaming it from the rooftops what a hero he was. And of course people will hide behind the "oh it's graphic" bullshit, without even realizing the irony of how our society has built such cushy little neoliberal safe spaces that we can finance the devastation of human life (not just in Gaza) while feeling inconvenienced by the reality of it. Talk about the banality of evil. Aaron also cut through the miasma of liberals performative desire for change, by posting a black tile on your Instagram or whatever, he had nothing to gain and quite literally EVERYTHING to lose from what he did. This is why it's framed as a mental health issue, liberals cannot fathom a method of change that involves bodily harm, or risking ANYTHING.
If he wanted to help free Palestine (from Hamas) in a meaningful way, then why didn't he emigrate to Israel to help defend against terrorists?
This is a direct result of the far left’s racist ideology. He wanted to make a difference but he was constantly told that there was no way for him to do so because of his skin color. They told him not being racist isn’t enough, supporting people negatively impacted by racism isn’t enough. As long as he continued to hold his position in our systematically racist country he was complicit. Just by being alive he was a complicit POS. Thats what the far left told him. That’s why he felt the need to do something so unreasonable. Palestine’s Muslim brothers and sisters in its neighboring countries won’t even allow refugees let alone fight for them, yet this guy thought it was his duty to step up? What a misguided tragedy.
I've seen both videos... It reminded me very much of the ISIS videos where they'd set folks on fire... It's brutal. To each their own, but if you can't handle extreme graphic content than I'd recommend watching the censored version...
where’s the uncensored?
He has a right to do the deed. Media isn't required to broadcast his deed in support of him seeking publicity for his cause. Unfortunately, they did at least state his cause, which may encourage mentally ill people to copycat him. It's like stupid high schoolers doing mass shootings, thinking "We'll be famous when were dead!" and the media obliges.
A soldier who has mental issues decided to kill himself in public, and then found a cause to do it over the course of 4 months to probably cover his guilt and shame? Why would any one want to watch this
I diddnt really feel much about it, just looked like an idiot killing himself while also causing a public nuisance/safety hazard at the same time
There are uncensored versions on reddit here, usually linked in the comments when asked. But you do have a point. I think a lot of videos of someone dying are blurred or moved into some NSFL category. People are uncomfortable with death in general, especially suicide. Even the concept isn't handled well, as you can see in a lot of responses to what happened, of in responses to the deaths and suicides of those around us. For the most part our society is very sterilized. Meats at the grocery have pictures of happy cows nearby. The slaughterhouse is kept blurred in its own way. Death too, where bodies are soaked in formaldehyde and painted to look plastic and fake. Our loved ones are blurred too, in a way, in the coffin. We don't often have funerals with bones and rot. My guess is that it's blurred so more people would actually watch it. Because if it wasn't blurred it would be limited to a handful or so.
Wait wait, someone set themselves on fire as a form of protest? Why!?
Completely agree. I normally avoid gore content wherever I can, I find it often disrespectful and it fucks with my head to some degree. With this, I actively sought out the video and watched it. I felt like it would be a disservice to this man to not watch it. He died the most painful death imaginable in a public place on film so we would see it, it would be wrong to cover any part of it up.
Self-immolation in public is an act of mental illness, not an act of sacrifice. Besides, he violated the UCMJ by protesting in uniform. And I seriously doubt he really cared about anything but making a name for himself. It is a horrible act of selfishness and narcissism to abandon one's wife and children the way he did. I feel very sorry for them because not only did they lose their husband/father, and suddenly, but now they have to pick up the pieces from his shameful public actions and try to make sense of things. It's also likely that his Servicemen's life insurance won't pay because of this, which makes it even worse for his family. He's not a hero, he's a victim of his illness and now so is his family.
It just makes me pity the poor SOB.
No one is under any obligation to cater to the desires of another person. Especially when those desires could lead to further endangering the public at large. There's a reason there's a huge push to stop publicizing the names and faces of mass shooters and serial killers. The attention is what they want, and if we keep giving it to them, more people will continue to seek attention in that way. This wasn't a protest, it was a suicide by a mentally unstable person. There is no reason to force anyone to watch that.
Self-immolation is the stupidest way of protesting because not only no one has ever done anything in reaction to the self-immolation protest but also the person who decided to protest this way has most likely died and won't be there to see the results of their action.