Air force member dies after setting himself on fire

[jayem]

The active duty U.S. Air Force member who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy has died of his injuries, the Metropolitan Police Department confirmed on Monday.

Aaron Bushnell, 25, of San Antonio, lit himself on fire in front of the embassy on Sunday afternoon. First responders took him to a hospital, where he later died, the MPD said.

Horrible. It's reminiscent of the Buddhist monk who immolated himself back in 1962 to protest of the treatment of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government.

Air Force member Aaron Bushnell dies after setting himself on fire near Israeli Embassy

 

[RileyG]

How awful

 

[GoldenBoy89]

The deadly combination of propaganda, social media and poor mental health.

 

[Vanellus]

He cried "free Palestine". We wouldn't say Jesus had mental health problems or those who took on suicide missions in WW2 so I don't think one can assume Aaron Bushnell had mental health problems just because he made an extreme protest against something one might actually approve of. There are forum members here who actually approve of killing around 30,000 people in Gaza in the supposed attempt to defeat Hamas, even though Hamas is not contained by a fixed number of people but is actually an embodiment of an idea ("we want our land back") not a fixed set of people.

 

[Vanellus]

The active duty U.S. Air Force member who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy has died of his injuries, the Metropolitan Police Department confirmed on Monday.

Aaron Bushnell, 25, of San Antonio, lit himself on fire in front of the embassy on Sunday afternoon. First responders took him to a hospital, where he later died, the MPD said.

Horrible. It's reminiscent of the Buddhist monk who immolated himself back in 1962 to protest of the treatment of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government.

Air Force member Aaron Bushnell dies after setting himself on fire near Israeli Embassy

Incredibly an Israeli embassy guard points a gun at Bushnell as he is dying and keeps him covered as if he is some kind of threat - symbolic of what Israel is doing to Gaza.

 

[Nithavela]

Truly an hero.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

He cried "free Palestine". We wouldn't say Jesus had mental health problems or those who took on suicide missions in WW2 so I don't think one can assume Aaron Bushnell had mental health problems just because he made an extreme protest against something one might actually approve of. There are forum members here who actually approve of killing around 30,000 people in Gaza in the supposed attempt to defeat Hamas, even though Hamas is not contained by a fixed number of people but is actually an embodiment of an idea ("we want our land back") not a fixed set of people.

I say they’re both nuts.

 

[RocksInMyHead]

Truly an hero.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Truly an hero.

I don’t understand killing yourself as a form of protest. Why not kill other people?

 

[MotoToTheMax]

I don’t understand killing yourself as a form of protest. Why not kill other people?

Martyrdom messages can be less effective if you kill others doing it. Martyrs as a concept shouldn't sway anybody anyways, but if you kill yourself only, others might see you as more genuine and thus increases the chance they might look into your message deeper. "Why did they do that?" instead of "Oh another nutjuob murderer, their message is useless."

That's my hypothesis anyway.

 

[Nithavela]

I don’t understand killing yourself as a form of protest. Why not kill other people?

Well, it's a lot easier lighting yourself on fire than running after people with a gasoline canister and a box of matches.

 

[eleos1954]

The active duty U.S. Air Force member who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy has died of his injuries, the Metropolitan Police Department confirmed on Monday.

Aaron Bushnell, 25, of San Antonio, lit himself on fire in front of the embassy on Sunday afternoon. First responders took him to a hospital, where he later died, the MPD said.

Horrible. It's reminiscent of the Buddhist monk who immolated himself back in 1962 to protest of the treatment of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government.

Air Force member Aaron Bushnell dies after setting himself on fire near Israeli Embassy

Suicide is a tragedy ... may he rest in peace.

 

[essentialsaltes]

I think it's interesting that he was active service and felt "complicit in genocide".

U.S. service members are prohibited from acts of political protest, under the Pentagon’s long-standing policy of remaining nonpartisan while civilian leaders oversee policy decisions. While no one else in uniform has stepped out against the war in Gaza as stridently as Bushnell, some service members do have misgivings about it and frustration that critics of the war blame U.S. military support for Israeli military actions.

