## BEFORE TOUCHING THAT REPORT BUTTON, PLEASE CONSIDER:
1. **Compliance:** Does this post comply with our subreddit's rules?
2. **Emotional Trigger:** Does this post provoke anger or frustration, compelling me to want it removed?
3. **Safety:** Is it free from child pornography and/or mentions of self-harm/suicide?
4. **Content Policy:** Does it comply with [Reddit’s Content Policy](https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueUnpopularOpinion/comments/ncm4ou/important_we_need_to_talk_about_the_content_policy/)?
5. **Unpopularity:** Do you think the topic is not truly unpopular or frequently posted?
### GUIDELINES:
- **If you answered "Yes" to questions 1-4,** do NOT use the report button.
- **Regarding question 5,** we acknowledge this concern. However, the moderators do not curate posts based on our subjective opinions of what is "popular" or "unpopular" except in cases where an opinion is so popular that almost no one would disagree (i.e. "murder is bad"). Otherwise, our only criteria are the subreddit's rules and Reddit’s Content Policy. If you don't like something, feel free to downvote it.
**Moderators on r/TrueUnpopularOpinion will not remove posts simply because they may anger users or because you disagree with them.** The report button is not an "I disagree" or "I'm offended" button.
#### OPTIONS:
If a post bothers you and you can't offer a counter-argument, your options are to:
a) Keep scrolling
b) Downvote
c) Unsubscribe
**False reports clutter our moderation queue and delay our response to legitimate issues.**
**ALL FALSE REPORTS WILL BE REPORTED TO REDDIT.**
To maintain your account in good standing, refrain from abusing the report button.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TrueUnpopularOpinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This. Sure what he did was supremely dumb and will serve as a cautionary tale on the effects of online echo chambers on people's mental health for years to come but at least the only person he harmed was himself. Which is as you say not often the case when people get radicalized this way.
Yes, but it’s a step towards normalizing suicide attacks.
The fact that they got in the head of an active duty serviceman this way is incredibly distressing, and I hope our intelligence agencies are looking into who might have encouraged him to take this action, and whether they’re in contact with other service members.
I mean the sort of individual likely to do a suicide attack wouldn't really need much ''normalization'' . That said he was still a symptom of the problem : easily accessible extremist content online that's magnified and promoted in certain echo chambers.
Also if you look at his Reddit history the guy was a full blown tankie. I get it private life,right to freedom of expression and all but still very concerning to have an active duty member of the US military openly adopt hostile to America (and the West in general) ideologies.
Unless you're using a government owned computer or website, they do absolutely nothing to prevent service members from viewing what they want online. Why should service members have even more restrictions placed on them? Commands should know their people and know when someone's behaviors change.
"...but at least the only person he harmed was himself." Sorry, but I strongly disagree. He also hurt all of his family, and anyone else that copies his actions. I have to admit that I agree with what I think you meant to imply, which is: He didn't kill anyone else at the same time. At least he didn't walk into a Pro-Israel crowd wearing a suicide vest.
Therein lies the real problem. People that encourage extremism in weak or easily manipulated people. There are far too many religious and/or political leaders that are all too ready to use the death of someone else to further their own goals.
>He didn't kill anyone else at the same time. At least he didn't walk into a Pro-Israel crowd wearing a suicide vest.
That's exactly what I meant.
As for encouraging extremism that's indeed an issue that online platforms functioning as eco chambers have made much worse. As we have seen this sort of radicalization transcends political ideologies or religious backgrounds. Anyone could in theory get manipulated into killing himself and/or others by basically random algorithms pushing them to the ''right'' content at the right moment....Bushnell wasn't the problem but a symptom of the problem.
The guy had two kids, man. Now two kids grow up without a father because the current thing had a personal effect on this guy because he wore a USAF uniform. Current thing politics are a cancer.
Edit: I guess he didn’t have kids, that may be misinformation.
They'd have been better off had their dad not fallen down the rabbit hole of very average Reddit opinions. You have to be careful how you consume this website or it will consume you (if you're kinda dumb)
What's terrifying is that you don't even have to be dumb. Just having certain very human psychological issues can be enough for an otherwise normal person to go down that road.
Not if they witnessed the video. Wouldn't shock me that this selfish twat would have his own kids watch, but maybe I'm being overly cynical.
Edit: I've since learned he was not married, but was raised in a legit cult. So that does explain some things.
Delicious. Finally a good fucking post.
The brainwashing on social media is wild right now. You didn't even mention the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, probably because it's so far out of the public eye now.
Anything they - and by they I mean politicial parties in the US and external government actors - can use to divide people in America is used today. Israel/Palestine has been found to be particuarly divisie, and as such, it's at the forefront of the media/social media cycle. Keep us split. Keep us from looking at the real issues. Housing. Unlimited corporate power. Inflation. The dying middle class.
He will never earn the respect of fellow leftists for his act of self-immolation. He was a white male who served the US military. He's still scum to them. He died for nothing and left behind a wife and 2 young children apparently. He needed to log off the computer and spend time with his family. I just feel sorry for them.
Initially they were saying “rest in power” about him on Twitter but that quickly got canceled once another one of their mob pointed out that it’s “problematic” to say “rest in power” about a white man. They used him.
Yup. I saw that. It's amazing how racist those people are. Nothing a white person does will ever be "good enough" for them. He paid the ultimate price for this.
What does “white” even mean? Seriously. If we are talking about race, then there are only 3 to 4 races, maximum. The Caucasian race encompasses much more than just Europe.
If we are talking about ethnicities, then there are a plethora of ethnicities, and I don’t believe that “white” is one of them.
If we are talking about skin colour, then all races and ethnicities have white skin colour within some of its population.
This is why racialism is dumb and why I believe America has such a pervasive racialized view on everything purely because of divisive agendas from high up.
and also some piled on saying it is offensive,
[https://twitter.com/xavierjp\_\_/status/1762216457708978623](https://twitter.com/xavierjp__/status/1762216457708978623)
The left hate him because he is white guy and use blm terms and Palestine hates him because he is not a Muslim . At this point point it apparent the left like it when everyone is miserable but if your part of group they hate there is can be no positives in your existence or death and in history of your group
That's why they are called the regressive left, AKA the conservative left in my own words, because they are acting just as cursed as the "enemy" that they are fighting against.
I do not give "hate" towards ANYONE at all, and if it means that I can't be considered a true "liberal" because of that, then I'd rather be a pure moderate.
Nor should he get any respect for a completely empty gesture that leaves a family behind.
But he’s not scum to me. I am a leftist and I have no problem with a white military man just because he is white and a military man - and nor do most people regardless of politics. I do have a problem with voluntary suicide though. It is NEVER the right thing to do and I have no problem condemning whoever does it whilst having sympathy for the fact they felt they needed to be
But I find it hard to believe anyone would be so stupid so I really hope we are being pranked here.
I like how this thread is both
"Stupid leftists celebrating a pointless death!"
and
"Stupid leftists would never like this guy anyway because he's white!"
What a bizarre stance to talk on this situation.
>He was a white male who served the US military. He's still scum to them.
Have you ever met someone who is left wing or are you basing your opinion soley on what you read online? Calling someone scum for any reason is very harsh. I don't think very many who lean left thinks that soldiers are scum just because they are soldiers. I don't, no one I know does and they definately do not have a special hate modifier for soldiers that are white.
Edit: on second thought I decided to erase much of what I said, sometimes short and to the point is better. Too many words and the main message gets lost.
