One of the main reasons the self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell is having such an earthshaking impact on our society is because it’s the single most profound act of sincerity that any of us have ever witnessed.
In this fraudulent civilization where everything is fake and stupid, we are not accustomed to such sincerity. We’re accustomed to vapid mainstream culture manufactured in New York and Los Angeles, airheaded celebrities who never talk about anything real, self-aggrandizing Instagram activism, synthetic political factions designed to herd populist discontent into support for status quo politics, phony shitlib “I hear you, I stand with you [but I won’t actually do anything]” posturing, endless propaganda and diversion from the mass media and its online equivalents which are algorithmically boosted by Silicon Valley tech plutocrats, and a mind-controlled dystopia where almost everyone is sleepwalking through life in a psyop-induced fog.
That is the sort of experience we have been conditioned to expect here in the shadow of the western empire. And then, out of nowhere, some Air Force guy comes along and does something real. Something as authentic and sincere as anything could possibly be, with the very noblest of intentions.
2 comments:
Sincerity, absolutely but the courage boggles the mind. I watched the footage again this morning on Democracy Now and cringed at one of the two attending cops at the incident had to hold a fire arm on Aaron as the other tried to extinguish the flames. Too answer Aaron's question "What would you do" we certainly see that courage doesn't abound.
zoombats,
I find it highly depressing that only some people are stirred by a genocide that they'll show up with others in public to protest. Other people (not quite as many as the first group I don't think, but still significant) support this genocide. A tiny, but influential and/or powerful group of politicians and oligarchs (such as the current Liberal government and the Conservative opposition) actively assist the genocide. And a majority of the country doesn't really care one way or the other about the subject.
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