“I will no longer be complicit in genocide [in Gaza]. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest,” the man apparently said before setting himself alight and repeatedly shouting “Free Palestine!”

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  • treadful@lemmy.zip
    ·
    9 months ago

    Law enforcement also drew a gun on the burning man during the incident, according to a report by Task and Purpose.

    When you're a hammer...

    • octopus_ink@lemmy.ml
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      I read that and was like "of fucking course they did." Honestly the next paragraph makes it even worse, IMO.

      Authorities were heard asking the man – “May I help you, sir?” – at first but as soon as he was engulfed in flames they started yelling at him to get down on the ground. They even drew their guns on the burning man before someone pushed them to get fire extinguishers to extinguish the fire.

      Threats of physical violence are the only tool they have in their toolbox. THE ONLY tool.

      • unwarlikeExtortion@lemmy.ml
        ·
        9 months ago

        Threats of physical violence are the only tool they have in their toolbox. THE ONLY tool.

        And actual gun violence. They're the sniwflakiest and wimpiest of the all, bringing an AK-47 to a civilised discussion and feeling "threatened".

  • tree@lemmy.zip
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    It's a bit of a beleaguered point, but it's very telling that this will assuredly get almost no coverage on big news networks like abc, cbs, fox, etc. and virtually no coverage in the larger papers like the NYT, sure the press agencies like Reuters and the AP will cover it and then redistributors like your source will publish this, but little thought among the media class/commentariet will be given to the man who decided there was so little hope of being able to do anything through legal/electoral means to stop a genocide that he could no longer stand idly by and had to do something to protest the sheer inhumanity of what's going on. Barely anyone probably still remembers the person who did the same thing and died in 2022 on earth day protesting inaction on climate change/destruction, that story was absolutely buried. I don't support any kind of self harm, but doing something as drastic as this requires a pretty compelling reason, most people remember Tibetan monks doing the same thing, but the same importance was not extended to that person in 2022 and will almost definitely not be extended to this person now. I may end up being wrong, but I expect this to be out of the news cycle/discourse in days at most.

    • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      most people remember Tibetan monks doing the same thing

      Out of political selfimmolations there were 7 Tibetan cases, but dozens of others including many Americans. I wonder why "most people" remember particularly those. Would it be that US media wasn't fair to report not only this one here?

        • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml
          ·
          9 months ago

          Lmao that's what i was talking about, the one on this album cover wasn't even Tibetan, he was Thích Quảng Đức, a Vietnamese buddhist monk, selfimmolating in Saigon in 1963 as protest against US-backed South Vietnam government persecuting buddhists.
          So why people like you think he was Tibetan if not for media misleading you? This was literally the most famous of public selfimmolation and the one that started it all for in XX century.

    • Shinji_Ikari [he/him]
      ·
      9 months ago

      doing something as drastic as this requires a pretty compelling reason

      I've already had a couple people immediately retort "wow mental health is scary", then say "nobody will remember his name".

      These people will shamelessly undermine any action then act disappointed that these actions are quickly ignored.

    • MindlessZ@lemm.ee
      ·
      9 months ago

      I get so tired of this talking point. New York times, Washington Post, and even Fox news each have an article (or multiple) on this event.

      • tree@lemmy.zip
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        OMG THEY HAVE AN ARTICLE OMG THAT WAS TOTALLY MY POINT, I QUITE LITERALLY TALKED ABOUT REDISTRIBUTING THINGS FROM PRESS AGENCIES JFC, HOW CAN YOU READ WHAT I WROTE AND GET TO THIS, IS THERE ANYTHING RESIDING IN BETWEEN YOUR EARS ???

    • Bloobish [comrade/them]
      ·
      9 months ago

      deeper-sadness honestly sad, one of the few good troops to realize how fucked the system is and then did the utmost sacrifice in protesting the system

      • DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyz
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        Excuse me, what?

