USAF airman Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire protesting US backed genocide

[pooya87]

__________________

Many of us like to ask ourselves, What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.

A lot of the crimes committed by the US regime has always been against the Americans. From usage of chemicals, viral and other weapons inside American soil (ever since 40's) for "testing" these weapons on Americans before deploying them elsewhere! to sending kids to fight for terrorist organizations on the other side of the planet.

Story of the 25-year old Aaron Bushnell is the later.
A United States Airforce airman who've had enough watching his country support a terrorist organization called Israel that continues committing the longest and largest genocide in human history while international organizations such as UN impotently watch it happen.

On February 25, 2024, at approximately 12:58pm local time, Aaron approached the Washington branch of this terrorist organization in the North Cleveland Park neighborhood, at 3514 International Drive, Washington, DC and livestreamed the whole thing on Twitch.

I am an active duty member of the United States Airforce. And I will no longer be complicit to genocide. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest. But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers—it's not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.

he said as he approached the embassy, doused himself and set himself on fire.
His last words were "Free Palestine".


It's a real shame what our world has dropped down to...
It's a shame to see American taxpayers money spent supporting genocide and terrorism.
It's a shame to see kids being sent to their deaths on the other side of the planet so that this terrorist organization can live on borrowed time a little bit longer.
It's a shame to see those kids who don't die come back with severe cases of PTSD after realizing what they really fought for!
It's a real big shame...

[1714957634]

1714957634

[coolcoinz]

I don't deny that there's a genocide happening there, but what makes me wonder is how did this guy get into the military? He's a soldier of his own free will, so he had to shoot his rifle, do the drill, train hand to hand combat, throw grenades, operate vehicles. He knew that it's done to kill people. Soldiers kill, that's their job. A baker bakes, a nurse nurses, a soldier shoot people, throws bombs on their houses and shells them with artillery. 

We see a man who was trained to kill, attempt to kill himself over the fact that other soldiers in a far away country also kill people... What if they made him shoot someone? Would his kill himself right after?

I feel like this was completely unnecessary and will only hurt him because the Israelis couldn't care less about a foreigner killing himself.

[Hispo]

I don't deny that there's a genocide happening there, but what makes me wonder is how did this guy get into the military? He's a soldier of his own free will, so he had to shoot his rifle, do the drill, train hand to hand combat, throw grenades, operate vehicles. He knew that it's done to kill people. Soldiers kill, that's their job. A baker bakes, a nurse nurses, a soldier shoot people, throws bombs on their houses and shells them with artillery.  

We see a man who was trained to kill, attempt to kill himself over the fact that other soldiers in a far away country also kill people... What if they made him shoot someone? Would his kill himself right after?

I feel like this was completely unnecessary and will only hurt him because the Israelis couldn't care less about a foreigner killing himself.

He did not only attempt, he actually managed to burn himself to death, in front of the Israel establishment there in Washington DC. To me this is clearly a tragedy, how someone this young could take the choice to end his own life for the sake of a cause. Do not get me wrong, he was truly brave and daring to do this, but he did not have to do it.
There have been people on the internet already suggesting he has been suffering from mental illness and that is why he did this, I am inclined to assume it is actually a mixture of both mental problems and the internal outrage he probably felt because of the massacre of the Palestinian people in the middle east, he is being consider a hero already by those who stand for the right to live of Palestinian people.
Also, notice how no major news channel is talking about this and if they do, they carefully do not mention the reasons behind this act of protest, the news simply say he killed himself because of the war between Hamas and Israel, but do not mention he did it as a protest in favor for the innocent living in the Gaza strip.

Sadly, his sacrifice may not mean much but I cannot deny he has had more impact than what thousands of people have done from the comfort of their homes and behind their laptops... God bless him and I hope he is in a better place now.

[pinggoki]

I don't deny that there's a genocide happening there, but what makes me wonder is how did this guy get into the military? He's a soldier of his own free will, so he had to shoot his rifle, do the drill, train hand to hand combat, throw grenades, operate vehicles. He knew that it's done to kill people. Soldiers kill, that's their job. A baker bakes, a nurse nurses, a soldier shoot people, throws bombs on their houses and shells them with artillery. 

