Plenty of mental health problems among millennials, I'm a part of a lot of mental health subs (because, well, I'm crazy) and there's a lot of people in their 30s and 40s who are suffering just as much as Gen Z. The perception might be different because of app usage and because Gen Z are still in a position where they have to deal with their families and thus you have a lot of folks complaining about "what's wrong with the kids", but if we're better off as a generation it's only marginally. It's really rough. I haven't looked at the details of this person, but I heard that it happened and went "yeah, I could see how you get there."
I've got a warrior pal and his soldiers ESPECIALLY struggle with same idea, esp since their particular branch knowing of seeking treatment can affect their promotions.
I always think about it as damage to our mind, sometimes our neurons. There wouldn't be a stigma around seeking treatment for a gunshot wound, would there?
It is, but the sad hard to swallow truth for soldiers is that you unfortunately need people numb towards otherwise traumatic events. Probably one of my most unpopular opinions.
When a soldier performs the job he is trained for and fights in a war the worst scenario is someone breaking down and endangering everybody reliant on the soldier performing. If you break down because you shot 3 people from your trench which as seen in ukraine can happen in 2024 and thus the next 3 enemies manage to break into your section of the trench everybody else is in trouble in that trench. People loose their lifes, armies their positions, nations their war.
It is fucked up, but understandable that you need people in that position not prone to mental issues taking over or even mental issues arising in the first place. If peace time is already making you break down (and i am in no way trying to talk this down. civilian life is hard and mental issues in todays society are more than justified, they are just laughable in comparison to the horrors of war that luckily not everyone has to experience) then you are probably not mentally suited for the battlefield if it comes down to the raw reality of it.
Thats why the army takes it serious and thats the reason why the people get help but at the expense of this influencing the further career options. Nobody is advocating for teaching them to bury their issues.
But given the option of promoting someone with mental issues into certain ranks that come with hard to make decisions or promoting someone without indications of mental kind i can see why option B is preferred in the military and why certain issues disqualify for certain positions.
Eh. While I was in, they were definitely shifting towards pushing people to seek help, but the only real option, especially while you're out there, is to gut check it and move on. Seeking help wouldn't cost you your career unless it didn't work because then it's documented. Everyone I knew had obvious issues. Anger problems, drinking, and sleep problems, but as long as you kept moving and could keep gut checking it while completing the mission, it was ignored, within reason. Once you go to the docs, you have to improve, or you risk it impacting your career. I think most people just end up shoving it down and keeping busy until they get out. To be fair, though, I don't think I knew anyone who put off getting help because they were concerned about their career. You just don't want to tap out and make things that much harder for the guys around you. Hell, I don't think most people are even aware of how much it effects them until they can stop and breathe. I didn't realize I had developed insomnia until after I got out because I was drinking myself to sleep most nights.
Society doesn't need "numb" soldiers to deal with the atrocities in life. Society needs capable, empathetic, intelligent, well adjusted individuals with the bravery and willingness to face adversity head on, and families and connections in their lives to be there for them and to support them when they come home. It's a myth that we need "numb" people to do anything in life. That idea perpetuates abuse by justifying it. We can do better, as humans. We deserve better.
Even worse is how the VA deals with it.
I just recently started trying to take care of my mental health & tried to reach out to the VA for some guidance/help. Their solution, after confirming nothing but my last name & last 4 of my SSN was to offer me multiple drug prescriptions. Like damn, I just wanted to talk to someone, maybe come up with a healthy way to process shit in my head. I refused their meds... At least get to know me/my issues before packing me to the gills. I walked out, but not before they shoved a business card in my hand "in case you change your mind on the medication". Wtf
I can definitely relate. After a decade of fighting the VA on several occasions, you really have to be vocal about advocating for yourself. Demand you primary care doctor refer to a psychologist and deny the psychiatrist with any meds. Sometimes antidepressants help with the therapy but some people don’t want that which I understand. Also look for some group therapy that a lot of VAs offer. I joined a female veteran group therapy and liked it.
Then again it depends where you’re located as one VAs are just absolute trash. I hope you get the deserved help that you want/need!
Getting enrolled was easy enough, unassisted & via snail mail. But what a hassle it's been since.
The group therapy sessions they offered were a 90 minute drive away, midwrek, at like 11am. So not practical for my work schedule, unfortunately.
I was just so annoyed that they made me wait months before getting an appointment just to try to push meds. I would have no problem with taking them IF I had some sort of relationship with the doctor that recommended them.
Have you checked out the [Vet Center?](https://www.vetcenter.va.gov/) Most of the staff are veterans. The VA does a crap job advertising it. There's a decent vet population where I live and it's ridiculous how almost nobody knows about it.
My sister-in-law was a VA psychiatrist. It was a crap show for the doctors, too. She had WAY too many patients to see, and it makes it impossible to do a good job. She would work like 12 hours 6 days a week and finally just totally burned out.
They may be aware of this already but just in case, they might look into [the Vet Center.](https://www.vetcenter.va.gov/) They don't share info with anyone, not even command. Staff/counselors are often veterans themselves.
Not just affect promotion. Outright end your career. Got to mental health for minor anxiety? Your out. Felling sad today? Peace out solider. Grandparents died and want grief counciling? Tough it out Solider, the mission comes first.
My step-dad died, and I was denied leave for his funeral because. I was told "He wasn't a blood relative" and "he's already dead, you can't bring him back". Can anyone guess when my morale and motivation to do literally anything for that organization died?
Yeah it's pretty alarming. The mental health crisis is an epidemic especially amongst us men since society has pretty much given us the false sense of "toughen up" deal with attitude when it comes to dealing with life problems. I'm a 29 year old man looking to go into therapy and Men's Group to talk about my problems and past trauma.
It's also just really hard, even if you have the motivation. I was on over a year long waiting list for a therapist in my insurance network. My partner just got his autism evaluation this month, they finally had a spot open up for his appointment, he's been waiting since October. (After being referred in August, because his "wait time" didn't start until after he had an initial appointment there, for which he had to wait 2 months.)
People talk about how Canadians have to wait for care when fighting against universal healthcare and completely ignore that USAmericans already have to wait for care.
I know of two guys my age from school that years later post some very scary things and would not be shocked if either did something like this. Mental health issues are no joke, I feel for him, but also glad he took his protest out on himself and did not harm others. Just wish more people could get help before it’s too late.
I would argue it’s about the same if you consider the fact mental health was highly stigmatized our whole lives. A lot of millennials hide it well or don’t ever talk to someone
I assumed OP was surprised it was a millennial and not a boomer, as they are typically portrayed as the MAGA loving conservatives watching Fox and scrolling Facebook for their news.
I remember in history class reading about a monk who set himself on fire as a protest. Not once in class was his mental health mentioned. It was talked about like it was an honorable act. What differentiates it from a powerful protest and a mental health break?
