#self immolation cw

[pearwaldorf]

These tweets say what I wanted to about Aaron Bushnell.

[notaplaceofhonour]

An American man self-immolated in the name of Gaza, and I’m seeing two different responses:

from American leftists, acting like it’s a brave/commendable thing while do

from Palestinians, begging people not to do this

This is a man who was incredibly mentally unwell and committed suicide, initially planning to livestream his suicide, and people are applauding it—which inevitably encourages more people to follow suit, throwing their lives away too. And for what? How has this helped Palestinians in any way?

Suicide is not the answer—not to your personal struggles and not to global conflict and geopolitical struggles. If you find yourself around people who are encouraging you to see suicide as a beautiful or commendable political act, get out.

Think of all the good things you can keep doing for Gaza if you keep living. Think of your loved ones. Think of your own life. Your life has value, and you deserve to keep living.

I think Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, someone from Gaza, put it way better than I can in this tweet:

[dimitrippy]

i don't know who the fuck needs to hear it but as someone who has wanted to die since they were 5 fucking years old -

self-immolation is not suicide.

suicide is a way out - a way to get rid of all the pain you've ever felt. many people who have made a plan to kill themselves feel calm, and even may seem to be doing better mentally! They may be peppy and have more energy - because they know it'll all be over soon.

Pills, poison, self-inflicted gunshots, and jumping. These are popular because they are quick and, if done right, usually don't hurt.

That's the whole point of suicide. Leaving the hurt behind.

People who want to die just want the pain to end. Burning to death is the most painful way to go and if you arent successful, you will be in pain and disabled and disfigured for the rest of your life.

Self immolation is not suicide any more than a hungry strike is an eating disorder

[itsbansheebitch]

Active Duty Air Force Member sets Themselves on Fire. "I will no longer be complicit in genocide" "Free Palestine"

An active duty US Air Force member set themselves on fire outside the embassy. He introduced himself as an active duty member of the US Air Force, and said that he would, "no longer be complicit in genocide" and then set himself on fire. He said "Free Palestine" while he was ON FIRE.

I'm not going to share the pictures because it's quite graphic, but they are out there if you seek them out.

I saw this & the picture from a post that turned reblogs off. It had a lot of notes, but still, EVERYONE needs to know!

[alihartwrites]

Sacrifice or Suicide?

I don’t see Lilly’s self-immolation as an act of suicide but moreso as sacrificial and symbolic.

Bushnell didn’t show any signs of suicidality - if so she would’ve been discharged out of the military held in a VA psych ward. Especially with a security clearance as high as hers.

Lilly was incredibly methodical about her self-immolation it was to symbolize and force the globe to see what’s happening in Palestine.

Bushnell wouldn’t have wanted copycats and I do not condone anyone to self-immolate whatsoever.

Yet, I still think it is important to understand and remember these people for who they were based on their own accounts rather than mainstream media accounts which already hate anarchists like us.

PSA: If you or anyone you know are feeling suicidal, please reach out for help!

Call 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline

Text HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line

Call, text, or chat with The Trevor Project https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help/

Link to full list of posts about Lilly (Aaron) Bushnell > https://www.tumblr.com/alihartwrites/745361994322984960/list-of-posts-about-aaronlilly-bushnell

[vizthedatum]

CW: self-immolation is a sacred testament that cannot be silenced (Free Palestine)

During my current spiritual awakening as a scientist, healthcare data scientist, writer, and varied-trauma survivor, not only am I growing into myself, I am growing into what it means to truly be a citizen of the world.

I grew up Hindu, and I only really connected with it spiritually to my core after a series of traumatic events I faced in this lifetime, including events I brought on myself.

Being spiritual has brought me so much peace. However, I am still living in a world, where there is so much turbulence, where there is so much suffering.

In so many religions and spiritual practices, the concept of worldly suffering is heavily discussed. Everyone has their own justifications and their own way of mitigating (or propagating) suffering.

In this post, I will be addressing the genocide of human life in the Gaza Strip, along with the various other genocides that have plagued my lifetime, including the Rohingya genocide. The following topics will be mentioned as well: the constructs of hierarchy that somehow lesson some people's lives and elevate others, self-immolation as a spiritually grounded form of protest when your soul cannot find another way, suicide and attempted suicide, complicit-ness, and generational and worldly abuse/trauma.

--

When Aaron Bushnell self-immolated on February 25, 2024, I avoided the news even more than before.

I fully understood why he did it, but it also brought back memories of the time when my brother, in his teenage years, went behind his high school to self-immolate. He failed and went to the hospital with burns. This suicide attempt was one of several that he would face for most of his life.

Aaron did it out of protest to Free Palestine. My brother did it out of an intention to commit suicide because not only did he not want to live, he did not feel wanted in this world.