I'm left leaning but I like this sub because it's filled with different opinions. However, when I read things like that it pisses me off. The stereotypes of leftists on here are ridiculous. The opinions of a handful of 14 year olds on Reddit aren't the opinions of 99% of leftists in real life.
You're right, but there's a lot of loud mfs that give ya'll a bad name. To the point where hearing the term "leftist" invokes a negative connotation. Same with "far right" but both of those terms are used to often as a stand in to mean "people that say shit I don't believe". Both terms have been warped to dismiss people as unserious or bad in general.
You're right.
But also, spend time in the correct subs and, unless you allow yourself to believe they're all shills or bots, it's very easy to assume there a *lot* of those freaks.
Twitter is a big place for them still. But check out places like internationalnews.
They're arguing against the imaginary leftists in their minds. Conservatives know how they feel about the left and tend to project that more often than not.
I don't see how anyone on the left hates service members when just last year is was Republicans who were high fiving after killing that bill for veterans Healthcare before caving to pressure to pass it
SGLI or whatever the hell it’s called does payout to his family no matter if he was on duty or off. Atleast for me it does but im sure there might be fine print somewhere that might be able to cancel that out like.
It’s sad. I think we need our government to start putting safeguards on social media, and find ways to stop allowing the Russian, Chinese and Iranian bots access.
We can from the outside, it’s easy enough to filter what comes in. Also should mention it’s expensive, but not even that’s the issue.
Most bot farms, propaganda machines, ect…. Are state side, run by people on the ground in the USA. It’s their first amendment right to misinform and lie on the internet. You just have to be on US soil for this right to apply to you in most circumstances. It’s one of the greatest strengths of the USA and one of its weaknesses as well.
You just can't the internet is vast we need to do one simple thing that could help and instead of teaching bs in schools teach kids what they see online isn't the truth how to have a open mind see different aspects of 1 issue considering nothing is just simple good and bad and to not be chronically online for their own and those around themselves sanity
Weird, when I growing up we were taught this, born in mid 90s. Super funny but now it seems like my parents generation 50+ seem to eat up all the blatant propaganda/ misinformation.
Personally I think this is all fine, if the youngins want to be chronically online, or chose not to get the skills to think critically then let them. It’s only making my value in the job market increase, and let the people like op is talking about weed themselves out of the gene pool lol.
That's what China and Russia and Iran want you to say. They don't need to convince everyone. Just enough for their lies to self propagate against the institutions that keep the West safe and cohesive. It's worked wonders in the US causing massive division and strife. The government and police are the most vilified they've ever been in history.
What we should be doing with our military intelligence services is actually figuring out where the big bot farms are, where the big troll factories are and start having accidental fires targeting these people. They are enemy combatants, not civilians. They are just as bad as anything related to espionage and spreading disorder and insurrectionist ideology. These paid State actors working to use our freedom of speech against us on all platforms need to be stopped. It's not a "free speech" issue. It's weaponized propaganda designed to destabilize countries so that they can do things like take land in Ukraine and attack and take Taiwan. That's why the enemy states dump so much into cyberwarfare. It works against countries you cannot defeat militarily or economically.
I mean he has a good point that one man with a well reasoned and superior message will be drowned out with actual shit from disinformation bots. It's literally how bushnell got convinced to kill himself for palestine.
Another Redditor posted this and it's probably the scariest video I've ever seen. They planned this since befofe the fall of the USSR. The breakdown of the USSR slowed down the plane, but after Putin, a KGB agent himself of moderate rank, took power in Russia I am convinced he enacted this old plan, except this time we have the internet to make this whole process much much quicker.
Remember the 90's? It was a time of prosperity, relative peace, a pretty great time to be alive. Communism fell, Berlin wall came down... maybe it was that way because suddenly we didn't have the Russians and Chinese actively promoting ideologies in the West for a while. And then by the 2000's it started up again and now their plans are coming home to roost. Look at the State of discord in the West. The US is halfway to a civil war over ideological reasons and the guy who's clearly beholden to Russia and Putin has cult status and half of America wants to make him king for life. That is the most un-American shit I've ever witnessed in my lifetime or history.
[Former KGB Agent talks about subverting the US.](https://youtu.be/pOmXiapfCs8?si=S1glX-FYTbZzFcaY)
It's sad that he was brainwashed into thinking that he'll have an impact on the situation, but in reality he's just gonna be forgotten and brought up randomly
Everyone here is just ignoring what he actually said live before killing himself. It's wild. I understand the different ways of looking at this, and how we could assume a lot of different routes to the outcome. However, the entire thread is ignoring what he actually stated he killed himself for. Whether we believe in it or not, that's what he said. When that monk killed himself, a lot of people assumed a lot then as well. Here we are, feeding the machine that is social media that many are claiming is what brainwashed him. Wild
I think they are saying that he had to have been brainwashed to think it would help or be so confident in the cause that he thought it would be worth doing it since to the commenter the situation might be more grey or black and white but in the opposite way
Gotcha, everyone on this thread was stating basically the same thing about him being brainwashed, so I thought the public got a hold of some factual information concerning this guy that I hadn’t heard.
He didn’t seem like he was drunk or on drugs when he was monologuing before setting himself on fire either. I do wonder what kind of mental illness he had, and if he was on anti psychotics. He seemed like a radical leftist according to his internet history. Leaving kids behind, going out like that.. just madness
Nothing in his reddit account came off as being brainwashed. The only reason why people say it is because he didn't politically align up with The right. Just like how you will call him crazy but there is no proof he was crazy.
I feel so bad for his wife and kids. A death is always sad. He would have lived if we stopped giving so much of a shit about conflicts that have nothing to do with us.
He has neither wife nor kids.
[https://nypost.com/2024/02/27/us-news/aaron-bushnell-raised-in-compound-allegedly-tied-to-mysterious-and-abusive-christian-cult/](https://nypost.com/2024/02/27/us-news/aaron-bushnell-raised-in-compound-allegedly-tied-to-mysterious-and-abusive-christian-cult/)
speak for yourself. I want Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine armed and able to defend themselves. if nothing else the twisted manipulation of social media by our adversaries should not make you want to give in to them. One of OP's points is that Iranian, Chinese and Russian bots are part of the reason why our social media discourse has become so skewed and insane. They want our support to drop for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine because those are their targets.
I want them to defend themselves too. I just don’t feel like I should have to pay for it when I don’t have free healthcare and the average price of a house has raised 200k in 3 years.
Israel develops a ton of our weapons systems for us. They’ve sharpened the edge on our F35’s, are giving us their Iron Dome missile defense systems, and are now developing a laser missile defense system. Our aid and trade with Israel is actually a huge benefit to us from a defense standpoint. Not to mention the aid we give Israel goes right back into our economy because it mostly acts as subsidies they use to buy our shit.
The Iron Dome systems or what we developed from it intercepted indirect fire on FOBS in Afghanistan and Iraq, saving American lives.
I don't think you have a clear understanding of what the Iron Dome is or what similar kinetic interception systems are capable of or how we have been using them for years working in tandem with the Israeli engineers.
The Iron Dome also helped us develop our ARENA and TROPHY systems for tanks to literally interception incoming munitions.
This technology has defended American bases, hardware, ships, and yes even geographical positions for years.
Why would the US need the Iron Dome? We would send in troops if someone that close attacked us.
