War Protester Does A Torch Impression and No Once Notices

A depressed war protester became so angry and discontent with America's invasion and post-invasion fucking up of Iraq, that he carefully planned to commit self-immolation as a form of public protest, Vietnam Buddhist monk style.

At 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 3 -- four days before an election caused a seismic shift in Washington politics-- Malachi 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.

"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."


You'd think such a extreme form of protest might even make 5 minutes worth of news? Nah!! It's way more important we know who Britney is paling around with now.

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.

There was only one problem: No one was listening.

It took five days for the Cook County medical examiner to identify the charred-beyond-recognition corpse. Meanwhile, Ritscher's suicide went largely unnoticed. It wasn't until a reporter for an alternative weekly, the Chicago Reader, pieced the facts together that word began to spread.

This may have been a man who suffered with depression, as many who commit suicide also suffer from. But a suicide as a form of protest is still a protest. The media has always played a crucial role in a country where forward progress is usually the result of public dissent and protest. It's a true fucking shame when the media fails to do their part of the job.

At least I know Britney is doing well hanging out with Paris Hilton after her divorce.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fd/Thich_Quang_Duc_-_Self_Immolation.jpg/300px-Thich_Quang_Duc_-_Self_Immolation.jpg

Source: Editor and Publisher

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/news/all/19439/War-Protester-Does-A-Torch-Impression-and-No-Once-Notices/