What makes a person not wanted? What compels whole swaths of people to either protest or support mass murder?

These are some of life's big questions, huh?

Spiritually, I consider self-immolation an act from the soul. My belief stems from my worship of the matriarchal depiction of godly being from Hinduism. She is known by so many names: Mahadevi, Devi, Shakti, Ma, Mahamaya, etc.

One of her forms is Sati. Later, "sati" became the name of the self-immolation practice that widows perform on the pyre of their husband's body, during his funeral.

The term, "sati," stands for nobility and truth in Sanskrit. It's not literally about self-immolation - it's about standing up for what you think is right and being very clear about what is suffocating you to the point of your soul being burned alive.

In short, Sati's story is about her protest of her husband, Shiva, not being respected by her family. She marries Shiva - her godly companion through every reincarnation of the Mahadevi - and her father doesn't like it.

Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu are the male counterparts of the "holy trinity of Hinduism" - they're considered *the supreme Gods.*

Her father prepared a ritual sacrifice event (a yajna) and did not invite his son-in-law. There are so many details to this - including that her father was human (well this is contested since he was a part of Brahma) and had devoted himself to Brahma, that all these figures were among the early humans (and gods) in Hindu mythological lore, and that despite factuality the stories are metaphors and descriptions of the layered nature of humanity.

Sati wanted Shiva to come, but he refused since he wasn't invited. Sati instead went to the yajna and she was humiliated by her entire family. Her husband's name was also tarnished.

She couldn't take it - not only was Shiva in the same class of deitic prolificness as Brahma, Shiva was her husband.

She threw herself in the fire of the yajna and self-immolated. She sacrificed her life's energy to go back into the universe or higher power, because she could not stand for this injustice.

Shiva became so stricken with grief and anger, he destroyed the yajna (later the yajna was restored) and threatened his father-in-law's life.

He took his wife's body and wandered around. 51 pieces of Sati's body fell to the earth and became what is known as the Shakti Pithas.

These 51 sites are in South Asia, and people still pay pilgrimage and worship at these sites.

I've personally only been to one - the one in Kalighat where my maternal family line lives. I'm a strong worshipper of Kali Ma, and I believe she spoke to me there, amongst the crowds, when I was 25.

The number, 51, is contested of course - but that's not the point.

The reason why Hindus make pilgrimage to these sites is because of her great sacrifice. It was a test of divinity.

She recognized what was important to her and that Shiva was indeed a supreme deity - and then she sacrificed her own supremeness to both defend him and herself.

--

In South Asia, self-immolation is spiritually considered a noble act of protest due to this story (and so many other stories).

Unfortunately, it becomes a problem when people are FORCED to self-immolate (as in the case of the sati practice where it's rooted in misogyny and patriarchy) or when people are COMPELLED to self-immolate due to lack of community and mental health resources (such as in the case of my brother).

I don't think it becomes noble or truthful in those instances, even if there are hints of the truth underlying these issues.

I think back to Sylvia Plath in these cases sometimes - she committed suicide by suffocating herself in her oven. Her poetry and words will probably inspire generations upon generations. But I understand why she did it - I am of the opinion that she was surely abused by her husband and traumatized by the lack of support from her community. In short, I believe her husband (whose second wife died from the same method of suicide) was abusing her in the form of narcissistic, sociopathic, or psychopathic abuse to the point where she felt suffocated. Since she could not bring herself to break free, she suffocated herself.

And in the case of mass genocide where a person who has dedicated his life for the protection of humanity (Aaron was a serviceman of the United States Air Force) - I can see why he had to stand up for what he believed to be noble and true.

--

It's hard to look away when someone so young gives up his life for a cause. I think that was precisely the point. He knew he had power as a young, white man serving a militaristic force in America.

There are so many people who are doing nothing in the face of all of these mass genocides in the world. I don't think it is fair to leave the concept of human suffering up to the higher power.

It is not the higher power's job to fix this for us. I believe that to my core.

Being silent about human suffering is being complicit in it.

I know that many people are not able - or they don't even know - to have an impact on the lessening of suffering. But we must do what we can. A quote I often quote on many, many occasions is by Angela Davis: she says: “Sometimes we have to do the work even though we don't yet see a glimmer on the horizon that it's actually going to be possible.” Do something, take inspired action - don't be silent. You don't have to self-immolate, but please consider the sacrifice and the severity of the situation.

[reachartwork]

What is a Cybersaint?

A cybersaint (pictured above 30 of the 40 days into their ascension pyre) is a form of physicalized egregore created via a critical mass of belief in a cause, concept, or individual. Upon the breaching of a particular threshold of belief, an individual bursts into flames, consumed by their "ascension pyre", which lasts for 40 days and 40 nights. During this process, their mortality is burnt away, and, through an unknown process, the burgeoning cybersaint takes their "Ascension Vows", the strictness of which determine the strength of their resulting powers.