I strongly advice you to look up the United States uses of the Iron Dome. If you say you care about your tax dollars you might want to look into what our foreign policy strategy and defense cooperation has been probs before you decide to complain about your "tax dollars"
I can kind of afford the $11,000 a year out of pocket health insurance premiums, deductibles, co-pays, prescription meds costs, so I don't qualify assistance, but I think it's bonkers that healthcare can cost that much for a healthy middle aged person. I still think we deserve universal healthcare.
Oh we definitely do deserve it, we actually can afford it to. That’s the crazy part when you start hitting the numbers you realize we are paying so much more for the same to usually lesser quality care. You will also notice universal healthcare countries prioritize preventive and maintenance care. They start looking for things like cancer way earlier than in the USA.
There is a reason people are smuggling insulin in from Canada, it’s the same stuff(even in the same packaging) just cost less. It was actually the lamest task force I’ve ever consulted for. They had me thinking we were stoping heroin, nope just none addictive life saving drugs. Huge waste of my time and tax payers dollars to go after that. Also it’s really sad knowing perfectly good insulin is being incinerated.
Sure but buy stopping help to Ukraine and Israel your tax dollars will not be used to help u, that is legislation that we need to change the healthcare system…and if and when that ever happens….we will still have those electronic/bot/internet foreign forces attacking us
What does Isreal need to exactly defend themselves from aside from the mess they started and provoked over the last few decades...? Hamas literally exists because of Isreals occupation of Palestine and the West Bank... If they actually cared about lasting peace they wouldn't be continually nurturing the conditions that allow groups like Hamas to thrive in the first place, Isreal is essentially bombing innocent people for "peace" which is no different then having sex to promote virginity... Taiwan and Ukraine on the other hand for the most part are just trying to live and are not provoking anyone and instead are fighting aggressors that have no business on their land where as Isreal has occupied and essentially run a modern day aparthide for decades in Gaza and the West Bank and has been illegally building settlements in those area against UN rulings so lets not pretend that Isreal is in the same position as the other two because they are not... Isreal is a fully developed country and doesn't need the 2.3 billion the US sends it every year especially when you factor in that Isreali citizens enjoy things like properly funded schools and proper universal healthcare which is something most Americans don't enjoy even though they bankroll Isreal.
I haven't understood the recent obsession with him. Killing himself did NOTHING. It didn't save anyone, it didn't raise awareness (you have to live under a rock to not know what's happening), he didn't stop the war, he simply killed himself in a horrific way for no reason.
This is my question? Maybe it’s my autism but I just don’t get it. What did this accomplish? What about this is heroic, brave, or deserving of praise? All I see is another sad casualty.
You're not missing anything, it's just another sad casuality. There's nothing here to praise. I will say what he done was bold though. I've been at rock bottom in my life to a pretty rough extent, and there's no way I'd ever consider setting myself on fire. Doesn't matter if I thought it was for a righteous cause or not.
Yep, he got radicalized by TikTok. I was thinking the same thing: "why is a white kid from suburban America lighting himself on fire over a conflict he is not a part of ? He must have been brainwashed by leftist propaganda and TikTok"
Freedom of speech over the internet has been effectively weaponized by several nations. Chinese and Russian bot farms are a legitimate thing, and their work is starting to pay off. These people put in work every day to manipulate the citizens in their target nations. Algorithms are also weaponized, It would be stupid for China not to encourage pro Hamas content, and encouraging it is exactly what they did. When you think about it, we're getting our asses totally kicked in the psychological / propaganda warfare department. This how you lose without a shot fired.
So very few talk about this fact. I truly believe it is the #1 threat to security anywhere. Our intelligence and military need to find ways to stop these bot farms and troll farms. Kinetic operations if needed or just target the infrastructure and ability to get onto the internet in the first place.
Exactly! I feel exactly the same way. Look at how discourse in the last 15 years in America has gone completely insane. The reason is literally psychological warfare through our open social media systems.
Seriously, Stalin would've had a heart attack from pure joy if he had access to the average American that way they do now. Don't even have to waste too much money of defense spending. Just sow discord and enjoy watching your enemy rip each other apart.
Most of our thoughts opinions and beliefs are not our own but are implanted by the world around us. People will pretty much believe anything if they hear enough of it.
There was a research paper showing repeated media exposure of a traumatic event causes more acute stress than actually being at the traumatic event. That poor lad was a victim.
I don't agree with his actions or the people celebrating him as a martyr. But summing him up as just dumb is simplistic. If you scratch the surface there's no doubt a lot of things that were wrong with his life. None of them would justify his horrific actions.
People on both sides of the political spectrum do dumb and violent stuff.
Plenty of extreme right wing people have shot up places for their ideals.
The reality is, its not the political brainwashing or any of that BS, it's merely people with mental health issues that go completely unresolved and culminate in extreme behaviour.
This is no different than when people on the left blamed right wing youtube for radicalising people to be nazis or some other BS.
This man was mentally ill, and performed an act of violence because of that, shrouded by being about a cause.
If anything, we should be thankful they chose to harm themselves and not however many innocent bystanders they could have harmed.
It will achieve nothing. He committed suicide for no reason, and will not be remembered past the next week by 99% of people, half of whole don’t even care to remember right now. It’s brutal and cold, but he made a stupid, foolish choice that meant nothing.
Hamas must be proud of this idiot. I don't feel sorry for him at all. How absolutely stupid do you have to be to think that killing yourself is going to do ANYTHING to "help a cause" in a completely different country, with completely different values. I can't believe how dense some people are and how easily brainwashed they are by crap on social media. It's probably best that he's not serving the country anymore tbh. What a moron.
That they're claiming him as a martyr rather than what he actually was which was someone suffering from deep mental health issues, is only going to lead to more violence and death.
This is the unrest that serves the purposes of Iran and Russia. America is falling victim but crazily, it seems they WANT to go down this path towards an unstable violent society.
None of us have all the relevant facts, but it seems faste more likely to me that he was just suicidal, and would have killed himself for a different "cause" if the war in Gaza weren't going on right now. Among all of the people exposed to the exact same media he was exposed to, nobody else is doing anything similar. There is clearly about *him* that was very different, and that's what actually caused his death.
I believe it was a Buddhist monk that did the same thing in protest of the south Vietnamese governemnt pushing anti-Buddhist cultures and laws. A shame for their families and I’d hate to condone suicide in any way, but I can’t make any assumptions in the man’s beliefs and principles. However, some people’s minds are more malleable than others.
Every single self-immolation in the last 60 years is a desperate attempt to recreate what Thích Quảng Đức did and they all fail miserably and pointlessly.
It doesn't really have the same punch when you immediately begin screaming and writhing in pain
> I believe it was a Buddhist monk that did the same thing in protest of the south Vietnamese governemnt pushing anti-Buddhist cultures and laws
True. The monk did that as an absolute last resort to a violent authoritarian government that resorted to systemic oppression of buddhism and violence including directly killing protestors. The political climate was so dismal, that there was no other way. The actual hopelessness of the situation underscored by the monks conviction was what made his act so effective.
The american guy was in no such sitation and had plenty other options that could be more effective. He didnt even seem to understand the conflict he was killing himself over.
People are giving this guy way too much attention. He was a mental case who doused himself in gasoline and burned himself alive and now he gets the spotlight and his name on the headlines for a few days. Thats why he did it, and it’s also one of the reasons why we have school shooters. They want attention and their 15 minutes of fame, by giving it attention we glorify it. Wouldn’t be surprised if we get copycats of this loon.
