{"id":142107858,"date":"2024-02-28T13:30:50","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T13:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/?p=142107858"},"modified":"2024-02-28T13:30:50","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T13:30:50","slug":"we-used-to-care-about-people-like-aaron-bushnell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/?p=142107858","title":{"rendered":"We Used To Care About People Like Aaron Bushnell"},"content":{"rendered":"

“…Norman Morrison, a 32-year-old pacifist…an 82-year-old woman named Alice Herz burned [themselves] to death…A remarkable change in sentiment took place.” – Howard Zinn, ‘A People’s History…’<\/h2>

CW: suicide, self-immolation, genocide, uncaring genocidaires<\/strong><\/p>

Nazis unwelcome: here\u2019s my post about moving this blog off of Substack soon<\/a>. I might put this stinger on every post until then to try to irritate Nazi Sympathizer Hamish McKenzie<\/a>. I might forget\/get bored and stop. Not today though!<\/em><\/p>

Cotton Xenomorph\u2019s \u201cCryptids and Climate Change\u201d issue continues, with Adrian Sobol\u2019s \u201cPlume\u201d haunting our literary <\/a><\/em>Nostromo<\/a>. Go get plumed!<\/em><\/p>

You\u2019re gonna have to wait seven days to read the \u201chow do we measure success as writers\u201d post I\u2019d basically finished. Guess I get next week off.<\/p>

On Sunday, an active duty US airman, Aaron Bushnell, self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy. His last words were \u201cFree Palestine.\u201d<\/p>

\"<p>Aaron<\/figure>

People who knew him have described Aaron as friendly and gregarious. Always smiling. \u201cHe\u2019s always trying to think about how we can actually achieve liberation for all with a smile on his face,\u201d as his friend Errico said<\/a>. Some people have wondered if Aaron was mentally ill, which is the US establishment\u2019s boilerplate when someone does something they don\u2019t understand.<\/p>

\"File:Place<\/figure>

A huge number of white men have committed increasingly gruesome mass shootings, and their whole internet history was posts and research topics about how much they hated (insert marginalized group) and how women were the cause of all their problems? Who knows why they shot 45 people at a church. Must\u2019ve been mentally ill.<\/p>

<\/figure>

Self-immolation is a tactic that comes from a place of fierce conviction. A belief that calling attention to whatever you\u2019re protesting through sacrificing your body\u2014and I do view it as self-sacrifice rather than mutilation<\/em> or even suicide<\/em>\u2014whatever injustice is happening, you are morally on the right side. A belief that it will matter<\/em> to people who make decisions<\/em> to see you set yourself ablaze. Self-immolation is for when you\u2019ve reached your last resort and then gone past it. Howard Zinn talks about people who self-immolated in response to various colonial injustices in <\/a>A People\u2019s History<\/a><\/em> a lot<\/a>. I\u2019m certain Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz mentions it, probably Four Hundred Souls<\/em>, too. This sort of thing used to ring out, used to give people pause.<\/p>

\"File:Th\u00edch<\/figure>

Today, if you ask the mainstream media, you\u2019d wonder why Aaron did it. Oh, did something happen in Palestine? Huh. Oh, people are upset about it? Weird. New York Times<\/em>, Washington Post<\/em>\u2014well, their main business is addicting phone games and laundering fascist talking points to Latte Liberals. They\u2019re not going to report the real reason Aaron self-immolated. Disappointedly, NPR was most shameful with this, here captured by Kendra Pierre-Louis:<\/p>

\"poet<\/figure>

An hour later, they updated with this:<\/p>

\"From<\/figure>

But go read Juliana Kim\u2019s reporting right now and you won\u2019t see a correction.\u00a0<\/p>

I\u2019m writing this on Monday, and I will not be updating before Wednesday. None of these news organizations get to live down their moment of cowardice. Aaron and his reasons were all over social media as the shit was going down.\u00a0Everyone who had supported the US government\u2019s funding of Israel\u2019s genocide had a moment to ask \u201care we the baddies,\u201d and too many places did not even consider meeting that moment. Hey, maybe now\u2019s a good time to mention someone else has already self-immolated in protest of Israel\u2019s genocide, in Atlanta, December of last year<\/a>. It took Aaron for me to learn about that, and I know I\u2019m not the only one. <\/p>

<\/figure>

Instead of reflection, we have news orgs doing the \u201cwe\u2019re just so baffled why anyone is upset\u201d routine. We have people saying Aaron was mentally ill. We have people accusing Aaron of excusing terrorism.<\/p>

\"Aaron<\/figure>

Now, I\u2019m not gonna do the macho one-upping, the \u201cwe all need to be out there, throwing bricks, fighting cops, self-immolating our own selves, man.\u201d This is not a call to go out there and dick-measure against Aaron\u2019s ashes. Radical action comes in many shapes and forms. Sometimes rebellion is self-immolation. Sometimes rebellion is quiet quitting, or not letting your boss telling you what to do with your hair. Sometimes rebellion is standing on a picket line yourself, with your own body. Sometimes rebellion is an encouraging note to your kid\u2019s teacher when the teacher\u2019s union is about to go on strike. <\/p>

\"File:Chi<\/figure>

But what we\u2019re not gonna do is sit here and act like Aaron and his action didn\u2019t matter. We are going to honor Aaron Bushnell, we are going to say \u201cFREE PALESTINE\u201d because it is the correct moral opinion to have, and we are going to reflect on tactics. I watched HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE this weekend (it rules). A few hours later, Aaron Bushnell self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy.<\/p>

Maybe that\u2019s the juxtaposition to end on. I\u2019m not going to blow up a pipeline or self-immolate in front of the Israeli embassy. There\u2019s a wife who loves me and a five-year-old who depends on me for almost everything in the next room. My role is writer, and this blog means I get to chose what to write about. No editors except the nightmares that live in my brain. <\/p>

So here\u2019s what I\u2019ll write: remember Aaron Bushnell. Honor his action. Spend time thinking about the world we live in. Spend time thinking about your role\u2014however small, however undramatic\u2014in helping make a better world. <\/p>

Sorry you got an email, <\/p>

Chris<\/p>

Thanks for reading shipwrecked sailor! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.<\/p><\/div>

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