nkat2112

Palestinian town of Jericho names street after US soldier who set himself on fire

https://sh.itjust.works/post/16029597

Palestinian town of Jericho names street after US soldier who set himself on fire - sh.itjust.works

Aaron Bushnell, who died last month, ‘sacrificed everything’ for Palestinians, says mayor of Jericho A few of the initial paragraphs for context follow - but the article is worth reading fully: >The Palestinian town of Jericho has named a street after Aaron Bushnell, the US air force member who set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington to protest against the war in Gaza. > >The 25-year-old, who died on 25 February, “sacrificed everything” for Palestinians, said the mayor of Jericho, Abdul Karim Sidr, as the street sign was unveiled on Sunday. > >“We didn’t know him, and he didn’t know us. There were no social, economic or political ties between us. What we share is a love for freedom and a desire to stand against these attacks [on Gaza],” the mayor told a small crowd gathered on the new Aaron Bushnell Road. > >Bushnell livestreamed his self-immolation on the social media platform Twitch, declaring he would “no longer be complicit in genocide” and shouting “free Palestine” as he started the fire. Law enforcement officials put out the flames, but he died in hospital several hours later. > >Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 31,000 people, the majority of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The war was triggered by the cross border attack on 7 October when Hamas killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 250 people. > >Even as governments in Europe and the US have largely continued to back Israel’s campaign in Gaza as part of the country’s right to self-defence, Palestinians have taken heart from popular protests held from Michigan to Madrid.

Mar 10, 2024 at 11:51pmWeb
Show threadNeuromancerMar 11, 2024
Airmen. He wasn’t a soldier.
Show threadderangerMar 11, 2024
Airman, not plural
Show threadCptCarpMar 11, 2024
Airperson, not gendered.
Show threadNougatMar 11, 2024
Airbeing, not specied.
Show threadDeceptichumMar 11, 2024
Airbender, not avatar.
Show threadEdibleFriendMar 11, 2024
Air, not solid.
Show threadDarkMessiahMar 11, 2024

Nair, not hair.

Also, this is the most Reddit I have seen come from Lemmy, which simultaneously entertains and worries me.

Show threadULSMar 11, 2024
Air.
Show thread21CabbageMar 11, 2024
AIR
Show threadSpaceNoodleMar 11, 2024
Zero 7
Show threadspacesatanMar 11, 2024
Airman is already the gender neutral term.
Show threadSpaceNoodleMar 11, 2024
No, that would be airwoman.
Show threadspacesatanMar 11, 2024
here’s an af.mil article that includes the phrase “female airmen” af.mil/…/female-fitment-program-drives-positive-c…
Female Fitment Program drives positive change in Air Force

The Female Fitment Program continues to influence daily life and duty for female Airmen, moving history forward for generations of women.

Air Force
Show threadqueermunist she/herMar 11, 2024
No, it’s more like how we used to refer to all professions as being different kinds of men. Mailmen, firemen, policemen, etc. because men were the only ones with those jobs. I’m sure it’s not intentionally gendered language, but it definitely is and we can change it if we want.
Show threadwathekMar 11, 2024
People dying because of border fuckery again, dude set himself on fire and we here unironically talking about the correct way to name a profession. Time and a place, person. this aint it.
Show threadqueermunist she/herMar 11, 2024

I’m not the one that started this cringe reddit-style correction thread, as far as I’m concerned all soldiers are the same, but I’m sure as fuck not going to let shit like “airman is already the gender neutral term” go unchallenged because it very obviously isn’t.

This is a comments section. None of this matters. This is exactly the time and place to talk about this. 🙄

Show threadfeedum_sneedsonMar 11, 2024
She’s a excellent swordsman, that kind of works though. So I get what they’re saying.
Show threadqueermunist she/herMar 11, 2024
She can also be an excellent sword fighter.
Show threadfeedum_sneedsonMar 11, 2024
Marksman?
Show threadSpaceNoodleMar 11, 2024
gun fighter
Show threadqueermunist she/herMar 11, 2024
Shooter, crack shot, sharpshooter, etc.
Show threadspacesatanMar 11, 2024
Except the US Airforce uses it as a gender neutral title, which is extremely relevant when the subtext is you’re talking about whether you’re misgendering an almost certainly closeted trans person by calling them “airman”.
Show threadqueermunist she/herMar 11, 2024

I don’t think I care what the US Air Force calls people. The meaning of words is socially constructed, just like gender, and our society constructs “-man” as a gendered suffix. Male-as-default should be fought wherever it arises, even when the official government policy says otherwise.

Maybe especially when the government says otherwise, and Bushnell being trans (the evidence is certainly compelling) just makes this more important.

Show threadspacesatanMar 11, 2024

I don’t think I care what the US Air Force calls people.