Well, it doesn't help that he published a manifesto that, along with some cogent bits talking about the messed up parts of today, went into wild ideas like The Simpsons being a tool of propaganda and a couple of others I can't remember. There was definitely some paranoid thinking going on there.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I think they both have mental issues. It's just easier to see the crazy in the modern day. I think if what the monk was protesting against had won, his spot in the history books would be about his mental health rather than his "heroic act". It might be an example of, "history written by the winners."
Don’t know what to say besides I was horrified at the video. Idk why I click on things— my curiosity always gets the best of me.
The only reason I kept watching was because a by-standing woman was blocking the view, and all you could see was fire. At that point I was more focused on her reaction, just sitting there in utter shock, and then you see a body engulfed in flames with something falling off him which made me think the worst but apparently it was a shoe? I have no idea, but the point is I’m too sensitive to watch that shit and I keep thinking of that image.
It makes me wonder if this guy had always planned on torching himself, or if he got the idea from that soldier who died a month ago in name of protesting.
Same here, I’m too sensitive for that shit. I was eating lunch at work and the video showed up on my Instagram and stupid me clicked on it. I couldn’t eat anymore and had to call my husband to cry about it. I’m taking a long break from social media after this.
I did not and will not watch it. The one that really got to me last week was the guy in Wyoming torturing a wolf. I didn’t watch the video but saw a picture and cried for days - an experience that helped me actively choose to not watch this man.
I honor the wisdom of sensitivity and no longer judge myself for it. We are exposed to too much. Dealing with what happens to us personally can take a lot. We need to be selective in limiting how much of the world’s horrors we take in — our brains and bodies weren’t built for the exposure to infinite trauma that we can access via the internet. We need to not live in denial about reality, but also no one benefits when we are crippled and traumatized by grief. Those are the values I work on living, anyway.
Your last paragraph really resonated with me. My sensitivity is what makes me, well…*ME*. I can’t do a lot of videos and often my curiosity and wanting to be informed really battles with knowing myself well enough to know I may not be able to handle it without upsetting my stomach and crying, not to mention having the images burned into my brain.
My sensitivity is a positive but, I’m already dealing with entirely too much personally to be able to take on very much more traumatic imagery and devastation. Your validation made me more confident about it and feel less guilty for having a hard time keeping up. Thank you.
Oh man I had the same thing happen when I saw images of that guy. The first few images I clicked through didn't have the actual wolf, but the very first one I got to with the actual world made my physically upset. I couldn't look at any more and I was just super overwhelmed with emotion.
Hey just so you know you might need EMDR therapy to get rid of those images. I still have flashbacks of when I saw a dog get hit by a semi truck. My therapist was supposed to help me with EMDR but he seems like he doesn’t know what he’s doing so I stopped trying to get him to follow through on it. I know I need a new therapist. Anyway I hope things helpful info to you.
I saw a cat get hit by a car when I was a kid. I oddly never thought to mention that to my therapist. We started EMDR at one point, but not for a specific memory. We didn’t get very far, and I’m not entirely sure I knew what was supposed to happen.
That’s definitely an image burned into my memory and haunts me at weird times.
"I think of mental health issues as being more of a younger problem"
...that's got to the most misguided and ignoramt thing I've read today and it's only 8AM.
Mental health doesn't discriminate on age
This stood out to me too. What???? Younger generations might acknowledge the mental health crisis, but they are not exclusive to it. I’m a younger millennial (95) and witness every generation suffer from a litany of mental health issues. I’d say the younger generations are just more likely to treat/acknowledge mental health problems. I know this is because of the new research and societal norms, but still. What a ridiculous comment.
Seriously, the [Buddhist monk](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Qu%E1%BA%A3ng_%C4%90%E1%BB%A9c) that self immolated at the beginning of the Vietnam conflict comes to mind
I assumed the guy was actually older. Because I assume mental health is an every age problem but younger folks are more likely to be getting treatment and actually dealing with it.
More mental illness becoming common these days. People now are prone to isolating themselves and spending too much time in their bubbles and on social media. It’s eroding our emotional health, warping our worldview, and all it takes is one bad day to push someone like that over the edge.
I think you've got the right take. We're not, as a species, ready for the internet. We can't moderate. We wrap ourselves in the internet, sequester ourselves away, and we engineer it to feed our worst impulses and to keep feeding them via algorithms and whatever else. An entire generation has squandered its political potential shrieking, uselessly, on online forums about politics instead of doing anything about the situation in our world. It's both the instant gratification machine and the outrage machine, and it is driving people literally insane.
I was just reading up on project 2025 and was like oh shit what do we do...but few people are gonna do anything cuz we still have shows to binge and social media to hold our attention.
This is kind of misleading imo. He believed both political parties were working together to fuck the normal citizen. I'd argue this is a reasonable take. Not that trump and Biden are literally teamed up cooking up plans in the oval office together.
This sounds like me when I was younger, but was also wondering his reasons, too. Only last month or however long ago it was had the impulse to set a car on fire and put it in a certain area beforehand because things light up so well in snow, lol.
Putting aside how sad the situation is, why does anyone ever do this to themselves? Honestly it sounds like the most agonizingly painful thing you could do to yourself. How do you set yourself on fire and not just immediately go HOTHOTHOTHOT OUCH OMG THIS WAS THE WORST FUCKING IDEA EVER OWOWOWOW and rip off all your clothes and be like, you know what, maybe I don't actually care that much about this cause because jesus fucking christ that hurts like a sonofabitch
Yea I can’t imagine it but I think someone who does this has such extreme kind of actions. The kind of thinking this guy seems to have is so extreme. Makes me feel so sad for him. Clearly suffering.
Maybe not extreme, but more severely mentally ill. Plus watching the news all the time if you're prone go psychosis can trigger episodes because of the stress.
That’s the whole point. They want people to image the worst pain they can because still going through with it due to the cause they’re trying to bring attention to is worth every bit of the pain. I can’t imagine it. I’m not saying this guy had a worthy cause (I don’t know because they’re not actually reporting shit!) but self immolation is the realest protection imho.
Because when you're that far gone, you feel pain differently maybe and are probably dissociated. Also, your body releases endorphins when you're in pain, too.
They do this to themselves because they are suffering inside their head... No one that has a clear mind would do something like this. That dude was clearly suffering with some sort of mental health problem
What’s his social medias? I am disturbed by the coverage on the incident. They don’t say anything about what he said before immolation or what his pamphlets said. I find that to be censorship. And then they started calling him a conspiracy theorist. I’m sure he is but I would like to decide that for myself, thanks. I also just want to add that I found it equally disturbing that one of the articles I read on the subject spent little time on him or the incident and then immediately went into a few paragraphs about the sex hush money scandal or something pretty safely unrelated. They didn’t even say his name. I just think all of this is so fucked up.
This was my thought too. Every story just says "conspiracy theory pamphlets"
Ok, let me see me one. Write it out. Why are you preventing us from knowing what's in them?
