CW for the topic: self-harm
"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.
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This is one guy, one single guy, has made a statement as powerful as a protest of thousands. You can say it's suicide, but not that it's meaningless. You can say martyrdom is not something to aspire to, but cannot say that it did not take an incredibly rare level of devotion towards a cause that is just. Writing him off as out of his mind is an insult to his determination. I don't think self-immolating is the most productive thing he could have done, but at the end of the day, if it was, I know I wouldn't have the guts to follow through on it.
I never said it was meaningless, just that he needed help since there are better ways to protest without hurting yourself.