Activist burns himself in protest over war

[nam78_two]

Old story, but I guess finally the m$m is becoming aware of it :eyes:


http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?
cat=GENERAL&fn=/2006/11/26/528703.html&cvqh=itn_warprotester

CHICAGO - Malachi Ritscher envisioned his death as one full of purpose.

He carefully planned the details, mailed a copy of his apartment key to a friend, created to-do lists for his family. On his Web site, the 52-year-old experimental musician who'd fought with depression even penned his obituary.

At 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 3 _ four days before an election caused a seismic shift in Washington politics _ Ritscher, a frequent anti-war protester, stood by an off-ramp in downtown Chicago near a statue of a giant flame, set up a video camera, doused himself with gasoline and lit himself on fire.

Aglow for the crush of morning commuters, his flaming body was supposed to be a call to the nation, a symbol of his rage and discontent with the U.S. war in Iraq.

"Here is the statement I want to make: if I am required to pay for your barbaric war, I choose not to live in your world. I refuse to finance the mass murder of innocent civilians, who did nothing to threaten our country," he wrote in his suicide note. "... If one death can atone for anything, in any small way, to say to the world: I apologize for what we have done to you, I am ashamed for the mayhem and turmoil caused by my country."

[uppityperson]

1. Am glad he is getting more MSM coverage. k&r

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2797830&mesg_id=2797830
http://www.iheardyoumalachi.org/story.html
Suicide note by Malachi/Mark http://www.iheardyoumalachi.org/story.html
Eulogy by Malachi/Mark http://www.savagesound.com/gallery100.htm


Edited to add, your link goes to main webpage. Can you post one direct to the Comcast story, am having difficulty finding it. Thanks.

[Wilms]

2. Looks like an AP story.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/26/AR2006112600376.html

[stillcool]

3. I just love this part...

Mental health experts say virtually no suicides occur without some kind of a diagnosable mental illness. But Ritscher's family disagrees about whether he had severe mental problems.

seems to me the interjection of these 'experts' is an attempt to write this man's story off as some loony-tune. I wonder if any one goes through life without exhibiting at one time or another some form of mental illness.

[nam78_two]

4. yep/nt

[StraightDope]

5. Mental health 'experts' also promulgate the idea...

That the desire to kill oneself is indicative in and of itself of mental illness. Even the terminally ill are considered mentally unhealthy if they express a desire to end their lives.

These are the same mental health 'experts' who claim that any use of an illegal substance is by definition abuse, since the use of the same has the potential for 'negative consequences'.

Mental health 'experts' are morally and ethically bankrupt charlatans, constantly inventing new disorders in order to keep themselves employed.

ADD didn't exist as a clinical DSM diagnosis until 1980, and the symptoms of this 'disease' were considered a normal part of childhood by most of the same 'experts' who now medicate everyone for everything.

[Dogmudgeon]

6. Smells Like Tom Cruise

"Mental health 'experts' are morally and ethically bankrupt charlatans, constantly inventing new disorders in order to keep themselves employed."

Great Lord Emperor Xenu, that took my breath away! If you wrote that about Jews, Blacks, Atheists, or literally anybody else, you'd be jumped on in a minute.

Of course, it's hip to blame mental health people for all sorts of problems, from anorexia to bad TV to the fact that kids aren't getting spanked enough these days.

You really don't know much about mental health issues, do you?

--p!

[uppityperson]

8. mental health is a profession, a business, not race, color or creed

And yes, there is a part of this profession, this business, that wants to keep themselves employed. There are good mental health people, there are charlatans. Sort of like pharmaceutical companies, some good, some out to profit only.

Who is blaming mental health people for "anorexia to bad TV to the fact that kids aren't getting spanked enough these days. "? I missed what you mean here.

And yes, do know about mental health issues as well as the "health care" business in general.

[StraightDope]

9. I majored in Psychology for 3 years as an undergrad...

I know ALL about the industry, and yes, that's what it is, an industry. I've also seen someone who was forcibly medicated with Prozac commit suicide at the age of 13.

Oh, and Scientologists are idiots.

End communication.

[file83]

16. I second that.

:thumbsup:

[Dogmudgeon]

18. You know ALL about the industry

And Tom Cruise knows ALL about psychiatry and psychology.

So you know ALL about the "industry" based on three years' undergrad study? Ooh, I am not worthy, oh mighty one!

Then there's that suicide. A child, no less. I guess that gives you moral standing now. So you can talk with absolute certainty about things of which you have only superficial knowledge, and feign righteous outrage.

Ever seen an unmedicated child with a severe mental illness and/or epilepsy with "content" (i.e., hallucinations)? I guess a couple hours of Dianetics and a vegan diet are all those kids need, right? Funny how those kids don't get interviewed for "eeevil psych" stories.

You next dumbass statement? ("Whatever" and "'cause Ron said so" don't count.)

Oh, wait a minute. You don't communicate. Right.

--p!
14 years' experience in psychology and neurodiagnostics.
Guess that makes me one of Xenu's minions.

[uppityperson]

7. sometimes death is not the worst thing a person can think of, life above all

is not always the rule. Sacrifice, even of life, does not mean someone is mentally ill, though many might think this.

[Vorta]

11. Even if he was mentally ill, that doesn't mean he did it for jollies.

So many folks have everything boiled down to "if A then B". Obviously some of the news folks wrote this off to his condition rather than his passion. So I guess in their minds a self-immolation (I can't believe there is even a word for it) only means something if the person is completely sane, and since no one who is completely sane would do this, then they'll never report it? I know I'm projecting, but God you have to wonder how this wasn't all over the news.

[stillcool]

13. dying for something..

is what hero's do. In the serenity prayer...the courage to change the things I can...is very fitting to this situation. I understand perfectly how, and why someone who felt, would do such a thing.

[Vorta]

14. The "no sane person would do this" was part of the suspected media rationale for not reporting ...

... as much as I thought they would. I would imagine that some stations thought it might inspire others. I don't know if that's even the case. It's posssible that it was on and I just didn't see it.

While I can't imagine myself doing this, and frankly can't understand someone else doing it, I can imagine that someone else would do it for the very reason you mentioned.

[Vorta]

10. This is the first I have heard of this. That's amazing.

With all the idiotic crap that made the news in the last couple of weeks, and something like this isn't reported often enough that a person who watches the news daily would see it.

[Wally101]

12. He's crazy.....

Simply crazy. If he actually ended his life because of the situation in Iraq, I've gotta go with crazy. His sacrifice (if that truly is what it was) won't make a dent in the way this war is conducted. He'd have been more effective posting his thoughts on the web and in letters to the editors.

Just my thoughts,

Mark

[StraightDope]

15. Mark, I suppose that this man was simply crazy as well...

Thích Quảng Đức. People who have deeply held convictions sometimes feel that their life isn't worth continuing in comparison with the mere possibility that their sacrifice will bring about positive changes.

[JI7]

17. our disgusting whore media wont report on this