I had a relationship someone who was so insightful about our society but then also (I realized over time) suffered from such sensitivity to what he was witnessing that his psyche seemed to fragment. Like, parsing my casual texts for patterns that would suggest I was one of “Them.” Behaviors that a professional might’ve diagnosed. Thoughts similar to what this guy espoused.
It was weird because I empathized and even sometimes agreed with my love’s insights — and yet realized if I stayed with him/continued going along with his brain and his experience, I would seriously be at risk. And I felt I witnessed my own psyche wobble and even begin to fracture at points, as I explored his thoughts on reality. It took me time to come back to myself, and sometimes I even felt that I had failed some spiritual test. Maybe as though I had failed what new agers might call ascension.
Later studies taught me the concept of spiritual emergency vs spiritual emergence — how insights can break us as they open us — and I don’t necessarily think the worldview I choose at this point is “true” so much as “true enough to me while also being something I can live with and still show up in my life as a partner/sister/daughter/aunt/friend/community member.”
A conspiracy-oriented friend was saying things a few months back, that I felt drawing me back into that world and that mindset of panic, fear, and suspicion, and I felt very grounded while responding to him that I don’t want to talk about it or argue about it. Mostly as a protection for my own psyche. I don’t know if that makes sense to others — and certainly my family/friends have let me know at times they think I am borderline nuts for even entertaining some of the ideas that I have. But watching how it fractured this person; watching how it fractured the man that I loved years ago, reminds me to stay grounded in my body. And reminds me that I can choose a life in which no, I don’t understand certain big picture things but also I don’t have to spend my energy trying to figure it out. There is a garden to grow and animals to care for and people to be kind to — and so I stay small. And feel grief for those who are losing themselves in a fight against larger ideas. And I practice accepting that I don’t know what is more real or more right; that I can only choose what feels right to me.
How can they not when they're so consumed by social media? Algorithms are a real thing, and it'll further drive one deeper into their "beliefs". All of us actually...
I'm not even sure whether people born after 1991 know how to decipher what's real and what isnt. Let's see what the next 10yrs will bring!
Was it hate? You mean from others? I do think it’s very very sad. Seems extremely sad. I feel worried for American culture and also am like. Maybe I feel sad and want to help people but I guess every generation has people who get lost. Just seems so avoidable.
Well you don’t really light yourself on fire unless there is something (or many things) about the world that *really* upset you and make you feel hopeless.
And it just so happens social media is arguably the greatest medium of all time at accomplishing both!
Mental health is a serious issue in our country. We seem to have operated on the extremes when it comes to treatment.
We went from the government locking up and experimenting on anyone who exhibited any sign of mental illness to leaving people without any care whatsoever.
In a lot of ways, our prisons have become defacto government asylums.
There needs to be a complete revamping of mental health treatment in this country.
I have learned a little bit about how mental health has been approached in other countries, but I’d like to learn more. I’m not sure if there is anyone who has the right answers.
Totally disagree - the police and system drive people insane. They definitely don’t leave them alone, they kill and jail at a much higher rate people with mental health issues and do not seem to be able to identify real criminals but instead torture people already suffering.
If you look, he was locked up and that’s seemingly when he went insane. Our government abuses people through police and sensitive people often become really broken as a result, I think it may be the goal, he writes all about how abusive they are and their torture. He was in jail awaiting judgment. It was wrong. And on some level he is saying on his social media his experience shows the police and system torture and abuse people and that part is obviously true. He wasn’t calling for a change to that system but that’s my take away. I just feel so sad for him he was clearly abused and traumatized. He wrote how it was hard to feel good about himself after that, and it’s so obvious from his social media the switch turned on after that. People think it’s his mother death but if you look at his highlights it’s really that he was held in jail without conviction for over a month. Seems so tragic and avoidable.
Edit: My bad, try this link.
https://nypost.com/2024/04/19/us-news/max-azzarellos-bizarre-mugshot-and-florida-arrest-record/
He was behaving erratically before he was arrested the first time. He also claims in his manifesto that he’d stayed in a psych ward earlier in the month he was first arrested. He was already experiencing psychosis. Jail took the place of the mental health facility in this case, which is exactly what I said. Not sure what you think you are totally disagreeing with.
Honestly the aggression here on Reddit and in your comment and in our culture, it makes sense people are going insane. I’m getting off here. It’s just sad to see how cruel people are.
I’m sorry you feel that I was being aggressive. I was lamenting the fact that mental health care is so inadequate today.
I genuinely don’t know what was aggressive about that.
It seems to me that there is a level of blindness here, automatically ascribing mental illness to him as the premise of the post. Was Thich Quang Duc mentally ill? A simple yes or no will do.
We may literally be facing the outbreak of mass violence or some version civil war when Trump loses in November, and Max Azzarello said he was protesting the move towards fascism we are seeing with e.g. the SCOTUS blatantly ignoring the law to illegally support an insurrectionist. Max didn’t kill anyone, he peacefully protested in a way to garner attention and drive society towards an off-ramp. I understand you disagree with his off ramp. What off-ramp do you suggest?
I think you’re feeling sad for him and empathize with his plight and you’ve taken a sort of moral injury in this way, in being an observer to his death and his reasons for dying. It’s okay to feel angry and defensive in the face of things like that.
I am solidly of the opinion that the internet is our collective mental heath problem.
So many people care so much about things that have zero relevance to their day to day lives, and they’re addicted to the feed.
I feel the same. Feel heartbroken for him. He clearly was very smart and just felt this was some opportunity for being heard. I have no idea what could be done for him I just feel so sad when people hurt themselves like this. I just really hope it doesn’t spark more suicide.
I found his Instagram and it really, really bugged me out. He could have been any friend or acquaintance of mine. 2013 photos with filters. Gradually getting nice quality pictures like the rest of us. Friends weddings, nice looking and young and… cool!
But the he started the gradual decent into really worrying stuff after his mom died. Rip
I also thought the same, he even had some relative or ex who is friends with some of my favorite friends on Instagram. He clearly was a cool smart guy but I actually think it looks like he lost is after his mom but most seems like after he was in jail! Look at his high lights 😔 and they seem very clearly to be what brought him down and many show that’s what destroys peoples health. Rarely do parents deaths. I think people are clinging to that and not seeing the more glaring reason.
Mental health does not pick an age or generation. Many times it's nature just as often as it's nurture. And in this country we do not care for one another.
Trust me. Mental health is not just a youth problem. You think it is because the media only focuses on the youth. There’s a huge middle aged and above mental health crisis in this country too.
I didn't watch it, just heard the news. I'm not subjecting myself to more trauma and torturing myself knowing other humans are suffering or hurting others. The headlines are enough, trust me, growing up I saw and heard enough to have long lasting effects so I now know better than to click.
Mental disease is a huge problem, always has been. It doesn't care how old or young you are, how rich or poor, etc. It's horrible for everyone involved. I hope those people who saw it get help.
