The thing is- if you light yourself on fire, most people are likely to think you are crazy. Arguably, if you would intentionally light yourself on fire, there are good odds you probably would be medically classified as having some sort of mental issue or crisis.
A common problem people have when they feel strongly about something is that they fail to control their emotions. Often times, showing a certain amount of emotion can help convince people or move them. If your voice breaks slightly or lowers; if someone like a composed official let’s slip a harsh word- it can resonate with people that they are angry or serious or sad etc.
Tom cruise was relentlessly mocked and even today the joke or references come up- he jumped on a couch in joy speaking on his love and engagement. Now, if a man broke composure and let out a small hint of giddiness people might see it as childishly endearing or a sight he is convincingly happy, but if you jump on the couch you get largely seen as nuts. If you are angry and you say “f&ck” in a setting that usually isn’t done, people can often feel and believe your outrage. If you go on a tirade or start foaming at the mouth in rage you’ll be seen likely as crazy.
Defacing a painting as a political message? Extreme- but easily understood by most. Angry+want attention= a destructive act against an object that lots of people regularly pay attention to. At the end of the day to most people, the majority of whom aren’t generally huge art buffs or holding the preservation of cultural art history as a major pillar of their values and concerns… the act may be viewed negatively, but it generally ranks slightly above grafiti and far below blowing up a building or crashing a train or even disrupting commerce.
Self immolation is extreme. In theory you’d think, and the general idea there, is that people witnessing it would think and say: “wow. This person cared so much about this they would do that. This is a serious issue and a human life was taken/endangered just to bring attention and I’m paying attention now!”
In reality though, most developed nations are life as cheap. Lots of people die every day. The world just went through a pandemic that took more than half a billion lives in a short span. We couldn’t get people to wear masks, stay at home, vaccinate, or even believe it was real or a threat. Death is politicized.
Americans see how many mass shootings how often? It’s been a major social and news topic for how long? How long after a mass shooting happens before someone begins talking politics- be that claiming a hoax or trying to leverage sympathy or promises of action for political gain, or anything else? It isn’t enough for ANYONE to die. Kids dying- that’s usually a big seller. “People like you” dying, that one sells tickets. You know isn’t a child and isn’t like the majority of Americans? An adult climate activist who would set themselves on fire to prove a point.
What I am saying here isn’t that this isn’t a tragic loss or that I have no sympathy or feelings about this death, or that others shouldn’t. What I am saying is that yes, life is cheap to us, maybe not our lives and maybe not the lives of people we care about… but it can be hard to find people who genuinely care about strangers or people unlike them today. The ongoing and long standing fight to be able to be black and not be murdered by police took on renewed flare recently and POC and allies across the country and world tried many different and high profile methods to get the issue noticed and express the urgent and significant need to be heard on the matter. And… lots of people mocked them, said that they were doing it wrong, said there wasn’t a problem, or outright chose to stand against them.
We talked covid. What other struggles has our age seen…? There was that time that women across the globe named names and showed receipts of the sexual aggression and even rape and assault from powerful and celebrated men and people called them liars or crazy or stood against them.
The time that children, families, and other people often literally starving or in danger were seeking opportunity in our country and… between literally trying to build a wall, caging and separating, several murders or killings, resistance to them, rejection and anger, mockery, harassment, persecution, oh.. let’s not forget the part where they were kidnapped and bussed or flown places under false pretenses as a political prick at their expense.
Life is cheap to most people. These are only a few examples. This ignores the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights like marriage or legal protections, the treatment of trans in society, discriminatory laws against such people… we can go further back to civil rights, we can talk about sweat shops and the well known connections that literal and figurative slavery have to modern commerce. We can talk about the people willing and glad to leave allies and citizens countries in need to die… we can talk about the global arms trade and military complex.. all the ways that life is cheap to us. Feelings and actions concerning the homeless, “welfare,” healthcare, prisoners and ex convicts… life is cheap. The proof is all over. That is the attitude.
So when one person dies to make a point that would inconvenience others, perhaps more so when they kill themselves- that life was already cheap to society. When that person can be labeled “crazy,” it becomes easier to label their beliefs or message as crazy too. As we see homelessness and other issues more and more in the news and hear the way people talk about places like SanFrancisco and what they say should be done- be see more and more how little life means to people especially when that life inconveniences them and/or belongs to a person we can label “crazy.”
When someone throws soup at a painting we can exercise our righteousness. We can be mad at them for trying to vandalize something precious and pure or drag it into their politics. We can be mad at the museum or whoever allowed it to happen. We can be mad at politicians for failing us. When someone lights themselves on fire we generally either need to be mad at them or mad at ourselves. Most of us don’t want to be mad at ourselves, and being mad at politicians about climate change is the same as being mad at ourselves generally in that of there is conviction behind the anger it demands change. The thing about environmental actions like climate issues are that changes usually require us to change. Changes to our lives.
Are you going to start taking public transit or give up that vacation trip to make change because some stranger lit themselves on fire? Are you going to be so impacted by their sacrifice/death that you will drastically change your eating habits or routines to bring change! Probably not. So if you’re upset over it and know you won’t do anything about it… that Jaír compounds your state of knowing that you could help but won’t because of what you lose. That life isn’t worth as much as what you’d give up to avoid it.
A common problem people have when they feel strongly about something is that they fail to control their emotions. Often times, showing a certain amount of emotion can help convince people or move them. If your voice breaks slightly or lowers; if someone like a composed official let’s slip a harsh word- it can resonate with people that they are angry or serious or sad etc.
In reality though, most developed nations are life as cheap. Lots of people die every day. The world just went through a pandemic that took more than half a billion lives in a short span. We couldn’t get people to wear masks, stay at home, vaccinate, or even believe it was real or a threat. Death is politicized.
The time that children, families, and other people often literally starving or in danger were seeking opportunity in our country and… between literally trying to build a wall, caging and separating, several murders or killings, resistance to them, rejection and anger, mockery, harassment, persecution, oh.. let’s not forget the part where they were kidnapped and bussed or flown places under false pretenses as a political prick at their expense.