There are truly mentally ill among us, and present-day society has virtually no mechanism for dealing with them. We have the competing problems of a government that will misuse any tool it is given and the fact that there are non-compos-mentis individuals who cannot, definitionally, take responsibility for living their lives.
This makes for a difficult problem, and we all know that politicians run like rabbits from difficult problems.
It is very likely a majority, perhaps a significant majority, of the homeless in big cities like NY are mentally ill, but the difficulty of the problem, past abuses, and absolutist activists combine to ensure that nothing is done for them other than a revolving door of 911 calls and emergency services abuse.
This guy, at first glance, appears to have been mentally ill. I'd be cautious of attempting to decipher logic from his manifesto.
Well, as it turns out, this "protester", who hails from St. Augustine, Florida, was - surprise, surprise - a leftist. I certainly would expect to find no logic in his manifesto. I only wonder what people think they are accomplishing by self-immolation, other than their own painful deaths. Martyr for the cause? Doubtful. Can't imagine anyone will remember his name tomorrow. But, ashes to ashes and all that.
There are ranting loons across the entire political spectrum.
I am torn between saying "Darwin" and feeling sympathy for the immolator. I cannot imagine the burden of the sort of mental illness that this guy apparently suffered.
I agree both he was suffering, which is truly sad, and that there are lions across the spectrum. It seems, however, the loons on the left more often put themselves in full display, and their instability, despite claims by the main stream media, appears to lead to violence (whether against others or self) far more often than that of those on other parts of the political spectrum.
Better to "live another day, to protest another day". {sigh} Some people seem to struggle to find meaning in their lives and resort to such extremism. Sounds like most of what he was saying was rather routine to us, but as you said, a bridge too far with reading nefarious meaning into some things. I've studied Orwell and there are good reasons why he was concerned about totalitarianism. "1984" is not some "plot" to convince us we can do nothing about this.
It's beyond my imagination how anyone could interpret "1984" as lulling us into submission! "1984" is a clear warning against totalitarian abuse of technology to impose tyranny.
While I agree a suicide spectacle is less than appropriate I can understand how frustration can lead to such an irrational decision. While it may give you your fifteen minutes of fame, you are then out of the fight. I suggest even with the frustration, we must continue the fight and endue to the end. We must also constantly check ourselves if we are on the right side of the fight.
There is the obvious comparison to Aaron Bushnell who ended his life in front of the Israeli Embassy in protest of genocide. It seems he did get a lot more press outside of the US than within and now has a street named after him in Jericho which is in what is called the occupied West Bank. But he is out of the fight.
Consider his last social media post two hours before he died:
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.
What he wrote is clearly worded and provocative. It is something to consider. No matter the cause, staying in the fight with rational and respectful dialog can be very hard. It is better than the politely worded “self-immolation”.
Every survivor of self-immolation describes the moment when they think, "This was a bad idea."
Self-immolation serves one purpose: it removes one moron from the gene pool. DARWIN AWARD forthcoming
Play stupid games…
There are truly mentally ill among us, and present-day society has virtually no mechanism for dealing with them. We have the competing problems of a government that will misuse any tool it is given and the fact that there are non-compos-mentis individuals who cannot, definitionally, take responsibility for living their lives.
This makes for a difficult problem, and we all know that politicians run like rabbits from difficult problems.
It is very likely a majority, perhaps a significant majority, of the homeless in big cities like NY are mentally ill, but the difficulty of the problem, past abuses, and absolutist activists combine to ensure that nothing is done for them other than a revolving door of 911 calls and emergency services abuse.
This guy, at first glance, appears to have been mentally ill. I'd be cautious of attempting to decipher logic from his manifesto.
Well, as it turns out, this "protester", who hails from St. Augustine, Florida, was - surprise, surprise - a leftist. I certainly would expect to find no logic in his manifesto. I only wonder what people think they are accomplishing by self-immolation, other than their own painful deaths. Martyr for the cause? Doubtful. Can't imagine anyone will remember his name tomorrow. But, ashes to ashes and all that.
There are ranting loons across the entire political spectrum.
I am torn between saying "Darwin" and feeling sympathy for the immolator. I cannot imagine the burden of the sort of mental illness that this guy apparently suffered.
I agree both he was suffering, which is truly sad, and that there are lions across the spectrum. It seems, however, the loons on the left more often put themselves in full display, and their instability, despite claims by the main stream media, appears to lead to violence (whether against others or self) far more often than that of those on other parts of the political spectrum.
That's likely because the legacy media and the prevalent culture offer reinforcing messages.
You could say that the guy "burned up" his 15 minutes of fame today. His name, and his cause, died with him today.
Better to "live another day, to protest another day". {sigh} Some people seem to struggle to find meaning in their lives and resort to such extremism. Sounds like most of what he was saying was rather routine to us, but as you said, a bridge too far with reading nefarious meaning into some things. I've studied Orwell and there are good reasons why he was concerned about totalitarianism. "1984" is not some "plot" to convince us we can do nothing about this.
Precisely. Orwell was warning us, not lulling us into submission.
It's beyond my imagination how anyone could interpret "1984" as lulling us into submission! "1984" is a clear warning against totalitarian abuse of technology to impose tyranny.
Next time don't forget the hotdogs or marshmallows!
As the saying goes, you can't fix stupid!
While I agree a suicide spectacle is less than appropriate I can understand how frustration can lead to such an irrational decision. While it may give you your fifteen minutes of fame, you are then out of the fight. I suggest even with the frustration, we must continue the fight and endue to the end. We must also constantly check ourselves if we are on the right side of the fight.
There is the obvious comparison to Aaron Bushnell who ended his life in front of the Israeli Embassy in protest of genocide. It seems he did get a lot more press outside of the US than within and now has a street named after him in Jericho which is in what is called the occupied West Bank. But he is out of the fight.
Consider his last social media post two hours before he died:
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.
What he wrote is clearly worded and provocative. It is something to consider. No matter the cause, staying in the fight with rational and respectful dialog can be very hard. It is better than the politely worded “self-immolation”.