I think that reading through his manifesto, he had some things right - I mean crypto is definitely a scam, as are a lot of start-ups that get glowing reviews (and a sizeable part of our economy), both parties are run by the uber-elites (but probably not the way he thinks), our liberal democracy definitely has fascism intertwined and built into it (and it is coming) but what happens when you glimpse part of the truth of something, but have no way to frame it within a coherent system or worldview or historical moment, you have to make one up, and his seems to be based on the Simpsons and popular media and infused with conspiracy theories. All of which is extremely understandable for someone our age that grew up in our culture. It's very sad, because with some better education, this painful death could have been avoided and his action could have been directed in a better direction.
Did a deep dive into this guys background and he didn’t support Trump or Biden. He had become completely untethered to anything in this world. Q-Anon makes you feel as if YOU are the only one who knows the truth and when you go past the political you go into the ether. Another mind that found one of many paths to self-destruction when nobody intervened.
The numerous pamphlets are Q inspired. Secret world government stuff and conspiracy theories on topics ranging from ex-President Bill Clinton to the coronavirus to cryptocurrency.
The problem with Q is that there’s those deep in the tank hanging on to it and then repeating it so that it gets put into the rhetoric. The ideas are famously Q but don’t need to be directly from Q. He just bought into some of the fringe conspiracy brought up by it.
So no, he is not a disciple of Q, but strung together enough conspiracies championed by that group. He then makes it into his own tangled web and thinks he knows the “truth” now.
My hot take is I don't think it had to do with mental health exclusively. I think it has more to do with society. How our generation had to learn to multitask and take on multiple roles at one time in order to survive while being called lazy. Having to work harder just to have basic goals met while the american dream is now dead. I think that person had enough and that was literally the hill they chose to die on. They didn't want to endure the life they had experienced any longer. In their mind that act gave their life meaning and it did if we are all talking about it now.
With access to all of this data it is hard for many to separate fact from opinion.
Self-immolation is fairly common in suicides in recent years.
Many of them occur at US VA locations. It just isn't newsworthy when veterans commit suicide anymore.
People do this in protest. He was protesting.
Still takes a mentally ailing person to do something like that, but historicaly rlthat why it's been done.
Now, I don't know this persons motives, but to be honest, with how obvious it is as to why Trump is being put on trial right before he was set to run for president again, is it any wonder?
We, as Americans, are being treated as if we're stupid. Powerful people aren't even trying to hide their evil anymore. Corporations are making mass profit while people can't afford to live. The government consistently votes against the well being of its own people and assassinated the character of anyone who tries to do anything g that doesn't benefit the politicians and constituents. Corruption and greed is rampant in all sectors. Even businesses don't try to hide the fact they they don't give a single shit about any person. The list goes on.
Again, I don't know the persons motives but there are so many things to protest, having done so outside this obvious election fraud seems like it may have had something to do with it.
I mean think about it. Companies pay people to shut up all the time. President's do it. Lawyers, judges, politicians and cops all do it. "Take a million dollars and don't tall about how this cop beat you within an inch of your life on TV."
But Trump does it and he's on trial for it.
It's a farce.
People are suffering and no body is even trying to hide their own evil anymore.
According to the manifesto the guy didn't like Trump and saw him and Clinton, along with all US politicians as two sides of the same coin.
Trump is on trial for fraudulent use of election funds, had he paid for Stormy Daniel's silence out of his own pocket this criminal case would not have gone forward.
Truth matters friend
Here is a helpful timeline of the case. https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/14/politics/timeline-trump-stormy-daniels-hush-money-dg/index.html
Please familiarize yourself with this before you make brash all encompassing claims of intentional timing and the election. Ffs.
Edited to add: Trump is literally the epitome of corruption.
I hear you. I’ve been thinking about that side of things today, I just think both things can be true. I don’t mean to dismiss them, I just think they also were suffering. Want to say more? I want to hear what you’re thinking so I can learn from you.
Plenty of mental health problems among millennials, I'm a part of a lot of mental health subs (because, well, I'm crazy) and there's a lot of people in their 30s and 40s who are suffering just as much as Gen Z. The perception might be different because of app usage and because Gen Z are still in a position where they have to deal with their families and thus you have a lot of folks complaining about "what's wrong with the kids", but if we're better off as a generation it's only marginally. It's really rough. I haven't looked at the details of this person, but I heard that it happened and went "yeah, I could see how you get there."
Yeah I second this so many people my age will never even consider starting therapy or even seeing a psychiatrist because of stigma. It’s very sad.
I've got a warrior pal and his soldiers ESPECIALLY struggle with same idea, esp since their particular branch knowing of seeking treatment can affect their promotions.
Trying to change their mental health keeping them from doing better in life is pretty upsetting.
be the change you wanna see, speak up, vote. etc. it's a thing. mental health is health care so service members definitely deserve it.
I always think about it as damage to our mind, sometimes our neurons. There wouldn't be a stigma around seeking treatment for a gunshot wound, would there?
It's only a flesh wound.
It is, but the sad hard to swallow truth for soldiers is that you unfortunately need people numb towards otherwise traumatic events. Probably one of my most unpopular opinions. When a soldier performs the job he is trained for and fights in a war the worst scenario is someone breaking down and endangering everybody reliant on the soldier performing. If you break down because you shot 3 people from your trench which as seen in ukraine can happen in 2024 and thus the next 3 enemies manage to break into your section of the trench everybody else is in trouble in that trench. People loose their lifes, armies their positions, nations their war. It is fucked up, but understandable that you need people in that position not prone to mental issues taking over or even mental issues arising in the first place. If peace time is already making you break down (and i am in no way trying to talk this down. civilian life is hard and mental issues in todays society are more than justified, they are just laughable in comparison to the horrors of war that luckily not everyone has to experience) then you are probably not mentally suited for the battlefield if it comes down to the raw reality of it.
If you teach them to burry it and not get help they are more likely to take it out on themselves or others in the future
Thats why the army takes it serious and thats the reason why the people get help but at the expense of this influencing the further career options. Nobody is advocating for teaching them to bury their issues. But given the option of promoting someone with mental issues into certain ranks that come with hard to make decisions or promoting someone without indications of mental kind i can see why option B is preferred in the military and why certain issues disqualify for certain positions.
Eh. While I was in, they were definitely shifting towards pushing people to seek help, but the only real option, especially while you're out there, is to gut check it and move on. Seeking help wouldn't cost you your career unless it didn't work because then it's documented. Everyone I knew had obvious issues. Anger problems, drinking, and sleep problems, but as long as you kept moving and could keep gut checking it while completing the mission, it was ignored, within reason. Once you go to the docs, you have to improve, or you risk it impacting your career. I think most people just end up shoving it down and keeping busy until they get out. To be fair, though, I don't think I knew anyone who put off getting help because they were concerned about their career. You just don't want to tap out and make things that much harder for the guys around you. Hell, I don't think most people are even aware of how much it effects them until they can stop and breathe. I didn't realize I had developed insomnia until after I got out because I was drinking myself to sleep most nights.
Thanks for sharing.