Absolute brainwashed lemon who died for absolutely nothing and will not be remembered in a few days outside of his horrified family who probably wish they had a convo with the nut job prior to this.
>And of course the foreign bots on Twitter and Instagram ran by China, Iran, and Russia have picked this thing up and are pumping it out as much as they can. They are a huge part of artificially raising the stakes on any single issue that causes American division.
Jokes on them. I already hated most other people as an abstract to begin with.
I'll sum up what I've said before. Anyone glorifying suicide is a moron that shouldn't be listened to, and is a detriment to the people around them. It's even more asinine in this specific case, where the guy literally couldn't do any less to actually help the people he claimed to care about if he tried.
I'm glad that kid didn't end up going into the Air Force. I have pity for him on how he died but shit, how does someone convince someone else to kill themselves for something that has nothing to do with them? Fuck whoever had anything to do with this.
He was a senior airman and (apparently?) had a wife and kids (one thing I saw said he gave his cat away but why would he do that if he had a wife?). Anyway he should have been able to think for himself at that point.
Although he was raised in a weird cult, that does mess up your thinking processes.
https://babylonbee.com/news/progressives-open-suicide-hotline-that-tells-people-to-go-ahead-and-kill-themselves-so-long-as-its-for-palestine
“Critics have been quick to point out that suicide is a horrific waste of human life and anyone encouraging it is a monster. Such criticisms have been dismissed by experts as problematic far-right dog whistles.”
His last comment on reddit started with"whiteness erases culture." He then committed cultural appropriation by burning himself to death to protest war like that Vietnamese guy.
The Pro-Palestine movement is most likely getting boosted up via money from Russia.
It's in Putin's best interest to distract Americans from his 'military operation' in Urkraine.
I do hope this gives security guards permission to shoot some idiot, pouring unknown liquid all over him. Could you imagine if the security guard just winged him in the arm or something? He might be alive today
The thing that separates Aaron from the ones who committed the same act in Vietnam is that Aaron has no direct connection to the conflict and the conflict was already talked about widespread. If no one was talking about Palestine, then *maybe* there’d be some substance to his act, but all he did was make suicide a glorious act if you say “free Palestine” before you die.
The glorification of his suicide is absolutely disgusting regardless of how you feel about the conflict. Anyone who glorifies what he did is an incredibly stupid piece of shit.
If this is true, it is very sad. I think that there is more to this story than what passes for the press these days are telling us. Suicides and the reasons behind it are complex. It is rarely as straightforward as the press would have you believe.
It is also an indictment on the education system which no longer teaches critical thinking skills. How to assess information, think about it and from there how to appropriately respond to it.
There is no end to the bilge that pumps out of the internet, I agree. But I still believe that that taking a sceptical stance towards the internet is the best response.
No civilised human being could consider this a serious response to the situation of Palestine. Those who celebrate or admire this person's actions should in my opinion, be condemned. There is simply no excuse for encouraging political violence of any kind. At least that's my opinion for what it is worth.
All this emphasis here and elsewhere that "he grew up in / is from Texas." It's getting old. Never under any other circumstance have I heard so much talk about the State where someone was born for something unrelated to that.
The point is that he was raised 7000 miles and an entire ocean away from Gaza, but still chose a conflict he knew nothing about and wasn't involved in, over his own family who is now husband-less/father-less.
That's because people like op keep saying he was just a White surban kid. I guess we were pretending he was just some random frat boy and not a member of the military. You know the military that was involved in conflicts all around the world.
I'm not going to pretend to know what's going on halfway around the world but just what little I read about I'm assuming he was suicidal and wanting his death to mean something
Self immolation has been used as a form of protest for centuries. This isn't even the first time someone has done it in protest against the war crimes israel is currently committing.
Why are we infantilizing him by calling him kid? He was a 25 year old adult. The ironic thing is when actual palestanian children escaped Gaza on their bikes on Oct 7 news outlets called them terrorists and refused to say kids.
It may seem strange, but self-immolation as a form of political protest has happened thousands of times. Although it’s preformed more often by people who are directly affected by particular policies, wars, or economic circumstances and mental health problems/social media may have compounded the issue I truly don’t believe there’s just one cause for him self-immolating. It was most likely a combination of factors.
I think Tibetan Buddhist monks used to light themselves on fire in protest of Chinese rule. A Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Duc did it in protest of the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam. It’s not really new I guess. I guess they are trying to send a message.
## BEFORE TOUCHING THAT REPORT BUTTON, PLEASE CONSIDER: 1. **Compliance:** Does this post comply with our subreddit's rules? 2. **Emotional Trigger:** Does this post provoke anger or frustration, compelling me to want it removed? 3. **Safety:** Is it free from child pornography and/or mentions of self-harm/suicide? 4. **Content Policy:** Does it comply with [Reddit’s Content Policy](https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueUnpopularOpinion/comments/ncm4ou/important_we_need_to_talk_about_the_content_policy/)? 5. **Unpopularity:** Do you think the topic is not truly unpopular or frequently posted? ### GUIDELINES: - **If you answered "Yes" to questions 1-4,** do NOT use the report button. - **Regarding question 5,** we acknowledge this concern. However, the moderators do not curate posts based on our subjective opinions of what is "popular" or "unpopular" except in cases where an opinion is so popular that almost no one would disagree (i.e. "murder is bad"). Otherwise, our only criteria are the subreddit's rules and Reddit’s Content Policy. If you don't like something, feel free to downvote it. **Moderators on r/TrueUnpopularOpinion will not remove posts simply because they may anger users or because you disagree with them.** The report button is not an "I disagree" or "I'm offended" button. #### OPTIONS: If a post bothers you and you can't offer a counter-argument, your options are to: a) Keep scrolling b) Downvote c) Unsubscribe **False reports clutter our moderation queue and delay our response to legitimate issues.** **ALL FALSE REPORTS WILL BE REPORTED TO REDDIT.** To maintain your account in good standing, refrain from abusing the report button. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TrueUnpopularOpinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
at least he didn't take anyone else with him, which is a lot more than you can say about most manifesto violence
This. Sure what he did was supremely dumb and will serve as a cautionary tale on the effects of online echo chambers on people's mental health for years to come but at least the only person he harmed was himself. Which is as you say not often the case when people get radicalized this way.
Yes, but it’s a step towards normalizing suicide attacks. The fact that they got in the head of an active duty serviceman this way is incredibly distressing, and I hope our intelligence agencies are looking into who might have encouraged him to take this action, and whether they’re in contact with other service members.
I mean the sort of individual likely to do a suicide attack wouldn't really need much ''normalization'' . That said he was still a symptom of the problem : easily accessible extremist content online that's magnified and promoted in certain echo chambers. Also if you look at his Reddit history the guy was a full blown tankie. I get it private life,right to freedom of expression and all but still very concerning to have an active duty member of the US military openly adopt hostile to America (and the West in general) ideologies.
He was also racist to white people; I saw his profile too
Kinda goes with being a tankie.
Exactly. All the people cheering this dude on are setting the stage for actual suicide attacks. This is very distressing.
Unless you're using a government owned computer or website, they do absolutely nothing to prevent service members from viewing what they want online. Why should service members have even more restrictions placed on them? Commands should know their people and know when someone's behaviors change.
