Do Not Be Coerced By Liberal Apathy
Aaron Bushnell and Max Azzerello were not the same. What the reaction and coverage of these events reveals about liberal apathy.
With cameras pointed at Manhattan for former President Trump’s criminal trial, a man named Max Azzerello used this moment to immolate himself outside the courthouse where cable news caught it live on air. Max, a self proclaimed investigative researcher, did so to promote his manifesto where in it, he insisted there is an imminent ‘fascist coup’ orchestrated by both Trump and Biden, bound to end with apocalyptic consequences. This conclusion was reached after he devoted fifteen hundred hours researching the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, Liquid Death water, Jeffrey Epstien, crypto currency, the submarine implosion, and other topics connected to his ‘secret kleptocracy’ conspiracy. There was intense speculation regarding this person’s identity and motive for the first hour or so following the event. The reactions to this event and the media’s coverage of it can reveal where America’s political spectrum is currently at.
Just under two months ago, Aaron Bushnell made the brave yet tragic decision to become a martyr in the on-going fight for ceasefire in Palestine, a conflict where more than 28,000 civilians have been killed. He decided to self-immolate in front of the Israeli embassy, recording live on Twitch where he, an active duty Air Force member, calmly stated “I will no longer be complicit in genocide” before burning himself alive. This event took longer to be reported and didn’t go as viral, which is more or less understandable, since it wasn’t broadcasted live on CNN. The coverage however was entirely inconsiderate. None of the major news outlets headlined the words ‘Gaza’ or ‘Palestine’ and many of them did not report on his direct quote, even the liberal leaning New York Times. Social media reactions obviously depend on political affiliation but it was not conservative against liberal. It was more so that only leftists and those explicitly for Palestinian liberation found his acts heroic. Conservatives and liberals alike denounced the action as crazy, foolish and sick. Some even considered his death to be entirely futile. And while they are quite literally correct, since our government and leaders remain unbothered, this is clearly said to scoff at the protest as a whole. The always lovely New York Post made the inflammatory, false claim he was raised in an abusive mind control cult. Another publication even took the opportunity this to claim that Palestinian activists were “glorifying a suicide” and labeled the act as violent. All of this with little attention to the cause he died for.
The important contrast between the two events is that despite them both being pathologized as crazy, Aaron was obviously sane. It was reported that friends described him as shy but strong willed, a person who was very engaged with his community and volunteered to help the homeless. Aaron was a person with immense empathy and his actions reflected that. In the video, he talked competently with purpose. His motivation was straightforward; free Palestine and end the genocide⁺.
This Trump trial in Manhattan was truly a history-textbook-worthy event, attracting the attention of your average person to your twitter addicted politic junkie. Before real answers came out, speculation bounced around comment sections and reply boxes. Some assumed it was another Palestinian protester, part of a movement which was ramping up in the weeks prior. It seemed the majority assumed it was a Trump martyr with comments like “And [MAGA’s] not a cult right?” or suggesting this was a TruthSocial user. Unfortunately none of us could have imagined the bizarre crusade this person was advocating for. Visiting his blog called “The Ponzi Papers'', he produced a wide collection of articles analyzing a wide range of conspiracy theories. His analysis leads to the thesis that a secret kleptocracy will begin a fascist coup. What seems overtly apparent is that Max was suffering from some psychiatric illness which he alluded to in a Facebook post. With this discovery, it makes the story all the more tragic since he wasn’t able to receive the help he needed in time. It's possible that these details never reached the average media consumer leaving them with the impression this was related to the trial. With some ankle deep information however, a completely different story is told. It is here, we can see that the relentless urge for liberals to dunk on Trump continues to be a burden. Rather than first thinking about the much more dire issue of a Palestinian liberation, it’s ‘look at what this crazy Trump supporter did’.
All of this is not to suggest Donald Trump is anything short of an aspiring neo-fascist⁺ but let's look deeper. However insignificant this individual event, we can zoom out to draw parallels. In our political landscape, the reality is we must acknowledge that centrist liberals die at the altar of integrity and politeness before necessary progressive change. We can see this in liberal media’s obsession with Trump: the antithesis of political civility. Trump was handed nearly two billion dollars in free press coverage during the 2016 election cycle, a trend that only ramped up during his presidency. The idea is that if you cover him enough you will expose how grotesque he is and people won’t vote for him. Not only does that not work but it helps him, it's his primary political strategy. We saw this with the multi-year Mueller report process. Though part of it was necessary reporting, especially with the subsequent impeachment, him being covered round the clock by liberal pundits, reporters, and late night hosts, just kept him in the spotlight. Remember when the media fixated on ‘covfefe-gate’, where the president’s Twitter typo was exhaustingly covered long after it became a dead horse? It only fed him and his base. The reason for the excessive coverage could have been their rivalry with right wing news, an attempt to grab ratings or a genuine fascination with Trump. Either way it left our country in its current lose-lose predicament today; two right wing candidates where the best selling point behind the one is that they aren’t the other. Last election, centrist liberals, democrats’ largest voting block, needed the ‘normalcy’ candidate. They were afraid of Trump but also had little motivation to change the status quo. So, they chose Biden over a progressive Warren, Williamson or Sanders who could’ve not only won the general election but actually brought lasting change to our government. This way of thinking is what makes up the majority of government today; only agonizingly slow, measured progress can be made after ‘radical’ politics have been thoroughly swept away. This includes ‘radicals’ like Sanders who dare to believe that healthcare is a human right and that Americans shouldn’t have to choose between an ambulance ride and crippling debt. In the majority mind of our democrat representatives, a bootlicking red hat is just as radical as the campus protester shouting for ceasefire.
The coverage of Aaron Bushnell reveals that liberal media cannot comprehend one of two things; we live in a world where America is actively assisting a genocide⁺ or where an emotionally rational military member would burn themselves alive to protest that genocide. You may feel uneasy seeing videos of children buried under rubble on social media because of bombs made in America. You may feel confused when even the most liberal media seem apathetic to this reality. You may find it odd that in April, our country sent $9 billion dollars to aid Palestians and in the same bill sent $17 billion to Israel to bomb them. And you may find it odd that 173 of 231 of house democrats voted for that bill. If any of this is the case, it's paramount to recognize that liberal institutions and the democratic party are not your ally.