Then you don’t care about what’s being talked about. If she was a cis woman she would still be Airman Bushnell and it’s not misgendering.

Show threadqueermunist she/herMar 11, 2024
The US Air Force doesn’t get to decide what is and isn’t gendered language.
Show threadwathekMar 13, 2024

Nobody denies that women can do professions, short of the furthest right extremists, nobody disagrees with that. And nobody takes those guys seriously.

You know what the moderate right does take seriously? The idea that the left wants to make everything “woke” with things that negatively affect them and forces them to use “political speak”, which is precisely what pushes people into the right wing dumpsterfire.

Like it was a cute idea 10 years ago, it backfired, please stop.

Show threadqueermunist she/herMar 13, 2024

lol no one is becoming a fascist because we ask them to say mail carrier instead of mailman 🙄

And you know what makes women feel alienated? Being called men. Do we matter?

Show threadSpaceNoodleMar 11, 2024
The minimum viable sex chromosome combination is a single X, which appears female, therefore female is the proper default. Deal with it.
Show threadBinzy_BoiMar 11, 2024

I still question the intentions of the media and how a lot of outlets immediate ran to claim his actions as mental health related.

Like sure, I can see where that's coming from in a sense since self-immolation is inherently self-harm and you have to question a person's mental health for doing so, but at the same time, I don't know of anybody off-hand who says the same about the Buddhist monks who did the same in Vietnam.

Maybe times have changed and people don't see that action the same way as they used to back then, but if they are going to call this a result of mental health, I really hope they keep consistency with that from here on forward.

Show threadchemical_cutthroatMar 11, 2024
The only mental health issues I see are from the people in power that stand by and let these atrocities go unchecked.
Show threadRooskie91Mar 11, 2024
Mental health is a scapegoat for reasonable reactions to the absolutely horrible times we are living through.
Show threadharderian729Mar 11, 2024
I agree. Recognizing that “greedy scumbag” is the default for humanity has really put things into perspective for me.
Show threadPipsMar 11, 2024
Just to explain why, not to take from your broader point, it’s because he’s not of the people being harmed. Typically this form of protest is done by those being harmed.
Show threadLand_StriderMar 11, 2024

The thing is, and I’m not bringing it to say it is anyone’s obligation no matter what they do or who they are, but Bushnell was a soldier. A soldier is usually already not as removed from the idea of death or harm coming their way, unlike most other people. Ideally, they are not readily available to put their own lives in the line, but they are aware the job entails duty and that duty may require more than common resources, hence putting the body at risk.

When you simply shift this duty to uphold justice for oppressed people on the other side of the planet rather than to sit with thumbs twiddling for your own country’s military orders, it is easily justifiable to use this resource in line to protect others.

A journalist, a psychiatrist, or many of the other life occupancies have different resources they use and can also utilize as a last resort.

Show threadSkyezOpenMar 11, 2024
Airman. He also had some pretty extreme claims about who exactly was doing what in Gaza.
Show threadCethinMar 12, 2024
An airman is a specific subset of soldier. I know you’re just trying to be dismissive, but stop being a pedantic asshole, and wrong at that.
Show threadSkyezOpenMar 12, 2024
Soldiers serve in an army. The USAF hasn’t been a part of the army since 1947. Pedantic, sure. Wrong? No.
Show threadCethinMar 12, 2024

A definition for soldier is one who serve in an army and an army is “a large organized body of armed personnel trained for war especially on land” (emphasis mine, note not explicitly on land) or “a unit capable of independent action and consisting usually of a headquarters, two or more corps, and auxiliary troops”

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/army

The Air Force absolutely fits the latter definition, and it fits the former as well if you don’t consider the land part exclusive, which it isn’t.

Other definitions of soldier also exist, which do not require it be a member of an army, but a military in general. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soldier

If you’re going to be pedantic, at least be pedantic and accurate. There’s no sense in being pedantic and wrong.

Definition of ARMY

Definition of 'army' by Merriam-Webster

Show threadJWBananasMar 11, 2024

Vietnam

Not the best example.

There were soldiers dishonorably discharged from Vietnam for shell shock because PTSD was not yet officially recognized at the time. And because of that discharge, they were then not able to get VA benefits for the mental healthcare that they needed.

Source: vva.org/…/vva-on-dod-announcement-of-guidance-for…

Upgrading Discharge Requests | Vietnam Veterans of America

Show threadFUBARMar 11, 2024

What is the connection between a monk immolating himself and American soldiers having ptsd?

The OP has a valid point in that both cases were instances of self immolation.

