‘Burning Man’ Aaron Bushnell and the Culture of Death
By W James Antle III, American Conservative.
The disturbing images of the U.S. airman Aaron Bushnell lighting himself on fire Sunday outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. spread across social media in the hours after his untimely death.
So too did attempts to transform Bushnell’s tragic act into something heroic. Time magazine compared him to the early Christian martyrs persecuted by the Romans, citing the “long and controversial history of self-immolation as political protest.”
“There is no evidence Aaron Bushnell was suffering from mental illness,” tweeted Daily Beast columnist Wajahat Ali. “He was very clear about his reasoning for self immolation, the most extreme form of protest against what he believes is an ongoing genocide against Palestinians by Israel.”
When Slate senior writer Mark Joseph Stern expressed concern about valorizing suicide when committed for stated political ends, a social media user who described himself as a mental health counsellor concluded an angry response with “F— you, dude.”
I make no confident claims about Bushnell’s mental health, though I would wonder about what would drive a person in his particular set of circumstances to pick this specific form of protest. I lack the necessary expertise to diagnose him. I never met him, much less examined him. But I have no doubt that his viral demise and the subsequent celebration of his final acts will be seen and remembered by people who are mentally unwell or struggling with suicidal tendencies.
What I would say with confidence is that the discourse surrounding his death says many things about our society, none of them positive. Bushnell’s views on Israel’s war on Hamas are not my own, but I wouldn’t reach a different conclusion if he was a pro-life activist who set himself ablaze outside an abortion clinic and whose last words were “Protect the unborn.” No one is alive today because that young man is dead.
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