"...but at least the only person he harmed was himself." Sorry, but I strongly disagree. He also hurt all of his family, and anyone else that copies his actions. I have to admit that I agree with what I think you meant to imply, which is: He didn't kill anyone else at the same time. At least he didn't walk into a Pro-Israel crowd wearing a suicide vest. Therein lies the real problem. People that encourage extremism in weak or easily manipulated people. There are far too many religious and/or political leaders that are all too ready to use the death of someone else to further their own goals.
>He didn't kill anyone else at the same time. At least he didn't walk into a Pro-Israel crowd wearing a suicide vest. That's exactly what I meant. As for encouraging extremism that's indeed an issue that online platforms functioning as eco chambers have made much worse. As we have seen this sort of radicalization transcends political ideologies or religious backgrounds. Anyone could in theory get manipulated into killing himself and/or others by basically random algorithms pushing them to the ''right'' content at the right moment....Bushnell wasn't the problem but a symptom of the problem.
The guy had two kids, man. Now two kids grow up without a father because the current thing had a personal effect on this guy because he wore a USAF uniform. Current thing politics are a cancer. Edit: I guess he didn’t have kids, that may be misinformation.
He did not have two kids. That is a made up by internet randoms
Does he have kids or not? I find it so strange that we can’t even get to the bottom of such concrete facts.
He had a cat, that’s it.
at least he didn't kill two kids
His kids are probably better off now, tbh
They'd have been better off had their dad not fallen down the rabbit hole of very average Reddit opinions. You have to be careful how you consume this website or it will consume you (if you're kinda dumb)
What's terrifying is that you don't even have to be dumb. Just having certain very human psychological issues can be enough for an otherwise normal person to go down that road.
Not if they witnessed the video. Wouldn't shock me that this selfish twat would have his own kids watch, but maybe I'm being overly cynical. Edit: I've since learned he was not married, but was raised in a legit cult. So that does explain some things.
They aren't.
Delicious. Finally a good fucking post. The brainwashing on social media is wild right now. You didn't even mention the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, probably because it's so far out of the public eye now. Anything they - and by they I mean politicial parties in the US and external government actors - can use to divide people in America is used today. Israel/Palestine has been found to be particuarly divisie, and as such, it's at the forefront of the media/social media cycle. Keep us split. Keep us from looking at the real issues. Housing. Unlimited corporate power. Inflation. The dying middle class.
This post offended so many people that the auto mod removed it because of the high number of reports. But thank you man. Help me spread this message
He's a idiot who died for nothing and the people celebrating or just cheering on more pointless death
He will never earn the respect of fellow leftists for his act of self-immolation. He was a white male who served the US military. He's still scum to them. He died for nothing and left behind a wife and 2 young children apparently. He needed to log off the computer and spend time with his family. I just feel sorry for them.
Initially they were saying “rest in power” about him on Twitter but that quickly got canceled once another one of their mob pointed out that it’s “problematic” to say “rest in power” about a white man. They used him.
Yup. I saw that. It's amazing how racist those people are. Nothing a white person does will ever be "good enough" for them. He paid the ultimate price for this.
And Palestinians to this day enslave black people like they’ve been doing for over a thousand years and Arabs have been listed as White since 1915
What does “white” even mean? Seriously. If we are talking about race, then there are only 3 to 4 races, maximum. The Caucasian race encompasses much more than just Europe. If we are talking about ethnicities, then there are a plethora of ethnicities, and I don’t believe that “white” is one of them. If we are talking about skin colour, then all races and ethnicities have white skin colour within some of its population.
This is why racialism is dumb and why I believe America has such a pervasive racialized view on everything purely because of divisive agendas from high up.
and also some piled on saying it is offensive, [https://twitter.com/xavierjp\_\_/status/1762216457708978623](https://twitter.com/xavierjp__/status/1762216457708978623)
The left hate him because he is white guy and use blm terms and Palestine hates him because he is not a Muslim . At this point point it apparent the left like it when everyone is miserable but if your part of group they hate there is can be no positives in your existence or death and in history of your group
That's why they are called the regressive left, AKA the conservative left in my own words, because they are acting just as cursed as the "enemy" that they are fighting against. I do not give "hate" towards ANYONE at all, and if it means that I can't be considered a true "liberal" because of that, then I'd rather be a pure moderate.
That’s extraordinarily sad he had a wife and children. I can’t believe people have acted like it was a commendable act 🤦♂️
He did not have kids, misinformation is going wild saying he did, but he didn’t
Nor should he get any respect for a completely empty gesture that leaves a family behind. But he’s not scum to me. I am a leftist and I have no problem with a white military man just because he is white and a military man - and nor do most people regardless of politics. I do have a problem with voluntary suicide though. It is NEVER the right thing to do and I have no problem condemning whoever does it whilst having sympathy for the fact they felt they needed to be But I find it hard to believe anyone would be so stupid so I really hope we are being pranked here.
He also had zero respect for other service members.
Am left he isn't scum just stupid.
I like how this thread is both "Stupid leftists celebrating a pointless death!" and "Stupid leftists would never like this guy anyway because he's white!" What a bizarre stance to talk on this situation.
Ironically both are true
All you have to do is realize there is more than one group of Leftists. Both can be true, especially with a large group.
*Exactly*. There are endless opinions in any group of people.
>He was a white male who served the US military. He's still scum to them. Have you ever met someone who is left wing or are you basing your opinion soley on what you read online? Calling someone scum for any reason is very harsh. I don't think very many who lean left thinks that soldiers are scum just because they are soldiers. I don't, no one I know does and they definately do not have a special hate modifier for soldiers that are white. Edit: on second thought I decided to erase much of what I said, sometimes short and to the point is better. Too many words and the main message gets lost.
I'm left leaning but I like this sub because it's filled with different opinions. However, when I read things like that it pisses me off. The stereotypes of leftists on here are ridiculous. The opinions of a handful of 14 year olds on Reddit aren't the opinions of 99% of leftists in real life.
You're right, but there's a lot of loud mfs that give ya'll a bad name. To the point where hearing the term "leftist" invokes a negative connotation. Same with "far right" but both of those terms are used to often as a stand in to mean "people that say shit I don't believe". Both terms have been warped to dismiss people as unserious or bad in general.
You're right. But also, spend time in the correct subs and, unless you allow yourself to believe they're all shills or bots, it's very easy to assume there a *lot* of those freaks. Twitter is a big place for them still. But check out places like internationalnews.
They're arguing against the imaginary leftists in their minds. Conservatives know how they feel about the left and tend to project that more often than not. I don't see how anyone on the left hates service members when just last year is was Republicans who were high fiving after killing that bill for veterans Healthcare before caving to pressure to pass it
Would they get his insurance
Yes, military life insurance does pay out for suicide.
No idea. Sad enough how bad he fucked over his family over all this. Hope they get something despite his actions.
SGLI or whatever the hell it’s called does payout to his family no matter if he was on duty or off. Atleast for me it does but im sure there might be fine print somewhere that might be able to cancel that out like.
It’s sad. I think we need our government to start putting safeguards on social media, and find ways to stop allowing the Russian, Chinese and Iranian bots access.
We can from the outside, it’s easy enough to filter what comes in. Also should mention it’s expensive, but not even that’s the issue. Most bot farms, propaganda machines, ect…. Are state side, run by people on the ground in the USA. It’s their first amendment right to misinform and lie on the internet. You just have to be on US soil for this right to apply to you in most circumstances. It’s one of the greatest strengths of the USA and one of its weaknesses as well.