The resulting cybersaint, should they survive the ascension pyre, is a being of immense, physics-defying power even at their weakest. The process inevitably radically alters the individual's mental state to the point where the vast majority of cybersaints willingly discard their old identities, despite possessing continuity of consciousness.

The first Cybersaint ascended during the period of extreme political and military turmoil shortly before the first Geneknight Conflicts in order to defend a heavily at-risk group of humans. Afterwards, the floodgates opened, allowing anyone to ascend with sufficient belief. Every side of the conflicts rushed to puzzle out the ascension process, leaving many dead in their wake - this was the first and only Cybersaint War, before the timely development of World Government to bring everything in line and standardize the process.

Find out more about the Cybersaints here

[kaiasky]

lots of people in my local sphere are praising bushwell's self immolation as a brave thing to do and it does kinda fuck me up. In my worst moments there is no greater comfort than the fact that if I killed myself in a specific way at a specific time then I could turn all my suffering and pain into something commendable and people would love me for my death in a way they never could in life. I think that's a little incoherent but you get what I'm saying right? I don't want to live in a world where that is an "necessary" or "beautiful" or "brave" sacrifice to make but when people refer to it as that- I'm forced to confront the fact that I do live in a world that thinks like that. That I live in a world where I really would be of more use dead. Again I'm being a bit incoherent but I felt the need to say something and get it off my chest I understand it's a complicated and touchy topic for everyone.

(re this) yeah.

idk, it's... i think we valorize lots of people for dying as a part of broader culture. war heroes, people who were assassinated, every martyred christian saint. including Jesus Fucking Christ. And so in that sense i think it's hard to blame someone for seeing somebody who killed themself and go, this is martyrdom, this is heroic, reblog reblog reblog. it hits you on a gut level.

But then like you said, you think about it and you go, oh yeah, valorizing killing yourself is a terrible thing (both morally, in that it encourages other people to consider killing themself, and politically, in that if all the most devoted fucking adherents to your movement kill themselves who will be around to fucking fight for change??)

I hope and suspect that the people who reblog this kind of stuff are simply unaware of this logic and that through having it gently pointed out to them they'll also come to see what's wrong with valorizing suicides.

Ultimately like, I think the choice to continue existing or stop existing is a decision everybody (gets/has) to make for themself, but we should do as much as possible to tip the calculus in favor of "keep existing" as possible.

It goes without saying and sounds sappy, but to all of you, you wouldn't be of use dead. if you were gone, regardless of how or why, it would be nothing other than a tragedy and a huge, irreplaceable loss.

(Tangentially related, but the only advice I've ever found that like, worked for me (ymmv) for dealing with suicidal thoughts is a post like, "alright, if you're seriously contemplating suicide, then you can do that whenever, there's no rush, it's be a waste to not fuck around before ending it, so you should 1. quit your job and become one of those cool ski bum guys who couch-surfs in the summer and works as a ski instructor in the winter, and try a year or two of that out first." And so whenever I'm doing bad, I think alright, is today the day I pull the trigger on the ski bum lifestyle? And for whatever reason that feels more extreme than suicide and so it snaps me back to "hm, maybe there are less-extreme solutions than those two")

[dingusdemeanour]

Day 31: Fire

There's always that one guy at the party that has to ruin it for everyone else... 🙄

And it's done! My first fully completed inktober! Yay!

[apricior]

hey! just in re: the post you reblogged about suicide not being activism, i would really recommend looking into the history of self-immolation as protest because i think that watering it down to romanticisation of suicide is a bit oversimplified given the history and to say that nothing has been accomplished by this act of protest is definitely also not accurate + still kind of too soon to say. obviously people shouldn't kill themselves en masse but no one is advocating that. aaron shouldn't have died. it's fucked up and tragic and unfair-- and that's the point.