We see a man who was trained to kill, attempt to kill himself over the fact that other soldiers in a far away country also kill people... What if they made him shoot someone? Would his kill himself right after?

I feel like this was completely unnecessary and will only hurt him because the Israelis couldn't care less about a foreigner killing himself.

That's because he was brainwashed as a kid that when he gets into military that they're groomed to be called the good guys which they'll only see that they're not. As much as you've got free will as you'd like to say, training that's drilled to your bone will almost always lead you to override what makes sense to you. In regards to shooting someone and being on the battlefield, I believe that what's going through your mind there is "don't get yourself killed" so they've got no choice, either kill or be killed.

I wouldn't say it's unnecessary for the sake of the protest but in my opinion, it's the wrong timing for him to do this self-immolation protest, if he did this when the time is right, it would have had more impact. Look at Thich Quang Duc, he did it at the right moment and people listened finally.

[pooya87]

He knew that it's done to kill people. Soldiers kill, that's their job. A baker bakes, a nurse nurses, a soldier shoot people, throws bombs on their houses and shells them with artillery. 

It's the purpose that makes the difference.

A bullet coming out of a gun kills the target all the same. But for example the bullet coming out of the gun of a police officer targeting an armed assailant is not the same as the bullet coming out of the gun of the armed terrorist targeting children.
The officer is a hero and is celebrated while the terrorist is put down.

It's the same for soldiers and wars. You can't even begin to compare Nazi soldiers in WW2 (the invaders) with people of the invaded countries who defended their homes against the invaders.
This is what people like Aaron saw, men, women and children of an invaded country that are being slaughtered every day and their homes being occupied by a foreign invader who doesn't even belong to this continent.

I feel like this was completely unnecessary and will only hurt him because the Israelis couldn't care less about a foreigner killing himself.

The Zionists actually celebrated his death!
If you thought Nazis were bad and racist, you gotta check Zionist ideology. Afterward you'd realize Nazis crimes against humanity were nothing in comparison.

[coolcoinz]

It's the purpose that makes the difference.

That purpose is a matter of perspective.

We all know what the narration of Russia against Ukraine is. For instance the one that Ukraine forbid their citizens to use Russian language in the public sector in 2019. The problem was that people in the East did not know Ukrainian at all and used Russian all their lives. This was just a small example of how Ukraine wanted to remove Russian language and culture from their country. It doesn't make the attack justified, but if you asked a Russian soldier from Crimea, he'd tell you that he's protecting Russia by attacking Ukraine.
Israel is responding to an attack - that's what the soldiers are being told and why they do what they do.

A bullet coming out of a gun kills the target all the same. But for example the bullet coming out of the gun of a police officer targeting an armed assailant is not the same as the bullet coming out of the gun of the armed terrorist targeting children.
The officer is a hero and is celebrated while the terrorist is put down.

It's the same for soldiers and wars. You can't even begin to compare Nazi soldiers in WW2 (the invaders) with people of the invaded countries who defended their homes against the invaders.
This is what people like Aaron saw, men, women and children of an invaded country that are being slaughtered every day and their homes being occupied by a foreign invader who doesn't even belong to this continent.

And if the officer fires a bullet seeing what he believes is an assault and kills an unarmed man who's acting for a youtube video? You can't turn back time after taking the shot.
What I'm saying here, Aaron had many occupations to choose from, but chose the one that could lead to killing. Why did he do that if he was so weak mentally and such an act made him take his own life?

[pooya87]

That purpose is a matter of perspective.

We all know what the narration of Russia against Ukraine is. For instance the one that Ukraine forbid their citizens to use Russian language in the public sector in 2019. The problem was that people in the East did not know Ukrainian at all and used Russian all their lives. This was just a small example of how Ukraine wanted to remove Russian language and culture from their country. It doesn't make the attack justified, but if you asked a Russian soldier from Crimea, he'd tell you that he's protecting Russia by attacking Ukraine.
Israel is responding to an attack - that's what the soldiers are being told and why they do what they do.

