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Mods wont let me make a new post, so here it is: Trigger warning: Suicide, depression, self-harmw [I am in no way encouraging anyone to do what Aaron has done, there are many forms of protest/support which can have great effect, that do not involve self-harm. If any of you suffer from depression (like me), please reach out for support. It helps.] On today's After Dark, Ethan wanted to know exactly what he said about Aaron Bushnell's self-immolation was wrong/problematic. So I am transcribing/paraphrasing his words from the member's live and discussing why they're problematic. Disclaimer: I do not think Ethan is a Zionist. But I do think Ethan has bias since Israel is a big part of his life. I come from a place of criticism, not hate. TLDR: While trying to be a mental health advocate, without doing any research on the incident, Ethan paints a picture of Aaron Bushnell as a troubled man who self-immolated mainly due to his mental illness. One of Aaron's friend told Al-Jazzera that she did not think he was mentally ill. Ethan barely mentions Palestine or Aaron's reasons for self-immolation. When he did mention Palestine, he says 'it would have hit him harder if a Palestinian self-immolated'. Which is extremely disgusting and insensitive to both Aaron and Palestinians who are dying from burns everyday. Believes Aaron should not be held in high regard as it may lead to more suicides. Aaron's actions can be both, protest in the form of self-immolation and suicide. Ethan believes and talks more about the latter. When confronted by chat, Ethan is generally dismissive. He says people are romanticizing Aaron's self-immolation but provides no evidence of it. Before we get into Ethan's words, I think it is important to read Aaron's last words: "I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force. 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. Free Palestine! " - Aaron Bushnell Full Transcription (from timestamps 10:00 - 27:15 on member's live #61) with my comments: 10:00 - 12:00: Ethan is thinking about the Panera 'death' lemonade. His dark humour leads him to combine this with Aaron Bushnell's self-immolation - resulting in a joke about protesting, by drinking the lemonade. [Distasteful joke, as said by Ethan himself] 12:20: Says - 'Don't say rest in power, that's not for him' [I don't think Ethan is in a position to make that claim] 12:30: His first reaction - 'He (Aaron) is a champ at lighting himself on fire' [Another distasteful joke] 13:15: Gets mad at chat for being angry about his words so far - 'wtf are you angry about you weirdos, what did I do?' [not the best way to try to reflect and understand why people are angry] 13:50: Clarifies his points: *amazed at Aaron's resolve at how he stood for so long while he was on fire *he does not believe people should romanticize self-immolation [provides no evidence of people romanticizing] * we should not talk about this issue with any reverence, because more people will kill themselves, its always bad. [I understand where he is coming from, but Aaron's action has significance] * appreciates his dedication and conviction [to what? doesn't mention Aaron's intent] 16:00: *Self-immolation is suicide - ' leftists may think, suicide is bad, unless you're doing it for a good cause' [Suicide is bad in any case. What drove Aaron to self-immolate/commit suicide is a larger societal issue. No one is saying suicide is good, but it has happened, why? Go read Aaron's last words] *chatter asks Ethan to do more research on self-immolation. He replies with: people self-immolate only under tyrannical rule, as they have no other way for their voice to be heard [How much has changed since people have raised their voice against Israel's genocide against Palestinians and the US aiding it?] *chatter mentions they haven't seen anyone romanticizing, he replies with 'have you been online? everyone is glamorizing it' [no evidence, just, I saw it on the internet argument] *understands why people call him a hero, cause he made the ultimate sacrifice possible [sacrifice for what Ethan?? mention his last words] 17:20- *chatter mentions monks do self-immolation, replies with same - only in Tyrannical rule stuff. *But Palestinian stuff is plenty talked about [??? US is still aiding Israel in genocide of Palestinians, clearly voices are not being heard??] 18:00 *Olivia chimes in about self-immolation, doesn't understand the logistics of how its not suicide. *Ethan [done no research on this]: they're carving out a moral barrier to say killing yourself is great. [who is doing this? cant say stuff like that without evidence] *Talks about the personal consequences of Aaron self-immolating [disrespectful to Aaron and his decision to protest by self-immolating] * Says again clearly that it is suicide. [I think he has a hard time realising that it is both, suicide and protest] 19:00- *chatter mentions he's a servicemen. Ethan: was he deluded to join the army? hasnt US killed million Iraqis. I think he was mentally ill. [I'm sorry but this is so fucking gross. You have no idea of the circumstances he joined the military in. A basic Wikipedia read could have saved you from being an ignorant ass: Aaron joined the military in 2020 when he was 20. He became more conscious about the military and had more objections since the murder of George Floyd] 19:25 - Says Aaron might have thought his cause was of paramount importance. [what cause Ethan??????????] *People need to be careful putting Aaron on a pedestal coz more people will kill themselves. [I agree but its not that clear cut. His protest has significance] 20:00- chatter says it isn't a mental health, Ethan: then why are there not more people self-immolating [dumb argument, kind of a self-own. There are lots of mentally ill people who care about the genocide and are NOT self-immolating] 20:15 - *chatter says he is a martyr, Ethan thinks the chatter is lost. [Aaron's action and principle he's sacrificing himself for can make him a martyr, but I think its upto the Palestinians to decide not Ethan] *Agrees with someone saying that chat is fucking weird [Dismissive attitude. Ethan has this issue of giving more importance to the worst comments and ignoring ones that give valid criticism] 20:45 - *says Aaron isn't Palestinian. [finally mentions Palestine!] * says no one in Palestine is self-immolating. If someone in Palestine did that, it would hit him harder. [Oh wait. How fucking insensitive. Children and adults in Palestine are literally burning to death everyday] 21:30 -* 'I take mental health seriously, its one of my things' [How much research have you done on Aaron's mental illness? You do not even know for sure that he has a mental illness. Self-immolation doesn't imply mental illness, ex: monks in Vietnam] *Doesn't like that people are romanticizing suicide [no evidence again] 21:50 - * talks about a hypothetical situation where the guard saves him and in 10 years he would have been thankful to be alive. [I think this is extremely insensitive to Aaron. More deflection from Aaron's intent of self-immolation] *calls it a moment of crisis in Aaron's life and that he would have been happier in 10 years to be alive [You cannot seriously be talking about what Aaron would prefer, you clearly have no idea about his mental state] 22:50 - *talks about cop pulling a gun on Aaron instead of actually helping him 23:50 - *I have a issue someone kills their whole family, pleads insanity, no shit you're mentally ill to kill your whole family. some rant about 16 yr old being charged as an adult for an horrific crime. [idk how this is relevant] 26:05- *chatter begs Ethan to think about it more. Ethan mocks them, calls them a patronizing dummy loser. [Here lies his issue. Ethan is so unwillingly to look at this incident in another light. His opinion on this sensitive issue, from someone who cares deeply about mental health, comes from very little effort to actually understand the entire incident] 27:15 - *this is my opinion on it - topic has changed. Please be civil in the comments. I believe Ethan is emotionally charged around these topics and can lead to him making bad statements but I have hope that he listens, reflects and does better. Saying you care about Gaza and then talking like you've done above is clearly not congruent. Please let me know if I've missed anything or made any mistakes. FREE PALESTINE