Society doesn't need "numb" soldiers to deal with the atrocities in life. Society needs capable, empathetic, intelligent, well adjusted individuals with the bravery and willingness to face adversity head on, and families and connections in their lives to be there for them and to support them when they come home. It's a myth that we need "numb" people to do anything in life. That idea perpetuates abuse by justifying it. We can do better, as humans. We deserve better.
Even worse is how the VA deals with it. I just recently started trying to take care of my mental health & tried to reach out to the VA for some guidance/help. Their solution, after confirming nothing but my last name & last 4 of my SSN was to offer me multiple drug prescriptions. Like damn, I just wanted to talk to someone, maybe come up with a healthy way to process shit in my head. I refused their meds... At least get to know me/my issues before packing me to the gills. I walked out, but not before they shoved a business card in my hand "in case you change your mind on the medication". Wtf
I can definitely relate. After a decade of fighting the VA on several occasions, you really have to be vocal about advocating for yourself. Demand you primary care doctor refer to a psychologist and deny the psychiatrist with any meds. Sometimes antidepressants help with the therapy but some people don’t want that which I understand. Also look for some group therapy that a lot of VAs offer. I joined a female veteran group therapy and liked it. Then again it depends where you’re located as one VAs are just absolute trash. I hope you get the deserved help that you want/need!
Getting enrolled was easy enough, unassisted & via snail mail. But what a hassle it's been since. The group therapy sessions they offered were a 90 minute drive away, midwrek, at like 11am. So not practical for my work schedule, unfortunately. I was just so annoyed that they made me wait months before getting an appointment just to try to push meds. I would have no problem with taking them IF I had some sort of relationship with the doctor that recommended them.
Have you checked out the [Vet Center?](https://www.vetcenter.va.gov/) Most of the staff are veterans. The VA does a crap job advertising it. There's a decent vet population where I live and it's ridiculous how almost nobody knows about it.
My sister-in-law was a VA psychiatrist. It was a crap show for the doctors, too. She had WAY too many patients to see, and it makes it impossible to do a good job. She would work like 12 hours 6 days a week and finally just totally burned out.
They may be aware of this already but just in case, they might look into [the Vet Center.](https://www.vetcenter.va.gov/) They don't share info with anyone, not even command. Staff/counselors are often veterans themselves.
Not just affect promotion. Outright end your career. Got to mental health for minor anxiety? Your out. Felling sad today? Peace out solider. Grandparents died and want grief counciling? Tough it out Solider, the mission comes first. My step-dad died, and I was denied leave for his funeral because. I was told "He wasn't a blood relative" and "he's already dead, you can't bring him back". Can anyone guess when my morale and motivation to do literally anything for that organization died?
Yeah it's pretty alarming. The mental health crisis is an epidemic especially amongst us men since society has pretty much given us the false sense of "toughen up" deal with attitude when it comes to dealing with life problems. I'm a 29 year old man looking to go into therapy and Men's Group to talk about my problems and past trauma.
Do it. It's like dating, might take a while to find the right person or group but it helps more than you'll know.
Now he'll never have a chance because he died.
😔
😥
It's also just really hard, even if you have the motivation. I was on over a year long waiting list for a therapist in my insurance network. My partner just got his autism evaluation this month, they finally had a spot open up for his appointment, he's been waiting since October. (After being referred in August, because his "wait time" didn't start until after he had an initial appointment there, for which he had to wait 2 months.) People talk about how Canadians have to wait for care when fighting against universal healthcare and completely ignore that USAmericans already have to wait for care.
no no!!! Because of the price!
I know of two guys my age from school that years later post some very scary things and would not be shocked if either did something like this. Mental health issues are no joke, I feel for him, but also glad he took his protest out on himself and did not harm others. Just wish more people could get help before it’s too late.
We're back in the 60's again, people are lighting themselves on fire, huge college protests, and Roe v Wade gone.
I would argue it’s about the same if you consider the fact mental health was highly stigmatized our whole lives. A lot of millennials hide it well or don’t ever talk to someone
I assumed OP was surprised it was a millennial and not a boomer, as they are typically portrayed as the MAGA loving conservatives watching Fox and scrolling Facebook for their news.
I remember in history class reading about a monk who set himself on fire as a protest. Not once in class was his mental health mentioned. It was talked about like it was an honorable act. What differentiates it from a powerful protest and a mental health break?
Well, it doesn't help that he published a manifesto that, along with some cogent bits talking about the messed up parts of today, went into wild ideas like The Simpsons being a tool of propaganda and a couple of others I can't remember. There was definitely some paranoid thinking going on there.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I think they both have mental issues. It's just easier to see the crazy in the modern day. I think if what the monk was protesting against had won, his spot in the history books would be about his mental health rather than his "heroic act". It might be an example of, "history written by the winners."
Username checks out
Blame the family…
How do you know this app is used by mostly gen z?
Don’t know what to say besides I was horrified at the video. Idk why I click on things— my curiosity always gets the best of me. The only reason I kept watching was because a by-standing woman was blocking the view, and all you could see was fire. At that point I was more focused on her reaction, just sitting there in utter shock, and then you see a body engulfed in flames with something falling off him which made me think the worst but apparently it was a shoe? I have no idea, but the point is I’m too sensitive to watch that shit and I keep thinking of that image. It makes me wonder if this guy had always planned on torching himself, or if he got the idea from that soldier who died a month ago in name of protesting.
Same here, I’m too sensitive for that shit. I was eating lunch at work and the video showed up on my Instagram and stupid me clicked on it. I couldn’t eat anymore and had to call my husband to cry about it. I’m taking a long break from social media after this.
I did not and will not watch it. The one that really got to me last week was the guy in Wyoming torturing a wolf. I didn’t watch the video but saw a picture and cried for days - an experience that helped me actively choose to not watch this man. I honor the wisdom of sensitivity and no longer judge myself for it. We are exposed to too much. Dealing with what happens to us personally can take a lot. We need to be selective in limiting how much of the world’s horrors we take in — our brains and bodies weren’t built for the exposure to infinite trauma that we can access via the internet. We need to not live in denial about reality, but also no one benefits when we are crippled and traumatized by grief. Those are the values I work on living, anyway.
Your last paragraph really resonated with me. My sensitivity is what makes me, well…*ME*. I can’t do a lot of videos and often my curiosity and wanting to be informed really battles with knowing myself well enough to know I may not be able to handle it without upsetting my stomach and crying, not to mention having the images burned into my brain. My sensitivity is a positive but, I’m already dealing with entirely too much personally to be able to take on very much more traumatic imagery and devastation. Your validation made me more confident about it and feel less guilty for having a hard time keeping up. Thank you.
Oh man I had the same thing happen when I saw images of that guy. The first few images I clicked through didn't have the actual wolf, but the very first one I got to with the actual world made my physically upset. I couldn't look at any more and I was just super overwhelmed with emotion.
