Setting Yourself On Fire For a Worthy Cause: Why Not?

[bliumchik]

The symbolism is practically poetic. You can feel it like a story, the news spreads (like, hah, wildfire), they whisper - did you hear? Is it true? Did you know him? Oh my god.

He set himself on fire.

I hardly think, though, that poetry was his primary aim in doing so. And yet - as a political statement, what does it provide, except an extremely powerful symbol? Symbolism needs somewhere to go. A symbol can set fire (once again the appropriate metaphor) to the people, can wake them up, which was Malachi's intention, but people go back to sleep so easily. We tune out, it's how we survive. An alarming symbol, therefore, needs to be timed precisely enough to wake the people when they are needed, when there is a clear action for them to take. Inciting revolution - that's worth setting yourself on fire for, if you happen to believe in revolution.

You can't make symbolism at random. It's such a waste. He sounded like an intelligent sort of person, from his website - there was so much more he could have done. I won't dispute anyone's right to take extreme measures for something they believe in, but the pragmatist in me winces at the waste. Still, it remains to be seen - will anything happen? All those Americans he wakes from the stupor we tend to call life - what will they do? I suppose I'm cynical when I think it won't be much. Still, I hope something happens. It's sad to think he did it for nothing.

Comments

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

You should link his farewell essay (http://www.savagesound.com/gallery99.htm) too.

I'm going to be thinking about this for a long time, because this piece IS so coldly pragmatic in its way. I don't think he had a lot of illusions about the effectiveness of it as a gesture to the public. It sounds like this is something he did for his own soul.

I agree with you about symbolism needing somewhere to go. I remember hearing about how this was done a few times during Vietnam--Buddhist monks in Asia did it, as did at least one American. And in a way, it does depend on who's paying attention and in what way.

[maggiebloome.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting point... I'm not sure quite what sort of personality looks at a fucked up world, thinks "I can't live with this" and then proceeds to off himself in a very painful manner involving fire. I did read the farewell essay when you linked to the site, and it sounded very much like he wanted to make his death a statement. If it's for your own soul, it seems like you'd want to fix things, or get out in a less painful way than burning to death.

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

I once had this dream about this boy priest summoning the dragon of revolution, with the help of 5 little blond sisters. The dragon came, and things started to change, but then they started to go horribly wrong. The revolutionaries were throwing the "bad" people into pits of fire for their crimes, at first people like greedy corporate heads and that sort of thing; but gradually they started pointing the finger at lesser and lesser "criminals", and they were throwing essential innocents into the fire.

The boy wondered what had happened, because he thought the dragon was supposed to be a good force that needed to be released into the world. The dragon told him that it was neither a "good" force or a "bad" force, that it was simply revolution - the evil was in the hearts of the people, so they'd turned the revolution into a bad thing.

...I don't know why I'm mentioning this, it just seemed somehow relevant. xD

[maggiebloome.livejournal.com]

You have odd dreams. But yes, it's like that Terry Pratchett book... "the revolution always comes round again. That's why it's called a revolution." and my history teacher is fond of "the revolution eats her children."