War Protestor Burns Himself Alive...

[iris]

... in the middle of rush-hour traffic.

And the media ignores the story.

That's right, nothing to see here. Everyone go back to talking about Britney Spears and Kevin Federline. Look! They're breaking up! OMIGAWD!



But if you're interested, check these links:

Blog reporting Malachi's death (http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/post-no-bills/2006/11/07/malachi-ritschers-apparent-suicide/) ... written by the community who knew him as a friendly musician and sound engineer. Includes comments from friends and relatives.

Malachi's "Mission Statement (http://www.savagesound.com/gallery99.htm)" on his personal site.

I'm not trying to promote his message or anything. I really have no idea what to make of this yet.

(I really shouldn't make decisions about starting new threads at 2 am, should I? :P)

[Ra]

I don't know what to make of this either, other than a poor soul who didn't know what to do with his life, so he killed himself in the hopes of deminstrating that life can be taken away with such a simple act, such as pulling a trigger on a gun.

And to be honest, I never like Britney Spears, even when she first came around. Her unnatural body poses scared me :P

[damnhooligan]

Echoes of Thích Quảng Đức. Creepy, man.

[Katie]

That's EXACTLY what I was thinking.

Lots of similar parallels in this whole thing.

[iris]

I don't know what to make of this either, other than a poor soul who didn't know what to do with his life, so he killed himself in the hopes of deminstrating that life can be taken away with such a simple act, such as pulling a trigger on a gun.
Yeah... but self-immolation is hardly a simple act. It's probably the slowest, most painful death one can inflict on oneself while leaving no option of stopping. The body was burned so far beyond recognition that they couldn't even tell what gender it was at first. Ouch, man, very ouch.

I've been thinking about this all morning. I guess he was despondent enough to contemplate killing himself, yet it seems he was a very driven individual. He was passionate about his work in the Chicago music community, and just as passionate about standing up for his beliefs. He felt a lot of personal guilt about his role in the war as a citizen (that for the people, by the people thing).

:ohwell:

He apparently recorded this act. The police have it.

[Voltron]

Echoes of Thích Quảng Đức. Creepy, man.


You read my mind.

I wonder if anything else this extreme has happened? The media seems to be playing down a lot of the protesting that's taking place in these days. I wonder if CSNY is gonna do something with this?

[Sewer Bull]

I wonder if anything else this extreme has happened?

A few cases of public self-immolations occured in Poland and Czechoslovakia during the communist times, as a form of protest against the regime. Mostly in the 60s.

[Drtooth]

... in the middle of rush-hour traffic.

And the media ignores the story.

That's right, nothing to see here. Everyone go back to talking about Britney Spears and Kevin Federline. Look! They're breaking up! OMIGAWD!

Sigh... do you know how many problems would be adressed at least if people ignored that crap? It's our pointless celebrity worship culture. If anyone rents or owns the SNL Best of TV Funhouse disk (or has seen the special) the "Distractor" cartoon (I think that's right) pretty much brings up my thesis.