Us Military - Tumblr Posts
I am reposting this to take accountability for the egregious oversight I made on my previous post. I said "rest in peace and power," and I definitely did not intend to disrespect and de-historicize the meaning behind 'rest in power.' The Black Lives Matter movement uses this in remembrance of the Black people who have been killed by police violence and brutality, so my sincere apologies.
What Aaron is exposing and what he has done must be spoken about, especially since it concerns US complicity and violence, but definitely using appropriate words and context. Thank you to the person who pointed/called it out. I hope Aaron is resting in peace.
Devil pup Joseph
(Part 4 of 4)
A matter of perspective…
tw for self harm and self immolation
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had to share this bc I am in awe of this man.
a man self immolated in front of the israeli embassy in washington dc yesterday. not just any man. an active member of the us air force. he live streamed his death, and said that he refused to be complicit in a genocide any longer. he said that compared to what palestinians were facing every day, setting himself alight was nothing.
let me reiterate. an active duty air force member burned himself alive because he was so disgusted by what the us government was openly supporting. he live-streamed his own suicide, so the whole world could bear witness as a man in his military uniform set himself on fire to protest his government’s complicity in the horrors that we have all been forced to watch happen in real time. he became a new horror. footage of the immolation blurs him out the moment the fire catches, but you can hear him. it is over in seconds, really, but you can hear him screaming. he shouts “free palestine” until his body physically cannot make any sounds other than guttural screams of agony. and then he falls silent. a police officer arrives and points a gun at his still burning body, shouting at him to get down on the ground. and it is over.
his name was Aaron Bushnell. he was twenty five years old. and he isn’t here anymore because the political ruling class has decided that genocide is perfectly fine as long as it preserves imperialism. in the coming days, people will try to discredit him. to say that he was mentally unstable. they will try to bury his actions to save face and defend israel’s propaganda. do not let them. aaron knew what he was doing. he knew what he was doing when he put on his military uniform, set up his twitch stream, and made his final walk up to the embassy. he knew what would happen to him when he flicked that lighter. do not let them forget. aaron’s blood is on the hands of the political ruling class.
Aaron Bushnell's final social media post before his self-immolation.
The reason the establishment is so terrified of Aaron Bushnell's protest, is because they understand a point many of you seem to have missed
Aaron wasn't sending a message to the government (we know they don't care)
No, I think Aaron's message was meant for other service people like him. Because if the military refuses to participate in the genocide, it's over
And if you thought YOU were moved by Aaron's actions...
imagine how Aaron's unit is feeling right now
Mutinies have started for less
The exact moment every protest turns into a revolution, is when the army refuses to defend the establishment any longer.
And THAT was the message Aaron was sending out. How many units now are ready to reject orders? How low does their morale have to sink before they say 'enough!' How long until they stop pointing guns at the protestors outside, and run over and join them instead?
This is dangerous territory for a government that is hellbent on ignoring every crisis it creates
“but what if other people follow Aaron Bushnell’s example and go killing themselves?!”
if our leaders give a shit, they’ll answer his call to action and prevent that from happening, which is the whole goddamn point. he didn’t want more people following suit. he wanted to be the last fucking straw. if other people copy him, then you know who to blame, he TOLD us: the ruling class.
please consider how you engage with aaron bushnell's death. you may react to it as you will, but it's crucial to remember that his death was specifically a call to action. it was not meant solely to shock but to draw attention to a vast moral hypocrisy: that to many, a soldier dying in a campaign backed by the U.S. government is noble, even if the soldier kills innocents to do so, even if the cause is morally bankrupt--but this? this is insanity. a man taking his own life, on his own terms, in an attempt to help others while hurting nobody else, is somehow less rational and more horrifying than the mass killing of civilians.
of course aaron's death was horrific. but as he said beforehand, it is realistically no more horrific than what's happening in gaza. if we can't stomach this, then why can we stomach children being bombed? thousands being starved? for all that self immolation is, it brings death in a matter of minutes. it is a fraction of the amount of pain, fear, and grief that people in gaza are experiencing. it's just that we are able to quantify it. and this tiny, quantifiable sliver of horror is still so unbelievably awful. how can anyone bear to think about anything else when this horror is happening a millionfold in palestine? this is the question aaron bushnell was asking. and he wanted you to face it, head-on, watching him burn to death.
I've been seeing people make fanart. minimalist graphics to sell on t-shirts. to commodify his death, to mythologize it not a day afterwards, is not only in poor taste but a hindrance to his message. the answer is not commodification, nor is it defeatism, nor is it rejoicing in his death. if you want to honor aaron's legacy, take action. channel your horror and your outrage into making a material change. this wasn't about him. this was about palestine. remember that it was always about palestine.
please consider how you engage with aaron bushnell's death. you may react to it as you will, but it's crucial to remember that his death was specifically a call to action. it was not meant solely to shock but to draw attention to a vast moral hypocrisy: that to many, a soldier dying in a campaign backed by the U.S. government is noble, even if the soldier kills innocents to do so, even if the cause is morally bankrupt--but this? this is insanity. a man taking his own life, on his own terms, in an attempt to help others while hurting nobody else, is somehow less rational and more horrifying than the mass killing of civilians.
of course aaron's death was horrific. but as he said beforehand, it is realistically no more horrific than what's happening in gaza. if we can't stomach this, then why can we stomach children being bombed? thousands being starved? for all that self immolation is, it brings death in a matter of minutes. it is a fraction of the amount of pain, fear, and grief that people in gaza are experiencing. it's just that we are able to quantify it. and this tiny, quantifiable sliver of horror is still so unbelievably awful. how can anyone bear to think about anything else when this horror is happening a millionfold in palestine? this is the question aaron bushnell was asking. and he wanted you to face it, head-on, watching him burn to death.
I've been seeing people make fanart. minimalist graphics to sell on t-shirts. to commodify his death, to mythologize it not a day afterwards, is not only in poor taste but a hindrance to his message. the answer is not commodification, nor is it defeatism, nor is it rejoicing in his death. if you want to honor aaron's legacy, take action. channel your horror and your outrage into making a material change. this wasn't about him. this was about palestine. remember that it was always about palestine.
This was why a big part of why Aaron Bushnell did what he did.
The Navajo language was chosen to code U.S. military operations because it has no written form and is almost impossible for non-native speakers to learn. After the operation was declassified in 1968, the Japanese Chief of Intelligence admitted that though his army had been able to decipher many U.S. codes, they were never able to crack the Navajo code. Source Source 2
If any shit happens like this, send in the big guns to wipe out Baron, King, etc. Then bring out big storm into their doorstep:
“Did someone said Baron? Because we are just getting started.”
This mother fucker needs to stop his shit
GET THEM LANCE
Fuck you baron
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there the thing in the US military where an officer's pet is given a rank in the military one rank higher than their owner so in the case of animal abuse the military can charge the owner of attacking a commanding officer?
If this indeed applies to every station in the military, does that include the Commander in Cheif, aka, the President of the US?
What rank do the presidential pets hold in the military?
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Saturday 8-28-2021.