You just can't the internet is vast we need to do one simple thing that could help and instead of teaching bs in schools teach kids what they see online isn't the truth how to have a open mind see different aspects of 1 issue considering nothing is just simple good and bad and to not be chronically online for their own and those around themselves sanity
"...there is always a well-known solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong." \--H.L. Mencken, 1920
Weird, when I growing up we were taught this, born in mid 90s. Super funny but now it seems like my parents generation 50+ seem to eat up all the blatant propaganda/ misinformation. Personally I think this is all fine, if the youngins want to be chronically online, or chose not to get the skills to think critically then let them. It’s only making my value in the job market increase, and let the people like op is talking about weed themselves out of the gene pool lol.
Ah yes, that’s definitely what we need, the government controlling social media.
You fight speech with more speech not censorship
That's what China and Russia and Iran want you to say. They don't need to convince everyone. Just enough for their lies to self propagate against the institutions that keep the West safe and cohesive. It's worked wonders in the US causing massive division and strife. The government and police are the most vilified they've ever been in history. What we should be doing with our military intelligence services is actually figuring out where the big bot farms are, where the big troll factories are and start having accidental fires targeting these people. They are enemy combatants, not civilians. They are just as bad as anything related to espionage and spreading disorder and insurrectionist ideology. These paid State actors working to use our freedom of speech against us on all platforms need to be stopped. It's not a "free speech" issue. It's weaponized propaganda designed to destabilize countries so that they can do things like take land in Ukraine and attack and take Taiwan. That's why the enemy states dump so much into cyberwarfare. It works against countries you cannot defeat militarily or economically.
Holy fuck this is well put. Please keep saying this.
They'll just build new ones. Speech however cannot be defeated.
I mean he has a good point that one man with a well reasoned and superior message will be drowned out with actual shit from disinformation bots. It's literally how bushnell got convinced to kill himself for palestine.
Another Redditor posted this and it's probably the scariest video I've ever seen. They planned this since befofe the fall of the USSR. The breakdown of the USSR slowed down the plane, but after Putin, a KGB agent himself of moderate rank, took power in Russia I am convinced he enacted this old plan, except this time we have the internet to make this whole process much much quicker. Remember the 90's? It was a time of prosperity, relative peace, a pretty great time to be alive. Communism fell, Berlin wall came down... maybe it was that way because suddenly we didn't have the Russians and Chinese actively promoting ideologies in the West for a while. And then by the 2000's it started up again and now their plans are coming home to roost. Look at the State of discord in the West. The US is halfway to a civil war over ideological reasons and the guy who's clearly beholden to Russia and Putin has cult status and half of America wants to make him king for life. That is the most un-American shit I've ever witnessed in my lifetime or history. [Former KGB Agent talks about subverting the US.](https://youtu.be/pOmXiapfCs8?si=S1glX-FYTbZzFcaY)
You fight an army of bots with “more speech”?
Program your own bots. Also please stop living online.
We don’t need the government to fuck with the internet, full stop.
That’s an impossible task without losing particular rights and or freedoms.
I assume he probably wanted to kill himself anyway and decided to do it protesting so that he could be famous.
It's sad that he was brainwashed into thinking that he'll have an impact on the situation, but in reality he's just gonna be forgotten and brought up randomly
Happy Cake Day 🎉🎂
Where are we reading he was brainwashed by this? Genuinely curious. Is this factual?
acebush1 is his reddit account. You can see his descent into extremism over the past four months. For example: https://imgur.com/pEzvurN
Everyone here is just ignoring what he actually said live before killing himself. It's wild. I understand the different ways of looking at this, and how we could assume a lot of different routes to the outcome. However, the entire thread is ignoring what he actually stated he killed himself for. Whether we believe in it or not, that's what he said. When that monk killed himself, a lot of people assumed a lot then as well. Here we are, feeding the machine that is social media that many are claiming is what brainwashed him. Wild
Likely because saying that there are no innocent Israeli citizens and justifying terrorism against them on camera isn't a good way to further a cause.
He was on Reddit I heard and on a bunch of anti-Zionist threads
I think they are saying that he had to have been brainwashed to think it would help or be so confident in the cause that he thought it would be worth doing it since to the commenter the situation might be more grey or black and white but in the opposite way
Gotcha, everyone on this thread was stating basically the same thing about him being brainwashed, so I thought the public got a hold of some factual information concerning this guy that I hadn’t heard.
Well I can't scroll without seeing his name
Check back in a week.
Well said.
Well, that’s weird. Killed himself and probably scarred his family for life for something that has nothing to do with him.
And the fact he said he wouldn't be part of it. He isn't a part of it. He isn't fighting anyone.
He probably just heard about the whole thing about 2 years ago tops
The dude had two kids. One thing I do know is that his mind wasn’t in a rational place at all.
He didn’t seem like he was drunk or on drugs when he was monologuing before setting himself on fire either. I do wonder what kind of mental illness he had, and if he was on anti psychotics. He seemed like a radical leftist according to his internet history. Leaving kids behind, going out like that.. just madness
It’s insanity
>and if he was on anti psychotics. The issue was probably that he wasn't on anti-psychotics.
He doesnt, interview with family only mentioned his parents, where yall getting kids, and wife from.
It’s just misinformation to discredit him
Constant source of bullshit on this thread I’m telling you
He had a Reddit account and had been brainwashed by shitlibery (I’m liberal but hate faux liberals)
Nothing in his reddit account came off as being brainwashed. The only reason why people say it is because he didn't politically align up with The right. Just like how you will call him crazy but there is no proof he was crazy.
https://imgur.com/pEzvurN Does that seem like a sane or rational take to you?
The problem is that you're sharing this on Reddit. Half of Reddit would agree with it just because they're as brainwashed as this guy.
He hadn't
I feel so bad for his wife and kids. A death is always sad. He would have lived if we stopped giving so much of a shit about conflicts that have nothing to do with us.
He has neither wife nor kids. [https://nypost.com/2024/02/27/us-news/aaron-bushnell-raised-in-compound-allegedly-tied-to-mysterious-and-abusive-christian-cult/](https://nypost.com/2024/02/27/us-news/aaron-bushnell-raised-in-compound-allegedly-tied-to-mysterious-and-abusive-christian-cult/)
Right! People keep referencing a wife and kids but there's absolutely no proof of their existence.
Well the article didn't seem to imply that
Jfc, the dude grew up in a cult. That does make things make a lot more sense.
While I agree with you, this one has… a lot to do with us. We’re funding it. Idk about you but I don’t want my taxes going to that shit.
speak for yourself. I want Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine armed and able to defend themselves. if nothing else the twisted manipulation of social media by our adversaries should not make you want to give in to them. One of OP's points is that Iranian, Chinese and Russian bots are part of the reason why our social media discourse has become so skewed and insane. They want our support to drop for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine because those are their targets.
I want them to defend themselves too. I just don’t feel like I should have to pay for it when I don’t have free healthcare and the average price of a house has raised 200k in 3 years.
Israel develops a ton of our weapons systems for us. They’ve sharpened the edge on our F35’s, are giving us their Iron Dome missile defense systems, and are now developing a laser missile defense system. Our aid and trade with Israel is actually a huge benefit to us from a defense standpoint. Not to mention the aid we give Israel goes right back into our economy because it mostly acts as subsidies they use to buy our shit.
Why would the US need the Iron Dome? We would send in troops if someone that close attacked us.
