protest or merely more violence?

why wasn’t this reported more widely? peace activist malachi ritscher committed a very public suicide last year as a protest for the iraq war, by burning himself to death in front of rush hour traffic in chicago.

it could have been his writing, in one statement he lamented not murdering donald rumsfeld. yet he claims he went so far as to stalk mr. rumsfeld and pass him on the street gripping tightly to a knife in his pocket [1].

his statement bears the unfortunate ethical view that the outcome alone determines the ethical nature of an act and the method of action can be disregarded. or that in this case it overrides it. even if we accept mr. ritscher’s implied viewpoint for a moment that rumsfeld was the cause of great human suffering and atrocity or immorality, then that does not allow us to pursue justice with any action we see fit. the method of ensuring an ethical society is as important as the outcome of that action, therefore we have courts and due process.

for that reason i think mr. ritscher’s writing includes a kind of meglomania, that he alone must act out with violence in order to provide for the greater good. but that mirrors the very justification of the iraq war! therefore, it’s exactly the kind of psychosis that the peace movement is trying to overcome, yet is mirrored in his own protests. and so i find his point diminished and his self sacrifice similarly reduced. may he find greater peace in any future life.

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