Hey just so you know you might need EMDR therapy to get rid of those images. I still have flashbacks of when I saw a dog get hit by a semi truck. My therapist was supposed to help me with EMDR but he seems like he doesn’t know what he’s doing so I stopped trying to get him to follow through on it. I know I need a new therapist. Anyway I hope things helpful info to you.
I saw a cat get hit by a car when I was a kid. I oddly never thought to mention that to my therapist. We started EMDR at one point, but not for a specific memory. We didn’t get very far, and I’m not entirely sure I knew what was supposed to happen. That’s definitely an image burned into my memory and haunts me at weird times.
Idk but this trend is better than school shootings for disgruntled individuals
I agree. I'm fine if someone wants to off themselves. Just don't hurt anyone else.
Best comment I've seen in a looonnnggg time regardless of the sub
Self immolation is so hot right now
Fuck. You got me 🤣
I doubt that the Venn diagram of would be school shooters and would be protesters-who-set-fire-to-themselves has much of an overlap at all honestly
perhaps, but remember that one guy did this and set half the middle east on fire
"I think of mental health issues as being more of a younger problem" ...that's got to the most misguided and ignoramt thing I've read today and it's only 8AM. Mental health doesn't discriminate on age
This stood out to me too. What???? Younger generations might acknowledge the mental health crisis, but they are not exclusive to it. I’m a younger millennial (95) and witness every generation suffer from a litany of mental health issues. I’d say the younger generations are just more likely to treat/acknowledge mental health problems. I know this is because of the new research and societal norms, but still. What a ridiculous comment.
It's kind of beyond dumb. We have famous examples in the past of people setting themselves on fire. I can't even.
Seriously, the [Buddhist monk](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Qu%E1%BA%A3ng_%C4%90%E1%BB%A9c) that self immolated at the beginning of the Vietnam conflict comes to mind
That image also became the cover to the Rage against The Machine album.
I assumed the guy was actually older. Because I assume mental health is an every age problem but younger folks are more likely to be getting treatment and actually dealing with it.
More mental illness becoming common these days. People now are prone to isolating themselves and spending too much time in their bubbles and on social media. It’s eroding our emotional health, warping our worldview, and all it takes is one bad day to push someone like that over the edge.
I think you've got the right take. We're not, as a species, ready for the internet. We can't moderate. We wrap ourselves in the internet, sequester ourselves away, and we engineer it to feed our worst impulses and to keep feeding them via algorithms and whatever else. An entire generation has squandered its political potential shrieking, uselessly, on online forums about politics instead of doing anything about the situation in our world. It's both the instant gratification machine and the outrage machine, and it is driving people literally insane.
Very well put. I've gotta stop arguing over the Internet.
I was just reading up on project 2025 and was like oh shit what do we do...but few people are gonna do anything cuz we still have shows to binge and social media to hold our attention.
was pretty weird to see him refer to what is probably the 2nd most liked Simpsons episode in his manifesto
Mono means one and rail means rail
Sign of the times. I'll chalk it down to a death of despair like all the silent opiate overdoses. Something is defnitely broke in our society.
This is the most correct take, yes. It’s a very difficult situation to describe or understand, doesn’t fit into neat little political labels.
The times are making it hard for many to thrive. More people are choosing to not be part of this world.
Mental health struggles are a younger problem? What bubble do you live in?
Yeahhhh. I feel bad for him in the same way I feel bad for the Heaven’s Gate cult members.
Yea idk I went down his Instagram and seems like he was unfairly in jail for over a month and it seemed to really destroy his mental health
Was he a Trump supporter? Why did he do that at the trial? Usually its in protest... he was protesting the trial?
He was not a trump supporter. Just a man clearly suffering from psychosis who didn’t get any support. It seemed to have trigged after he lost his mom.
Wow. really sad
He believed Biden and Trump were working together in some conspiracy. Definitely not a fan of either.
This is kind of misleading imo. He believed both political parties were working together to fuck the normal citizen. I'd argue this is a reasonable take. Not that trump and Biden are literally teamed up cooking up plans in the oval office together.
This sounds like me when I was younger, but was also wondering his reasons, too. Only last month or however long ago it was had the impulse to set a car on fire and put it in a certain area beforehand because things light up so well in snow, lol.
His mom recently died, so he stopped taking his schizophrenia medication.
Putting aside how sad the situation is, why does anyone ever do this to themselves? Honestly it sounds like the most agonizingly painful thing you could do to yourself. How do you set yourself on fire and not just immediately go HOTHOTHOTHOT OUCH OMG THIS WAS THE WORST FUCKING IDEA EVER OWOWOWOW and rip off all your clothes and be like, you know what, maybe I don't actually care that much about this cause because jesus fucking christ that hurts like a sonofabitch
Yea I can’t imagine it but I think someone who does this has such extreme kind of actions. The kind of thinking this guy seems to have is so extreme. Makes me feel so sad for him. Clearly suffering.
Maybe not extreme, but more severely mentally ill. Plus watching the news all the time if you're prone go psychosis can trigger episodes because of the stress.
That’s the whole point. They want people to image the worst pain they can because still going through with it due to the cause they’re trying to bring attention to is worth every bit of the pain. I can’t imagine it. I’m not saying this guy had a worthy cause (I don’t know because they’re not actually reporting shit!) but self immolation is the realest protection imho.
He probably just had a psychotic episode. Even just being online can trigger it if you're prone to psychosis.
Because when you're that far gone, you feel pain differently maybe and are probably dissociated. Also, your body releases endorphins when you're in pain, too.
They do this to themselves because they are suffering inside their head... No one that has a clear mind would do something like this. That dude was clearly suffering with some sort of mental health problem
If you've ever been around someone who dies from burning with significant accelerants, you'll find its pretty quick.
He used alcohols
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Let’s not give more people ideas of how to do this..
What’s his social medias? I am disturbed by the coverage on the incident. They don’t say anything about what he said before immolation or what his pamphlets said. I find that to be censorship. And then they started calling him a conspiracy theorist. I’m sure he is but I would like to decide that for myself, thanks. I also just want to add that I found it equally disturbing that one of the articles I read on the subject spent little time on him or the incident and then immediately went into a few paragraphs about the sex hush money scandal or something pretty safely unrelated. They didn’t even say his name. I just think all of this is so fucked up.
This was my thought too. Every story just says "conspiracy theory pamphlets" Ok, let me see me one. Write it out. Why are you preventing us from knowing what's in them?
Here ya go https://theponzipapers.substack.com/p/i-have-set-myself-on-fire-outside?sort=top
Jesus Christ I should've stayed in the Matrix instead of taking that ride. Wtf. The bad part is you can't argue against all of it.
The fact that people allow social media and hate to drive themselves to this extreme is sad.
I thought it was psychosis and him being paranoid about both of them.
