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The news that an active duty member of the Air Force lit himself on fire yesterday, in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C., was apparently meant to be a shocking political statement by the man who did it.
The news that the airman has now died as a result of his actions is sad, but not shocking. The man, now identified as Air Force member Aaron Bushnell, age 25, was confirmed to have died overnight. And he wanted to make his statement as loud and dramatic and public as possible, including streaming the entire thing on Twitch for people to witness.
A harrowing video livestreamed on Twitch on Sunday afternoon appeared to show the serviceman dressed in uniform standing in front of the embassy and identifying himself as a member of the US Air Force.
“I will no longer be complicit in genocide [in Gaza]. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest,” Bushnell reportedly said, before dousing himself with an unknown liquid and setting himself ablaze while repeatedly crying out “Free Palestine.”
Just hours before his deadly act of self-immolation, Bushnell posted a final message on Facebook.
“Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now,” he wrote.
The message included a link to the Twitch livestream, which was later removed for violating the platform’s community guidelines.
A closer look at the airman’s social media page revealed that he followed two Ohio-based anarchist groups — Burning River Anarchist Collective and Mutual Air Street Solidarity.
He also liked an account belonging to the Kent State University chapter of the radical pro-Hamas group Students for Justice in Palestine.
Unfortunately for Bushnell’s family, their final images of him will always be the ones of him being immolated by his own hand. The question is, why? Why would a member of the Air Force, a young man with no apparent ties to Israel or Palestine, be so driven to commit suicide in this very public and intentionally attention-getting manner?
We have no concrete answers right now. All we know is that Bushnell was in the Air Force, liked a couple of anarchist groups and one pro-Hamas group on social media, left a pretty political final note on Facebook, and hadn’t posted on Twitch since 2018 until his final streaming video yesterday.
We may get more details about the actions of Bushnell leading up to yesterday, especially from the Air Force, but as of right now, we are left with two options – radicalization on behalf of Palestine/Gaza/Hamas, or severe mental illness.
But if Bushnell was dealing with mental illness, why didn’t the Air Force know or intervene? If he was active duty, then he was RIGHT THERE in front of his unit and commanding officer. Did he hide this well? Did someone not take him seriously until it was too late? Did he not leave any indications of his mental state until he was literally lighting himself on fire?
How does someone with these kind of mental health issues remain active duty? https://t.co/3PIJAXWIjD
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) February 26, 2024
The other option is that Bushnell was radicalized. This is obviously the more disturbing option, because again, he was active duty Air Force. Who could be radicalizing him? How could he be conditioned to think that his suicide would make a big enough statement to do… what? There are no American troops in Israel participating in the war in Gaza. Or is the Biden administration’s support – at first strident if shaky, now decidedly tepid and wimpy – of Israel what Bushnell was referring to? Did he intend for his death to be so shocking that it would convince the Biden administration to withdraw support for Israel?
If we look at Bushnell’s final message on Facebook, there’s something that rings dangerously myopic and hysterical about it. As an active duty Air Force member, Aaron Bushnell should have had an answer for at least the first question. If he had been alive during slavery, then he would have eventually fought for the Union. But for each of these issues he mentions, there were non-violent political movements which did stand in opposition to each issue, which eventually effected great change in each situation. But Bushnell was young – only 25. His final message comes across as hyperbolically ignorant, full of buzzwords without any nuance or understanding of what happened in each historical issue he mentioned. Something was desperately wrong with this man, and the Air Force has some explaining to do.
We may never get a full picture of what drove Aaron Bushnell to commit suicide in this way. What we can be grateful for is that, even though he intended his self-immolation to be a shocking and public and political act, he did not attempt to harm anyone else in the process. We would be having a VERY different conversation if he had decided to become a suicide bomber in front of the Israeli Embassy.
Featured image: Embassy of Israel in Washington D.C. via APK on Wikimedia Commons, cropped, Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED)
Cameron says: But if Bushnell was dealing with mental illness, why didn’t the Air Force know or intervene?
Because standards are lower.
That is actually the correct answer, I think.
The Biden administration is not worried about maintaining a strong, patriotic military force. Their focus is using the military for social engineering. In fact, the policies of the Biden administration are so warped that we can be forgiven for believing that Democrats hate America so much that they are trying to destroy it.
Dietrich says: I maintain that the recent Dem administrations (O’sama-Bama and Xiden) are creating a military to use against U.S. Citizens.
I’m willing to be proven wrong.