hey! thanks for sending this message! sorry it took me a bit to answer, i wanted to make sure my reply was appropriate and that i also managed to explain my thoughts correctly (something i often struggle with kjshfskjd)

i agree with you when you say that we don't know the impact that it will have, and i am not trying to diminish the impact of self-immolation or its history (and i definitely need to keep learning more about this subject; slowly, because it is understandably very upsetting), so i've decided to delete that post cause i don't want anyone to think that was my intention

however, what worries me about this situation (and also what i interpreted that post was saying) is that i have seen people talking about it as if self-immolating was the true definite way of showing dedication to a cause or the purest form of protest, which i feel... is dangerous. for one, because it is a very tragic and unfair thing, as you said, and also because i feel like acting like it should be more common erases its power and sacrifice and it also diminishes other kinds of activism. i'm also concerned because i see a lot of young people advocating for palestine (which is a good thing! i'm not against that) and i'm worried about them internalizing the idea that the best and most useful thing you can do for a cause is die for it

especially on twitter (which i'm taking a break from because holy shit people just say anything) i have seen some awful takes that are not advocating for people killing themselves en masse, but are getting dangerously close to it. they're definitely not the majority, i am aware that most people have more common sense (and that twitter thrives on showing you the most extreme opinions), but in general, i think that some people are not being thoughtful enough about this situation and that wanting to fight for palestinian rights and freedom (which is a just cause i obviously support) is clouding their judgment a bit, because a lot of those extreme tweets have thousands of retweets and people agreeing

i hope i managed to make myself clear! i'm not the most knowledgable about politics (which is why i avoid writing posts of my own even though i have been educating myself as much as possible), so anyone who reads this can feel free to send me resources!

[pearwaldorf]

I have been trying to figure out how to speak about what happened. I do not believe self-immolation is contagious like other forms of suicide. It takes a lot of strength and fortitude to set yourself on fire, to jump off a boat in chains, or go on a medicine strike.

I do not believe people in their right minds (however you choose to define that) take harming themselves lightly. And it's shitty to take away somebody's agency and bodily autonomy, even if it's a thing we find uncomfortable, by ascribing mental illness to them.

Since 10/7 there's been this undercurrent. People asking each other "This is crazy and fucked-up, right? That people are going about their lives like nothing's wrong?" On top of the general malaise of life in late capitalism. It's a fucking lot!

And people are going to say setting yourself on fire to protest it/Palestine is a messed up thing to do. It's certainly an extreme act. But it's also, in some ways, validating. An affirmation of sanity when the establishment seems absolutely cuckoo. That things are fucked.

As a weirdo and then as a neurodivergent person who is also a weirdo I think a lot about normalcy. What is considered normal in the circles I hang out in (body positivity, fat liberation) and in the circles I'm not (diet culture. fucking diet culture). Then broaden that sort of dissonance to pretty much everything else.

It's not healthy or good or right to gloss over things like, oh, genocide, wealth disparity, or climate change in the ways that we do. So all that stuff about being well-adjusted to a sick society, a terrible act of reason. I think it is a perfectly understandable thing to look at this world and go "It is fucked enough that I am going to draw attention to this in the most dramatic way possible." (It does not escape me that the last widely reported deaths by self-immolation were by people trying to draw attention to climate change.)

I genuinely do not know how much impact Bushnell's death will have at this point. This is not a question of being informed or not having enough information to decide. You are either standing aside and letting a genocide* happen or you're fighting against it.

--

* The Holodomor was a genocide by starvation. So was the Great Famine in Ireland**. And so is what's happening in Gaza.

** I think about something Hozier said once. It takes a long time for a person to die from starvation. Something like 90 days. We have definitely passed that in Gaza.

[notaplaceofhonour]

DEATH CULT SHIT

[profound-thots]

a link to an article with more info 🍉🇵🇸🐄

[alihartwrites]

List of Posts About Lilly (Aaron) Bushnell

Last Updated: 3/25/2024

This list will be updated regularly with links from new posts. If there’s something you’d like me to cover please send me an ask.

These posts are from my main @alihartwrites & my side blog dedicated to Bushnell @lilly-anarkitty .

You can also find more resources and social links in my linktree.

Additional posts from other users that I find I will also link below. These links will be given a blue highlight, and the OP will be cited and tagged (if possible).

Topics discussed so far: gender identity & sexuality; upbringing & religion; personal interests; and self-immolation

Feel free to give me a follow to stay updated!

👇 POST LINKS BELOW 👇

Gender Identity & Sexuality

@alihartwrites | Thoughts on Lilly Bushnell, LillyAnarKitty

@lilly-anarkitty | Lilly expressed desire to transition.

@alihartwrites repost from Twitter/X | Lilly did explore her gender identity & sexuality.

@Kat_The_Vat on YT | Aaron Bushnell - Transgender Woman ??? repost by @alihartwrites

@epistemophagy | Redemptio memoriae

Upbringing & Religion

@lilly-anarkitty | Bushnell Grew Up in a Religious Compound/Cult - “The Community of Jesus” (COJ)

@alihartewrites | Community or Cult?

Personal Interests

@lilly-anarkitty | Bushnell thought Dune was based

Self-Immolation

@alihartwrites | Sacrifice or Suicide?

[haveyoumetmythief]

I'm going to set myself on fucking fire

[queenoftheimps]

you know what, maybe watching the terror right before sleep was a bad idea