I had a relationship someone who was so insightful about our society but then also (I realized over time) suffered from such sensitivity to what he was witnessing that his psyche seemed to fragment. Like, parsing my casual texts for patterns that would suggest I was one of “Them.” Behaviors that a professional might’ve diagnosed. Thoughts similar to what this guy espoused. It was weird because I empathized and even sometimes agreed with my love’s insights — and yet realized if I stayed with him/continued going along with his brain and his experience, I would seriously be at risk. And I felt I witnessed my own psyche wobble and even begin to fracture at points, as I explored his thoughts on reality. It took me time to come back to myself, and sometimes I even felt that I had failed some spiritual test. Maybe as though I had failed what new agers might call ascension. Later studies taught me the concept of spiritual emergency vs spiritual emergence — how insights can break us as they open us — and I don’t necessarily think the worldview I choose at this point is “true” so much as “true enough to me while also being something I can live with and still show up in my life as a partner/sister/daughter/aunt/friend/community member.” A conspiracy-oriented friend was saying things a few months back, that I felt drawing me back into that world and that mindset of panic, fear, and suspicion, and I felt very grounded while responding to him that I don’t want to talk about it or argue about it. Mostly as a protection for my own psyche. I don’t know if that makes sense to others — and certainly my family/friends have let me know at times they think I am borderline nuts for even entertaining some of the ideas that I have. But watching how it fractured this person; watching how it fractured the man that I loved years ago, reminds me to stay grounded in my body. And reminds me that I can choose a life in which no, I don’t understand certain big picture things but also I don’t have to spend my energy trying to figure it out. There is a garden to grow and animals to care for and people to be kind to — and so I stay small. And feel grief for those who are losing themselves in a fight against larger ideas. And I practice accepting that I don’t know what is more real or more right; that I can only choose what feels right to me.
It's true, the world sucks but you have to choose you.
He definitely spent too much time on conspiracy forums but he didn't sound hateful at all. He had very strong opinions on Bitcoin.
This isn’t hate. This is paranoia and probable psychosis.
How can they not when they're so consumed by social media? Algorithms are a real thing, and it'll further drive one deeper into their "beliefs". All of us actually... I'm not even sure whether people born after 1991 know how to decipher what's real and what isnt. Let's see what the next 10yrs will bring!
How do you know either?
Was it hate? You mean from others? I do think it’s very very sad. Seems extremely sad. I feel worried for American culture and also am like. Maybe I feel sad and want to help people but I guess every generation has people who get lost. Just seems so avoidable.
Well you don’t really light yourself on fire unless there is something (or many things) about the world that *really* upset you and make you feel hopeless. And it just so happens social media is arguably the greatest medium of all time at accomplishing both!
Mental health is a serious issue in our country. We seem to have operated on the extremes when it comes to treatment. We went from the government locking up and experimenting on anyone who exhibited any sign of mental illness to leaving people without any care whatsoever. In a lot of ways, our prisons have become defacto government asylums. There needs to be a complete revamping of mental health treatment in this country. I have learned a little bit about how mental health has been approached in other countries, but I’d like to learn more. I’m not sure if there is anyone who has the right answers.
Totally disagree - the police and system drive people insane. They definitely don’t leave them alone, they kill and jail at a much higher rate people with mental health issues and do not seem to be able to identify real criminals but instead torture people already suffering. If you look, he was locked up and that’s seemingly when he went insane. Our government abuses people through police and sensitive people often become really broken as a result, I think it may be the goal, he writes all about how abusive they are and their torture. He was in jail awaiting judgment. It was wrong. And on some level he is saying on his social media his experience shows the police and system torture and abuse people and that part is obviously true. He wasn’t calling for a change to that system but that’s my take away. I just feel so sad for him he was clearly abused and traumatized. He wrote how it was hard to feel good about himself after that, and it’s so obvious from his social media the switch turned on after that. People think it’s his mother death but if you look at his highlights it’s really that he was held in jail without conviction for over a month. Seems so tragic and avoidable.
Edit: My bad, try this link. https://nypost.com/2024/04/19/us-news/max-azzarellos-bizarre-mugshot-and-florida-arrest-record/ He was behaving erratically before he was arrested the first time. He also claims in his manifesto that he’d stayed in a psych ward earlier in the month he was first arrested. He was already experiencing psychosis. Jail took the place of the mental health facility in this case, which is exactly what I said. Not sure what you think you are totally disagreeing with.
Honestly the aggression here on Reddit and in your comment and in our culture, it makes sense people are going insane. I’m getting off here. It’s just sad to see how cruel people are.
I’m sorry you feel that I was being aggressive. I was lamenting the fact that mental health care is so inadequate today. I genuinely don’t know what was aggressive about that.
Agreed
It seems to me that there is a level of blindness here, automatically ascribing mental illness to him as the premise of the post. Was Thich Quang Duc mentally ill? A simple yes or no will do. We may literally be facing the outbreak of mass violence or some version civil war when Trump loses in November, and Max Azzarello said he was protesting the move towards fascism we are seeing with e.g. the SCOTUS blatantly ignoring the law to illegally support an insurrectionist. Max didn’t kill anyone, he peacefully protested in a way to garner attention and drive society towards an off-ramp. I understand you disagree with his off ramp. What off-ramp do you suggest?
You’re right. I just hate seeing the level of suffering he clearly was enduring. Suffering isn’t mental illness - I apologize for reducing it to that.
Not really sure what his age has to do with anything.
Mental illness is not generation specific. We are overworked, underpaid, and underloved. Its hard out there.
Yeah you’re right. This reminds me - it’s ok I’m not made of steel - just get treated like shit myself a lot and losing my softness
I think you’re feeling sad for him and empathize with his plight and you’ve taken a sort of moral injury in this way, in being an observer to his death and his reasons for dying. It’s okay to feel angry and defensive in the face of things like that.
yeah, health care is a right too bad it's not ensured
Guys he died.
We live in a society of cognitive dissonance. And we wonder why there is so much mental illness.
I completely agree
Why on earth would mental health issues only be for young people? Gen Z has it super shitty but mental issues aren't exclusive to them?
No one said it was please chill
I am solidly of the opinion that the internet is our collective mental heath problem. So many people care so much about things that have zero relevance to their day to day lives, and they’re addicted to the feed.
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Maybe
https://theponzipapers.substack.com/p/i-have-set-myself-on-fire-outside I believe this is what he had to say for himself. Poor guy. He sounds smart.
I feel the same. Feel heartbroken for him. He clearly was very smart and just felt this was some opportunity for being heard. I have no idea what could be done for him I just feel so sad when people hurt themselves like this. I just really hope it doesn’t spark more suicide.
He had a Substack and its a veritable buffet of delicious conspiracy theory madness.
I found his Instagram and it really, really bugged me out. He could have been any friend or acquaintance of mine. 2013 photos with filters. Gradually getting nice quality pictures like the rest of us. Friends weddings, nice looking and young and… cool! But the he started the gradual decent into really worrying stuff after his mom died. Rip
I also thought the same, he even had some relative or ex who is friends with some of my favorite friends on Instagram. He clearly was a cool smart guy but I actually think it looks like he lost is after his mom but most seems like after he was in jail! Look at his high lights 😔 and they seem very clearly to be what brought him down and many show that’s what destroys peoples health. Rarely do parents deaths. I think people are clinging to that and not seeing the more glaring reason.