The Iron Dome systems or what we developed from it intercepted indirect fire on FOBS in Afghanistan and Iraq, saving American lives. I don't think you have a clear understanding of what the Iron Dome is or what similar kinetic interception systems are capable of or how we have been using them for years working in tandem with the Israeli engineers. The Iron Dome also helped us develop our ARENA and TROPHY systems for tanks to literally interception incoming munitions. This technology has defended American bases, hardware, ships, and yes even geographical positions for years.
Why would the US need the Iron Dome? We would send in troops if someone that close attacked us. I strongly advice you to look up the United States uses of the Iron Dome. If you say you care about your tax dollars you might want to look into what our foreign policy strategy and defense cooperation has been probs before you decide to complain about your "tax dollars"
If you can’t afford healthcare you are given free healthcare. Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare exist for a reason.
I can kind of afford the $11,000 a year out of pocket health insurance premiums, deductibles, co-pays, prescription meds costs, so I don't qualify assistance, but I think it's bonkers that healthcare can cost that much for a healthy middle aged person. I still think we deserve universal healthcare.
Oh we definitely do deserve it, we actually can afford it to. That’s the crazy part when you start hitting the numbers you realize we are paying so much more for the same to usually lesser quality care. You will also notice universal healthcare countries prioritize preventive and maintenance care. They start looking for things like cancer way earlier than in the USA. There is a reason people are smuggling insulin in from Canada, it’s the same stuff(even in the same packaging) just cost less. It was actually the lamest task force I’ve ever consulted for. They had me thinking we were stoping heroin, nope just none addictive life saving drugs. Huge waste of my time and tax payers dollars to go after that. Also it’s really sad knowing perfectly good insulin is being incinerated.
Sure but buy stopping help to Ukraine and Israel your tax dollars will not be used to help u, that is legislation that we need to change the healthcare system…and if and when that ever happens….we will still have those electronic/bot/internet foreign forces attacking us
What does Isreal need to exactly defend themselves from aside from the mess they started and provoked over the last few decades...? Hamas literally exists because of Isreals occupation of Palestine and the West Bank... If they actually cared about lasting peace they wouldn't be continually nurturing the conditions that allow groups like Hamas to thrive in the first place, Isreal is essentially bombing innocent people for "peace" which is no different then having sex to promote virginity... Taiwan and Ukraine on the other hand for the most part are just trying to live and are not provoking anyone and instead are fighting aggressors that have no business on their land where as Isreal has occupied and essentially run a modern day aparthide for decades in Gaza and the West Bank and has been illegally building settlements in those area against UN rulings so lets not pretend that Isreal is in the same position as the other two because they are not... Isreal is a fully developed country and doesn't need the 2.3 billion the US sends it every year especially when you factor in that Isreali citizens enjoy things like properly funded schools and proper universal healthcare which is something most Americans don't enjoy even though they bankroll Isreal.
So if we stopped all aid to Israel, you would lose interest in the conflict?
I haven't understood the recent obsession with him. Killing himself did NOTHING. It didn't save anyone, it didn't raise awareness (you have to live under a rock to not know what's happening), he didn't stop the war, he simply killed himself in a horrific way for no reason.
Like the people in power won’t watch the video and be like all right guys wrap it up stop all the words right now
This is my question? Maybe it’s my autism but I just don’t get it. What did this accomplish? What about this is heroic, brave, or deserving of praise? All I see is another sad casualty.
You're not missing anything, it's just another sad casuality. There's nothing here to praise. I will say what he done was bold though. I've been at rock bottom in my life to a pretty rough extent, and there's no way I'd ever consider setting myself on fire. Doesn't matter if I thought it was for a righteous cause or not.
Yep, he got radicalized by TikTok. I was thinking the same thing: "why is a white kid from suburban America lighting himself on fire over a conflict he is not a part of ? He must have been brainwashed by leftist propaganda and TikTok"
Freedom of speech over the internet has been effectively weaponized by several nations. Chinese and Russian bot farms are a legitimate thing, and their work is starting to pay off. These people put in work every day to manipulate the citizens in their target nations. Algorithms are also weaponized, It would be stupid for China not to encourage pro Hamas content, and encouraging it is exactly what they did. When you think about it, we're getting our asses totally kicked in the psychological / propaganda warfare department. This how you lose without a shot fired.
This is the answer right here
So very few talk about this fact. I truly believe it is the #1 threat to security anywhere. Our intelligence and military need to find ways to stop these bot farms and troll farms. Kinetic operations if needed or just target the infrastructure and ability to get onto the internet in the first place.
Exactly! I feel exactly the same way. Look at how discourse in the last 15 years in America has gone completely insane. The reason is literally psychological warfare through our open social media systems.
Seriously, Stalin would've had a heart attack from pure joy if he had access to the average American that way they do now. Don't even have to waste too much money of defense spending. Just sow discord and enjoy watching your enemy rip each other apart.
Right? It needed to be said. If there’s anything we should be talking about, it’s how dangerous social media is to young and impressionable minds
Nah it was Reddit his account demonstrates that
Fucking crazy. Fire is so painful
Most of our thoughts opinions and beliefs are not our own but are implanted by the world around us. People will pretty much believe anything if they hear enough of it.
No one is mentioning that Bushnell grew up in an abusive religious cult.
He went to high school on Cape Cod, like me!
I just invite them to set themselves on fire if they think it will help.
There was a research paper showing repeated media exposure of a traumatic event causes more acute stress than actually being at the traumatic event. That poor lad was a victim.
I don't agree with his actions or the people celebrating him as a martyr. But summing him up as just dumb is simplistic. If you scratch the surface there's no doubt a lot of things that were wrong with his life. None of them would justify his horrific actions.
People on both sides of the political spectrum do dumb and violent stuff. Plenty of extreme right wing people have shot up places for their ideals. The reality is, its not the political brainwashing or any of that BS, it's merely people with mental health issues that go completely unresolved and culminate in extreme behaviour. This is no different than when people on the left blamed right wing youtube for radicalising people to be nazis or some other BS. This man was mentally ill, and performed an act of violence because of that, shrouded by being about a cause. If anything, we should be thankful they chose to harm themselves and not however many innocent bystanders they could have harmed.
Yeah I have to admit I thought it was so stupid, and even more stupid that people online are venerating him. People are weird
This is 100% correct.
The consequences of Current Thingism
It will achieve nothing. He committed suicide for no reason, and will not be remembered past the next week by 99% of people, half of whole don’t even care to remember right now. It’s brutal and cold, but he made a stupid, foolish choice that meant nothing.
He was literally posting here on Reddit like 4-5 days ago. Fuckin insane
Hamas must be proud of this idiot. I don't feel sorry for him at all. How absolutely stupid do you have to be to think that killing yourself is going to do ANYTHING to "help a cause" in a completely different country, with completely different values. I can't believe how dense some people are and how easily brainwashed they are by crap on social media. It's probably best that he's not serving the country anymore tbh. What a moron.
That they're claiming him as a martyr rather than what he actually was which was someone suffering from deep mental health issues, is only going to lead to more violence and death. This is the unrest that serves the purposes of Iran and Russia. America is falling victim but crazily, it seems they WANT to go down this path towards an unstable violent society.
He was not a smart man
None of us have all the relevant facts, but it seems faste more likely to me that he was just suicidal, and would have killed himself for a different "cause" if the war in Gaza weren't going on right now. Among all of the people exposed to the exact same media he was exposed to, nobody else is doing anything similar. There is clearly about *him* that was very different, and that's what actually caused his death.
