[This post has been reprinted from Facebook with permission from Melvin Lee Rogers]

By

Melvin Lee Rogers

Sigh. It has become customary to attribute a multitude of tragic occurrences in the United States to mental health issues. It seems inconceivable to a great many of us that the killing of Palestinians so distant and unrelated to our daily comings and goings might, in fact, push a soldier like Aaron Bushnell to extinguish his life by self-immolation. The weight of shame and guilt bearing down on someone’s conscience, particularly when they may not be directly responsible for any specific deaths, appears unfathomable. In a society where responsibility is often construed within a narrow framework–one where actions must directly flow from one’s will–the notion of complicity in national or international injustices struggles to find recognition.

The tragedy of Bushnell’s death lies not in the invocation of mental health as an explanation for his actions (this is why the truth of it is beside the point), but in its use as a means to evade our responsibility. Moral evasion is a principle of American life, and we practice it with great skill. This pattern is symptomatic of a broader issue in the United States–a shameless society shielded by beliefs and ideologies that obscure our connections to each other here and globally.

It is not fated that we remain this way, however much our tendency toward evasion seems like the first nature of the nation. It could be otherwise. But this means we must resist the temptation to view Bushnell’s act solely as a tragic narrative about him; instead, we must recognize it as a commentary on the state of our own political and moral health as a country. What will some of us do about it? What will others of us say and write about it? We all have work to do.

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This link will take you to a collection of memories about Aaron’s neurodivergence; commitment to justice and solidarity; anarchism; resistance to ableism and other forms of oppression; and bountiful love from some of his friends: https://crimethinc.com/2024/02/29/memories-of-aaron-bushnell-as-recounted-by-his-friends