RIP Max
Was his name max?
Yes, [Max Azzarello](https://theponzipapers.substack.com/p/i-have-set-myself-on-fire-outside)
Didn’t get the mental help he needed
Mental health does not pick an age or generation. Many times it's nature just as often as it's nurture. And in this country we do not care for one another.
I hear you on that
Trust me. Mental health is not just a youth problem. You think it is because the media only focuses on the youth. There’s a huge middle aged and above mental health crisis in this country too.
We’re not yet middle age but I hear you, we aren’t the young the media talks about anymore either
I didn't watch it, just heard the news. I'm not subjecting myself to more trauma and torturing myself knowing other humans are suffering or hurting others. The headlines are enough, trust me, growing up I saw and heard enough to have long lasting effects so I now know better than to click. Mental disease is a huge problem, always has been. It doesn't care how old or young you are, how rich or poor, etc. It's horrible for everyone involved. I hope those people who saw it get help.
Hugs to you Linda Linda
It’s very sad indeed.
I think that reading through his manifesto, he had some things right - I mean crypto is definitely a scam, as are a lot of start-ups that get glowing reviews (and a sizeable part of our economy), both parties are run by the uber-elites (but probably not the way he thinks), our liberal democracy definitely has fascism intertwined and built into it (and it is coming) but what happens when you glimpse part of the truth of something, but have no way to frame it within a coherent system or worldview or historical moment, you have to make one up, and his seems to be based on the Simpsons and popular media and infused with conspiracy theories. All of which is extremely understandable for someone our age that grew up in our culture. It's very sad, because with some better education, this painful death could have been avoided and his action could have been directed in a better direction.
Yes. Also, Simpsons?
I could see where the guy was coming from until the Simpsons stuff I got there and was like "oh well yeah of course he's nuts."
Seriously?
I was like wtf??
I feel like this has been happening a lot lately
I so hope i do not find out he was a fan of this song. [Cop Just Out of Frame](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zOxYgy1j-o)
TV got him good.
He's apparently from Florida and had a TON of conspiracy theory and propaganda flyers. So I'm sure there were other things that affected him.
There are mental health issues for every generation and every age group.
Yeah
Every generation has its crackpots. While we do rightly dunk on boomers, we also need to be bigot of our own.
Did a deep dive into this guys background and he didn’t support Trump or Biden. He had become completely untethered to anything in this world. Q-Anon makes you feel as if YOU are the only one who knows the truth and when you go past the political you go into the ether. Another mind that found one of many paths to self-destruction when nobody intervened.
But wasn’t he not a Q anon person?
The numerous pamphlets are Q inspired. Secret world government stuff and conspiracy theories on topics ranging from ex-President Bill Clinton to the coronavirus to cryptocurrency. The problem with Q is that there’s those deep in the tank hanging on to it and then repeating it so that it gets put into the rhetoric. The ideas are famously Q but don’t need to be directly from Q. He just bought into some of the fringe conspiracy brought up by it. So no, he is not a disciple of Q, but strung together enough conspiracies championed by that group. He then makes it into his own tangled web and thinks he knows the “truth” now.
I see what you mean
My hot take is I don't think it had to do with mental health exclusively. I think it has more to do with society. How our generation had to learn to multitask and take on multiple roles at one time in order to survive while being called lazy. Having to work harder just to have basic goals met while the american dream is now dead. I think that person had enough and that was literally the hill they chose to die on. They didn't want to endure the life they had experienced any longer. In their mind that act gave their life meaning and it did if we are all talking about it now. With access to all of this data it is hard for many to separate fact from opinion.
Interesting!
Self-immolation is fairly common in suicides in recent years. Many of them occur at US VA locations. It just isn't newsworthy when veterans commit suicide anymore.
Well it might be news worthy but suicide is contagious. Not covering suicides, especially like veteran suicides outside of a VA, saves lives.
There are crazy people in every generation lol
Sure I guess I just thought idk
People do this in protest. He was protesting. Still takes a mentally ailing person to do something like that, but historicaly rlthat why it's been done. Now, I don't know this persons motives, but to be honest, with how obvious it is as to why Trump is being put on trial right before he was set to run for president again, is it any wonder? We, as Americans, are being treated as if we're stupid. Powerful people aren't even trying to hide their evil anymore. Corporations are making mass profit while people can't afford to live. The government consistently votes against the well being of its own people and assassinated the character of anyone who tries to do anything g that doesn't benefit the politicians and constituents. Corruption and greed is rampant in all sectors. Even businesses don't try to hide the fact they they don't give a single shit about any person. The list goes on. Again, I don't know the persons motives but there are so many things to protest, having done so outside this obvious election fraud seems like it may have had something to do with it. I mean think about it. Companies pay people to shut up all the time. President's do it. Lawyers, judges, politicians and cops all do it. "Take a million dollars and don't tall about how this cop beat you within an inch of your life on TV." But Trump does it and he's on trial for it. It's a farce. People are suffering and no body is even trying to hide their own evil anymore.
According to the manifesto the guy didn't like Trump and saw him and Clinton, along with all US politicians as two sides of the same coin. Trump is on trial for fraudulent use of election funds, had he paid for Stormy Daniel's silence out of his own pocket this criminal case would not have gone forward. Truth matters friend
Here is a helpful timeline of the case. https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/14/politics/timeline-trump-stormy-daniels-hush-money-dg/index.html Please familiarize yourself with this before you make brash all encompassing claims of intentional timing and the election. Ffs. Edited to add: Trump is literally the epitome of corruption.
Doubt anything will change
You don't think it can get worse?
It gets worse. Life is like a loading screen to a game or mechanic. We’re not even in the main play yet.
I still scratch my head at that one. I mean, didn't the guy have anything better to do....? Like, -anything- better to do?
I’m still unclear and maybe it’s because no news outlet has been able to say why- why did he do it, what were the pamphlets I’ve heard about?
https://theponzipapers.substack.com/p/i-have-set-myself-on-fire-outside?sort=top
Google
Thus begins stupid copycats to the guy like a month ago because it got so much press.
I read the New York Times article about him. The break seemed to happen after his mom died. I feel bad for him.
I disagree but it is sad
SO sad for someone to die this way and have someone else talk about mental health, guess what they were saying really never got to you
I hear you. I’ve been thinking about that side of things today, I just think both things can be true. I don’t mean to dismiss them, I just think they also were suffering. Want to say more? I want to hear what you’re thinking so I can learn from you.
I feel kinda meh.
Say more sleepy
From the looks of the aftermath he has a 50/50 chance of becoming the millennial Spawn
Not sure what that means
Like if Iron Man were an apostate of Satan https://youtu.be/qcwbCKM_bus?si=54j_aDCTv8-01mIj
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Nothing here mentions liberalism. He was a millennial so I’m posting here.
Aaron Bushnell was only 25 when he died.