Setting One's Self on Fire...
My 2 cents? It seems to me to be the ultimate passive aggressive act. It feels like "I'll hold my breath until I turn blue." If it were saying, "without what I am asking for, there can be no life for me," a myriad of other methods would be first choice. Pills, guns, bridges, traffic, all of which are only briefly painful and equally deadly. There is some added, primal layer of horror to setting one's self on fire which, itself, is part of the message. It makes those still unburnt feel embarrassment, and shame. It does not say, "these circumstances are unbearable therefore I will work to my dying breath to change them for myself and my fellows." That has a note of hope. Instead, setting oneself on fire says "I give up. I will hurt myself as a way of hurting you." Not correction so much as payback. I'm puzzled and bothered by the practice. Any insights on what all I've missed?“I’m puzzled and bothered by the practice. Any insights on what all I’ve missed?”
Err—just one thing: it’s not always about you.
Self-immolation is not a statement of despair; it is an ultimate (if somewhat creepy) act of nurture and education, dramatizing to the most desensitized minds the nature of what they [the aforesaid minds] are doing.
It’s not a logical argument; it’s a koan.
Posted by on 06/25/03 at 11:54 AMSpeaking, as I was, from the point of view of one observing the act - Yes, it *is* all about me. [it all is anyway, but that’s another subject...]
“koan” - ok. I can go with that. [streeetching]
“Ultimate act of nurture and education” [??!!?!?!?!?!!?!??!] Might I ask you to say more about that?
Posted by Claire on 06/25/03 at 02:07 PMI despise quoting the whole of a previous post, but I find I need to do it here:
No, your reaction may be all about you, but you didn’t ASK about your reaction—you asked why they do it. Trust me, it’s not all about you, dear… OTOH:
Tch-tch, and I thought it was the SAME subject…
“Ultimate act of nurture and education” [??!!?!?!?!?!!?!??!] Might I ask you to say more about that?
The reason for self-immolation is to teach by example the effects the action being protested has on the world—again, recalling that it’s not a logical-linear response, but an esthetic one, an act of love and will. It’s a kind of non-Christian “For God so loved the world he gave his only-begotten son...” I think “ultimate” and “education” are pretty well covered there—“nurture” seems to fall out, too.
Posted by on 06/25/03 at 03:33 PMBy gum, your posting engine didn’t copy the text I copied into my post.
Posted by on 06/25/03 at 03:35 PM“your posting engine didn’t copy the text I copied into my post.”
Where? I need to fix that.
[...and no gum chewing unless you brought enough for the rest of us.]
Posted by Claire on 06/26/03 at 05:00 AMHey, I guess if it is coming out of a culture I am not familiar with I shouldn’t judge it as harshly as I did, but it sure seems like a negative way to teach. The most desensitized minds? Will remain that way, the most desensitized people I know would laugh and walk away.
Posted by Dave on 06/26/03 at 12:55 PM“Ultimate act of nurture and education” is far too positive for such a destructive expression as self-immolation. And I would say it is not just an expression of despair, though it can be so as well. The person who sets her/himself on fire does so to make it exponetially harder for the rest to pass by indifferently. This is in nature a political act. A desperate one.
In case of the MKO members setting themselves on fire, you should also keep in mind their group’s cult-like characteristics and their shaky situation at present. In such a case, the ones who set themselves on fire, were most likely just preforming their task as dictated by their leaders.
Posted by Babak on 06/26/03 at 01:10 PMReplying to Dave: “The most desensitized minds? Will remain that way, the most desensitized people I know would laugh and walk away. “
Yes. Quite right. The desensitized minds won’t get it; the sensitized minds don’t need it. Tactically, it can only be used to create leverage—consciousness raising in a grotesque way.
But you gotta give ‘em this: it remains a powerful statement.
Posted by on 06/26/03 at 01:19 PM
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