Show threadJWBananasMar 11, 2024
OP made the connection to the monks and said that what they did was not questioned as a mental health issue. I only meant to point out that there was not a great track record of mental health issues being identified/treated during that time.
Show threadSuddenDownpourMar 11, 2024

Someone does something crazy for a cause I agree with -> Heroic, valiant, inspiring

Someone does something crazy for a cause I disagree with -> Mentally ill, traumatised, brainwashed

Lest I’d have to begin to consider I might have been supporting monsters all along.

Show threadharderian729Mar 11, 2024

I still question the intentions of the media and how a lot of outlets immediate ran to claim his actions as mental health related.

They’re beholden to Zionists.

They don’t report in good faith.

Ex: Israeli prisoners are “hostages” while Palestinian prisoners are “detainees.”

This whole shitshow is a case study in propaganda and indoctrination.

Show threadlaverabeMar 11, 2024

along with the war in Ukraine

What exactly do you mean?

Show threadharderian729Mar 11, 2024

Nothing! There is no propaganda supporting Ukraine.

Just look away…

Show threadBernie_SandalsMar 11, 2024
There’s lots of propaganda around the war in Ukraine, seems you’ve fallen for it in fact.
Show threadharderian729Mar 11, 2024

Yeah, I thought they were gonna take back Crimea too :(

At least I can learn from my mistakes. That’s more than most of you can say.

Show threadBernie_SandalsMar 11, 2024

It’s still in the cards but would take some major major negative developments for the Russians, like major mutinies or supply issues or economic collapse.

The War could still very much go either way, hence the US and Europe caring about it so much.

Also I apologize if my original comment sounded hostile, your comment came off tankieish and I always get feisty with those.

Show threadpeopleproblemsMar 11, 2024

You know this article pissed me off with the self-immolation bit.

Self Immolation in protest couldn’t be from preexisting mental illness. He clearly was emotionally impacted by his experience in the environment enough that his rational brain thought that by assuming such agonizing pain and stating the protest, the message would get heard a squeak louder.

Suicidal people don’t think rationally. They want the pain to end. Or they become wildly careless. They don’t sit there and go "how do I accomplish some good and end my suffering " while selecting the second worst way to die.

Show threadfishosMar 11, 2024

While I 100% agree with your interpretation in this case, I’m sure we can agree that “mentally deranged person setting themselves on fire because the voices in their head told them too” is a plausible scenario. Self-immolation(setting oneself on fire with no regard for the motive), *can absolutely be mental illness.

This was not mental illness.

Show threadMaalusMar 11, 2024

You won’t ever know if it was or wasn’t a mental illness and stating it as fact that it wasn’t is about as misguided as the press calling it 100% a mental illness.

The thing about a mental illness is it’s not always visible, not always curable. There is a tiny red line that stands between a person killing themselves in protest, and because of a mental illness.

Show threadRandom_German_NameMar 11, 2024
I agree with most of your comment, but when I was suicidal I absolutely was looking for ways to achieve something good through my death.
Show threadHonoraryMancunianMar 11, 2024
What’s the first worst?
Show threadAceticonMar 11, 2024

Probably Starvation, because of the whole “body slowly eating iitself up” thing.

You know, the way Israel (with, lets never forget, the unwavering support of the US and Germany) is killing children in Gaza.

Show threadpeopleproblemsMar 11, 2024

Drowning by far.

I only took a small amount of marsh water in, but Jesus Christ, the panick is unbelievable. You can’t get rid of what’s in there and you use up whatever is in your blood so quickly. Also the water fucking hurts like a mother fucker. And if you survive. Like I did, I got pretty bad pneumonia from it.

Show threadHonoraryMancunianMar 11, 2024
Horrible.
Show threadNoraMar 11, 2024
Loop of
Show threadLinkerbaanMar 11, 2024

Where were all these internet psychologists calling self immolation mentally deranged and suicidal when it was in the Vietnam war history books?

Show threadwhoelectroplateuntilMar 11, 2024

There was that Islamophobic Buddhist monk who self-immolated in Sri Lanka in 2013 to protest Muslim butchers. People across the spectrum weighed in on the idea of burning yourself alive to protect cattle. I don’t recall anyone calling it crazy then. At most, reprehensible, misguided, etc. But the idea you’d kill yourself to protest the treatment of cattle wasn’t considered “crazy” at the time.

The line seems to be when you’d do it not just for cattle, but also for Palestinians? Is that the conclusion I’m supposed to draw? That’s when self-immolation starts becoming “crazy?”

Show threadaidanMar 11, 2024
No, the difference is the person who did it. You’re probably reading western news and opinions. Those people feel like they have a similar perspective to Bushnell, which they probably don’t feel they share with a Sri Lankan monk, so they don’t judge- but they do judge the person they relate to. To make it related to just US politics for example, if someone self-immolated in either support or opposition of Trump then most Americans would consider them crazy.