Palestinian town of Jericho names street after US soldier who set himself on fire ( www.theguardian.com )

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.

Linkerbaan ,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

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

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e1d05f0b-3ea9-4c73-ab19-c74a7f296502.jpeg

FiniteBanjo ,

I really don't understand, my definition of Liberal has always been "Favoring reform, open to new ideas, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; not bound by traditional thinking; broad-minded" which is something I subscribe to. Before I came to lemmy I never even heard of people refer to liberals as anything other than that.

Now if you were to say "Liberal Party of NY" or "Liberal Party of Canada" etc then I can see how more specific political beliefs across their ranks could be made points out of, but if you just say all Liberals then you sound like a frother to me.

hernanca ,

Liberals tend to say that the system just needs a few tweaks here and there while the reality is that the entire thing is rotten to the core and the stuff they enjoy now in their "developed" countries was built upon centuries of exploitation of other people, which is still ongoing stronger than ever.

When confronted with these facts, some liberals act defensively and instead of learning and growing in their understanding, they start aligning with right wing thinking. That's why the saying goes "scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds".

peopleproblems ,

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.

Binzy_Boi ,

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.

wintermute_oregon ,

Airmen. He wasn’t a soldier.

deranger ,

Airman, not plural

CptCarp ,

Airperson, not gendered.

spacesatan ,

Airman is already the gender neutral term.

SpaceNoodle ,

No, that would be airwoman.

spacesatan ,

here's an af.mil article that includes the phrase "female airmen" multiple times https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3334170/female-fitment-program-drives-positive-change-in-air-force/

Kind of like how there are just humans and not humans and huwomans.

queermunist ,
@queermunist@lemmy.ml avatar

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.

wathek ,

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.

queermunist ,
@queermunist@lemmy.ml avatar

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. 🙄

feedum_sneedson ,

She's a excellent swordsman, that kind of works though. So I get what they're saying.

queermunist ,
@queermunist@lemmy.ml avatar

She can also be an excellent sword fighter.

feedum_sneedson ,

Marksman?

queermunist ,
@queermunist@lemmy.ml avatar

Shooter, crack shot, sharpshooter, etc.

spacesatan ,

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".

I should have said "as a title used by the airforce" but I figured that was implied.

queermunist ,
@queermunist@lemmy.ml avatar

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.

spacesatan ,

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 Bushnell was a cis woman she would still be Airman Bushnell and it's not misgendering.

queermunist ,
@queermunist@lemmy.ml avatar

The US Air Force doesn't get to decide what is and isn't gendered language.

wathek ,

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.

queermunist ,
@queermunist@lemmy.ml avatar

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?

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