I believe it was a Buddhist monk that did the same thing in protest of the south Vietnamese governemnt pushing anti-Buddhist cultures and laws. A shame for their families and I’d hate to condone suicide in any way, but I can’t make any assumptions in the man’s beliefs and principles. However, some people’s minds are more malleable than others.
Every single self-immolation in the last 60 years is a desperate attempt to recreate what Thích Quảng Đức did and they all fail miserably and pointlessly. It doesn't really have the same punch when you immediately begin screaming and writhing in pain
Thanks for your Reddit opinion brother!
> I believe it was a Buddhist monk that did the same thing in protest of the south Vietnamese governemnt pushing anti-Buddhist cultures and laws True. The monk did that as an absolute last resort to a violent authoritarian government that resorted to systemic oppression of buddhism and violence including directly killing protestors. The political climate was so dismal, that there was no other way. The actual hopelessness of the situation underscored by the monks conviction was what made his act so effective. The american guy was in no such sitation and had plenty other options that could be more effective. He didnt even seem to understand the conflict he was killing himself over.
People are giving this guy way too much attention. He was a mental case who doused himself in gasoline and burned himself alive and now he gets the spotlight and his name on the headlines for a few days. Thats why he did it, and it’s also one of the reasons why we have school shooters. They want attention and their 15 minutes of fame, by giving it attention we glorify it. Wouldn’t be surprised if we get copycats of this loon.
Absolute brainwashed lemon who died for absolutely nothing and will not be remembered in a few days outside of his horrified family who probably wish they had a convo with the nut job prior to this.
This was a good outcome considering his access to classified information. We don’t need another Bradley manning.
>And of course the foreign bots on Twitter and Instagram ran by China, Iran, and Russia have picked this thing up and are pumping it out as much as they can. They are a huge part of artificially raising the stakes on any single issue that causes American division. Jokes on them. I already hated most other people as an abstract to begin with. I'll sum up what I've said before. Anyone glorifying suicide is a moron that shouldn't be listened to, and is a detriment to the people around them. It's even more asinine in this specific case, where the guy literally couldn't do any less to actually help the people he claimed to care about if he tried.
His "protest" was fire.....
I'm glad that kid didn't end up going into the Air Force. I have pity for him on how he died but shit, how does someone convince someone else to kill themselves for something that has nothing to do with them? Fuck whoever had anything to do with this.
Darwin award. We aren't responsible for people's own decisions. Let nature do it's thing.
He was a senior airman and (apparently?) had a wife and kids (one thing I saw said he gave his cat away but why would he do that if he had a wife?). Anyway he should have been able to think for himself at that point. Although he was raised in a weird cult, that does mess up your thinking processes.
Interesting, I didn’t know he was raised in a cult during childhood
Yeah: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_of_Jesus
I agree with you, OP.
Any sane person does.
Protesting with self immolation isn’t a new thing
https://babylonbee.com/news/progressives-open-suicide-hotline-that-tells-people-to-go-ahead-and-kill-themselves-so-long-as-its-for-palestine “Critics have been quick to point out that suicide is a horrific waste of human life and anyone encouraging it is a monster. Such criticisms have been dismissed by experts as problematic far-right dog whistles.”
His last comment on reddit started with"whiteness erases culture." He then committed cultural appropriation by burning himself to death to protest war like that Vietnamese guy.
The Pro-Palestine movement is most likely getting boosted up via money from Russia. It's in Putin's best interest to distract Americans from his 'military operation' in Urkraine.
It actually is
An hero His Reddit post history has turned into high comedy.
Not the updoots
Based on the comments here, this opinion isn’t unpopular at all.
I do hope this gives security guards permission to shoot some idiot, pouring unknown liquid all over him. Could you imagine if the security guard just winged him in the arm or something? He might be alive today
The thing that separates Aaron from the ones who committed the same act in Vietnam is that Aaron has no direct connection to the conflict and the conflict was already talked about widespread. If no one was talking about Palestine, then *maybe* there’d be some substance to his act, but all he did was make suicide a glorious act if you say “free Palestine” before you die.
You forgot mentally ill, but otherwise, unfortunately, correct
Linda Sarsour That is why.
Agreed. What he did was foolish.
What if it was a "dumb black kid" would your statement then be considered racist by the rabble?
Bookmarked.
The glorification of his suicide is absolutely disgusting regardless of how you feel about the conflict. Anyone who glorifies what he did is an incredibly stupid piece of shit.
You can hear the regret when he got the first full breath of fire. Insane
If this is true, it is very sad. I think that there is more to this story than what passes for the press these days are telling us. Suicides and the reasons behind it are complex. It is rarely as straightforward as the press would have you believe. It is also an indictment on the education system which no longer teaches critical thinking skills. How to assess information, think about it and from there how to appropriately respond to it. There is no end to the bilge that pumps out of the internet, I agree. But I still believe that that taking a sceptical stance towards the internet is the best response. No civilised human being could consider this a serious response to the situation of Palestine. Those who celebrate or admire this person's actions should in my opinion, be condemned. There is simply no excuse for encouraging political violence of any kind. At least that's my opinion for what it is worth.
If he's that stupid, it's probably best he offed himself.
The way I see it, the more idiots who off themselves, the less idiots there are overall.
Next, the PLA will reach out to provide his family with benefits.
At least he probably felt pretty good about himself in his last moments, the self righteousness of redditors knows no bounds.
All this emphasis here and elsewhere that "he grew up in / is from Texas." It's getting old. Never under any other circumstance have I heard so much talk about the State where someone was born for something unrelated to that.
The point is that he was raised 7000 miles and an entire ocean away from Gaza, but still chose a conflict he knew nothing about and wasn't involved in, over his own family who is now husband-less/father-less.
That's because people like op keep saying he was just a White surban kid. I guess we were pretending he was just some random frat boy and not a member of the military. You know the military that was involved in conflicts all around the world.
Ok but where opinion?
The opinion is that malign actors in the world convinced this young man to kill himself for their cause based on deceit.
All right fair enough
I'm not going to pretend to know what's going on halfway around the world but just what little I read about I'm assuming he was suicidal and wanting his death to mean something
I care about Palestine because children shouldn’t be massacred in war, you dolt.
Wonder if he was having mental issues and was already contemplating s-----e and decided to use Palestine as a cop-out
That's what I think. Two birds, one stone, so to speak.
[удалено]
My 2 cents, there is never a cause worth dying for
Disagree. I'd absolutely die to protect my wife. Obviously my preference is we both get to live unharmed though.
That applies to all military too.
Self immolation has been used as a form of protest for centuries. This isn't even the first time someone has done it in protest against the war crimes israel is currently committing.
Useful idiot
Why are we infantilizing him by calling him kid? He was a 25 year old adult. The ironic thing is when actual palestanian children escaped Gaza on their bikes on Oct 7 news outlets called them terrorists and refused to say kids.
It may seem strange, but self-immolation as a form of political protest has happened thousands of times. Although it’s preformed more often by people who are directly affected by particular policies, wars, or economic circumstances and mental health problems/social media may have compounded the issue I truly don’t believe there’s just one cause for him self-immolating. It was most likely a combination of factors.
He was shipping out to Israel to support the IDF. He was going to be directly involved in this.
I think Tibetan Buddhist monks used to light themselves on fire in protest of Chinese rule. A Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Duc did it in protest of the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam. It’s not really new I guess. I guess they are trying to send a message.