John Shepherd says: In their ignorance all the “Justice for Palestine” crowd flatter themselves on how they would have opposed Hitler if they had been in Germany or fought against slavery in the 19th Century. They remind me of the audience when I first saw “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” when I was an undergrad in 1970. They were cheering for the anti-establishment libertine teacher at a girl’s school right up to the end when they realized she was a fascist.
Maybe supporters of Israel should start asking them “Who would Hitler support?”. Wait a minute, we have an answer:
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2008/09/28/books/segev-600.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale
GWB says: The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now
No. You’re not. Though you could be, by supporting Hamas, if they ever get their way.
he followed two Ohio-based anarchist groups
That right there is something that should have been reported, and his clearance evaluated.
He also liked … the Kent State University chapter of … Students for Justice in Palestine.
Kent State? Really? Once again, not studying history will get you to do stupid stuff. And that one should have had him receive a psych eval, along with the two others. Then he should have been booted from the service.
We have no concrete answers right now.
I think we have very concrete answers. He was indoctrinated into the kinds of anti-American crap the “anarchists” worship, and he was pro-Hamas – again, due to Progressive indoctrination. He was a fool. He bought into the radical chic that so many (like our schools at all levels) praise and encourage in our children. This isn’t hard.
And, no, I have zero sympathy for him. And little for his family. Because, until I learn otherwise, I will assume his family is probably also immersed in this stuff. If he became radicalized elsewhere, then I will have some sympathy for the family. But this is what our culture hath wrought. This isn’t some weird fringe thing, it IS OUR CULTURE now.
But if Bushnell was dealing with mental illness
The only mental illness was following the cult of Progressivism. And that’s not one you’re allowed to diagnose. The priests and prophets and the Progressive Inquisition won’t let you.
The other option is that Bushnell was radicalized.
Even if he were mentally ill, he was radicalized. It could have happened anywhere (depending on his family) from the crib through to his time in the Air Force. Again, this is what our culture hath wrought: DEI and CRT and all of that Progressive dogma is part and parcel of our military now (because it’s part of our culture).
what Bushnell was referring to?
Bushnell was just repeating the received wisdom from his church higher-ups: the media, the government, the groups that claim “absolute freedom” (meaning, really, hedonism). He didn’t have a clue what was going on in reality, just in the sermons he heard from the pulpit of Progressivism. He was likely severely online.
there were non-violent political movements which did stand in opposition to each issue
He likely would have been involved in John Brown’s movement, instead.
More likely he would have had his foolishness beaten out of him by his neighbors and would have simply been a middling-to-good farmer, instead.
Bushnell was young – only 25.
At 25, in the Air Force, I was flying critical missions in support of humanitarian operations and post-war operations with a giant bag of gas. And I was supervising other younger men who were on my crew. And plenty of other 25yo folks were deployed around the world, moving cargo, maintaining avionics and engines, loading weapons, puking off the aft sponson, directing infantry platoons, guiding fires onto enemy positions.
I refuse to accept the “he was young” as any sort of defense of his foolish beliefs or actions.
Yes, the AF is at fault. This guy should have been sharply rebuked and corrected or given an Other Than Honorable and let go, But, more importantly, our society is at fault for replacing Christianity with Progressivism, and all of its issues. We are at fault for allowing the religion to spread through our institutions and falling for its seductive promises. Anyone in this man’s path throughout his life who didn’t stop him and say, “That’s foolishness and following it can only give you grief and pain,” is at fault.
GWB says: BTW, I hope the AF is doing a Line Of Duty determination and revoking all of his service-sponsored benefits. He certainly doesn’t deserve them.
Cameron says: I hate to say it but I hope his Squadron is under the microscope right now to see if there are any other idiots in that group.
Scott says: Apparently his parents are involved in a Christian church that supports Israel, somewhere near Cape Cod. His beliefs may have been rebellion to his upbringing, but it doesn’t sound like they were in line with it.
GWB says: Then he gave in to the indoctrination.
Scott says: Yep, this is what years of our public indoctrination system, and a fool like Miley worrying about “white rage” instead of the things our military should focus on.
GWB says: FYI, that “church appears to be a cult of some kind. Their rules appear to be decent, but it seems a little … odd. They have been accused of being an abusive cult in the past. (They also have a compound or something in New Orleans; an odd pair of endpoints for a community like that.)
“The Community of Jesus”
Scott says: Agreed. Wasn’t making any judgement on the church’s merits, only that it doesn’t seem to be pro-Ham Ass
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