        It is incontrovertibly ON TOPIC to point out the fact that his dying words were FREE PALESTINE followed by a scream of DEATH AGONY because he was ON FIRE. His remarks factually did not conclude in the reported way. This is not a joke. I disagree it is crass or insensitive (Whose sensibilities am I supposed to have offended, precisely? More importantly: why the fuck should I care that their feelings are hurt by my pointing out the message he died to scream to the world?), and regardless it is factual and relevant. Go back and watch again if you don't believe me, if you have the courage.

        "Crass jokes" aren't prohibited by your badly written rules even if it were a joke.

        Your moderator indiscretion is what is crass here, if anything. Shame on you.

        • Aquilae [he/him, they/them]
          ·
          9 months ago

          Maybe well intentioned, but your comment very much came across as making fun of him. Hard to tell through text.

  • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
    ·
    9 months ago

    The pigs shouting "ON THE GROUND" to a person who is actively burning to death have got to be the finest example of cop brain. Everything's a threat.

    I kind of wish this troop would have done something like sabotage or leaked Intel like Chelsea Manning, but I'm also not gonna deny the bravery involved. Free Palestine. Death to America.

  • Dessalines@lemmy.ml
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    Anyone who still visits reddit, how [deleted] is this story over there?

    Edit: I've created a torrent for the video if anyone wants to help seed. His sacrifice in bringing attention to the US-sponsored genocide in Palestine must not be forgotten.

      • SummerIsTooWarm [any, undecided]
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        To be fair, that post in particular seems to have been locked because it is a repost. This post is older and has quite a bit of engagement. While a quick search in the popular subs reveals that this story seems to be surpressed there, it is not true for r/TheDeprogram. Even if that sub has some problems, this story is none of them.

        The screenshot was posted to r/TheDeprogram, it wasn't taken there, I'm dumb.

        • What_Religion_R_They [none/use name]
          ·
          9 months ago

          That post is locked because it's on r/pics. r/TheDeprogram is an ML sub, the screenshot I posted was someone calling out r/pics.

          • SummerIsTooWarm [any, undecided]
            ·
            edit-2
            9 months ago

            Oh, I misunderstood. I thougth that the pic was from the deprogram sub. Thats why I went there and looked it up, because it would be very surprising to see that su censoring something like this.

            Edit: It even says r/pics on the top of the screenshot, either I'm blind or I already forgot the layout of stormfront (or both)

    • FriendBesto@lemmy.ml
      ·
      9 months ago

      Noticed that the MSM is barely touching the story or if they are, with little contextual detail. Am I the only one who has noticed this?

      • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]
        ·
        9 months ago

        No you are not, NPR mysteriously has no idea what motivated this man who was shouting his motivation

        • Rom [he/him]
          ·
          9 months ago

          I'm all for shitting on lib media, but please verify claims before repeating them. NPR updated their article over 10 hours ago to report on his motivations.

          https://web.archive.org/web/20240226200612/https://www.npr.org/2024/02/25/1233810136/fire-man-israeli-embassy-washington

    • SummerIsTooWarm [any, undecided]
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      I'm currently sitting behind closed ports and cannot find any peers when I try to torrent it. I'll try again at home tomorrow shy

  • Sabakodgo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    censored video: https://twitter.com/taliaotg/status/1761944158636331247

    catbox archived: https://files.catbox.moe/khy3kv.mp4
    *removed externally hosted image*

    Couldn't find uncensored version. Uncensored below

  • sweetpotato@lemmy.ml
    ·
    9 months ago

    He was too innocent for this world. I don't know what to say other than I promise I will never forget him and that I'll try to spread his message and do everything I can to help free Palestine.

  • xapr@lemmy.sdf.org
    ·
    9 months ago

    The uncensored video is here as well: https://theworldwatch.com/videos/1616102/shock-us-air-force-airman-sets-himself-on-fire-to-protest-israeli-palestine-war/

    • Raebxeh
      ·
      9 months ago

      Why be like this?