Propaganda will always exist but it will not change facts and facts are not a matter or perspective nor narrative.

Russia is an invader, no matter how they are going to swing it, what their reasons are or even if the entire world agrees that their reasons were justified! They'll still be the invaders. And "defense" is not even defined for invaders.

It's the same situation in Palestine. The Zionists are the invaders and occupiers of foreign soil. They can swing it all they want, call themselves "country", have NATO back them, have US organizations such as UN recognize them as a "country" but at the end of the day they are the invaders and "defense" is not even defined for invaders.
Not to mention that bombing hospitals, directly targeting reporters to prevent the news from coming out of Gaza, murdering unarmed civilians including more than 10000 children, bombing refugee camps and tents, taking children hostage and torturing them for years, ... is not "defense" it is terrorism and genocide.

[Hispo]

Interestingly enough, here in my country (whose government is pretty much antagonistic against the government of the United States), is already using the unfortunate self-immolation of this young man for their own propaganda and political pursues here in Venezuela.
They are alledging the self-immolation of that man is proof of the depravation of the society and imperialism of the United States, which forced him to take such a drastic decision in the form of protest...
I personally despise the government of this country, since they have proven themselves to be quite corrupt and not caring about the future of the people, but using the self-sacrifice of this person as leverage to further push their narrative against the United States (beyond how terrible the war between Israel and Hamas).

It would not the first time they take advantage of tragedies going in the United States for them to try to push their political model and propaganda, but considering how graphic this issue was and the war context behind it, it is specially sickening what they are doing. To them, it is not about being in favor or against Israel is all cheap politics and further enhance their control over the country so they can continue to appropriate our resources.  

[DeathAngel]

I think there are better ways to protest than this. Poor guy, what the hell was he thinking. I just Googled to see if he survived this ordeal & sadly he didn’t (Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68405119.amp).
Now I feel worse for reading it, hr could have done so many other things to protest instead of this, poor guy, may he rest in peace.

[Dunamisx]

A lot of the crimes committed by the US regime has always been against the Americans. From usage of chemicals, viral and other weapons inside American soil (ever since 40's) for "testing" these weapons on Americans before deploying them elsewhere! to sending kids to fight for terrorist organizations on the other side of the planet.

There are many unethical behaviors some of us would have been having the privilege of seeing things going wrong and in most cases, we have no effort to help in the situation than watch as its goin, we also have to consider that we have different minds and how we can condole abnormalities especially when its a thing of concern to the wellbeing of the populace, some people can go to any length in fighting for the rights of other people not minding what it may cost them, because they can watch or join in the kind of menace goin on.

[bitterguy28]

if this is not enough indication of what is truly happening in israel then i do not know what else is

The world needs to wake up there is clearly a genocide happening and unbeknownst to a lot of people, their money is being used to support such a inhumane activity how can we all continue our lives as if nothing is happening?

mad respect to him although his life ended in such a tragic way, i hope his death do not go to waste may his life be enough of a message that this shall end and lives should be spared

[Hispo]

I think there are better ways to protest than this. Poor guy, what the hell was he thinking. I just Googled to see if he survived this ordeal & sadly he didn’t (Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68405119.amp).
Now I feel worse for reading it, hr could have done so many other things to protest instead of this, poor guy, may he rest in peace.

I strongly agree with you. Though, self-immolation is a from of extreme protest which have had a long registered history of taking place since the beginnings of civilisations, which leads me to believe he knew what exactly was doing and he did not simply wanted to be part of a pro-palestine march (like the many which have taken place around the world). He wanted to become viral, become an imagine of protest around the world, and he managed to accomplish his objective (at least for some time, a couple of days).
Honestly, I would have preferred he did not sacrificed himself this way and reached to get the mental help and counseling from a professional or his family. He was even trying to get out the army and learn how to become a profesional engineer... What a waste of dreams and talent.

Also, I was not expecting him to survive after I watched the first seconds of the video. Usually, the people who commit self-immolation know that surviving usually means a painful existence with their body completely covered with crippling burns, not even mention the disfiguration, so they make sure to use enough fuel for them not to be saved once they ignite the fire...