 

[wing2000]

Less than two weeks before Aaron Bushnell walked toward the gates of the Israeli Embassy on Sunday, he and a friend talked by phone about their shared identities as anarchists and what kinds of risks and sacrifices were needed to be effective.

Bushnell, 25, mentioned nothing violent or self-sacrificial, the friend said.

Then on Sunday, Bushnell texted that friend, who described the exchange on the condition of anonymity to protect his safety.
“I hope you’ll understand. I love you,” Bushnell wrote in a message reviewed by The Washington Post. “This doesn’t even make sense, but I feel like I’m going to miss you.”

...
Bushnell was raised in a religious compound in Orleans, Mass., on Cape Cod, according to Susan Wilkins, 59, who said she was a member of the group from 1970 to 2005. She said that she knew Bushnell and his family on the compound and that he was still a member when she left. Wilkins said she heard through members of Bushnell’s family that he eventually left the group.

The group, called the Community of Jesus, has faced allegations of inappropriate behavior, which it has publicly disputed. In a lawsuit against an Ontario school, where many officials were alleged to be members of the U.S.-based religious group, former students called the Community of Jesus a “charismatic sect” and alleged that it “created an environment of control, intimidation and humiliation that fostered and inflicted enduring harms on its students.” The school, now defunct, disputed the allegations. Last year, an appeals court in Canada awarded 10.8 million Canadian dollars to the former students, who attended the Ontario school between 1973 and 1997.

Multiple people who said they were former members of the Community of Jesus described their years after leaving the compound as particularly challenging. They said former members, soon after they depart the group, often long for a sense of belonging.
“A lot of us that got out are very much into social justice, trying to defend those who don’t or can’t defend themselves, because that is what we went through,” said Bonnie Zampino, 54, who said she was a member of the group for three years in the 1980s.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/02/26/israeli-embassy-airman-fire-death-gaza/

 

[DaisyDay]

I don’t understand killing yourself as a form of protest. Why not kill other people?

That's a different message. There are a lot of people who are badly affected watching this slow genocide play out. They are genuinely disturbed by seeing the destruction of a people and everyone just standing by, some even cheering the cruelty.

 

[essentialsaltes]

You will know them by their fruits.

 

[Fantine]

We are all powerless against Netanyahu's genocide. The whole world has condemned his policies at the UN.
The U.S. is urging restraint but, to our shame, we are still funding him.
In situations like these, we must do what we can and then leave it in God's hands.
We need more chaplains who can minister to the tortured souls of military who witness these atrocities.

 

[mindlight]

The active duty U.S. Air Force member who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy has died of his injuries, the Metropolitan Police Department confirmed on Monday.

Aaron Bushnell, 25, of San Antonio, lit himself on fire in front of the embassy on Sunday afternoon. First responders took him to a hospital, where he later died, the MPD said.

Horrible. It's reminiscent of the Buddhist monk who immolated himself back in 1962 to protest of the treatment of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government.

Air Force member Aaron Bushnell dies after setting himself on fire near Israeli Embassy

A poor cause to die for since Hamas started this conflict in Gaza. The casualties there can be directly blamed on their policy of using civilians as human shields. The Israelis have to finish what they have started and eliminate Hamas's control over Gaza.

As for the idea of a free Palestine, it seems the time for it has passed. Right or wrong there is no way that the Israeli people will want a terrorist state on their borders, they lack the geographical depth to accommodate that and why would they want that when these same terrorists are looking to exterminate them all? So Arab countries need to open up their borders and allow the people out of these desperate prisons in Gaza and the West Bank so that they can get on with their lives.

 

[Vanellus]

A poor cause to die for since Hamas started this conflict in Gaza.

This article gives the historical background - history did not start on Oct 7.
The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict

 

[stevil]

I don’t understand killing yourself as a form of protest. Why not kill other people?

I reckon, people that want to do mass murder should start with themselves first.