Danny and Derek welcome back Lyle Jeremy Rubin, veteran of the war in Afghanistan and author of the memoir Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body: A Marine’s Unbecoming, to discuss his new piece in The Nation, “Taking Aaron Bushnell at His Word (and Deed)”
For sure. I find that I have to focus just on one day at a time. I have a family and when I think about this senseless slaughter and then add climate change on top of it I go into a downward spiral.
It's insane that we shift all the fucking responsibility from people with all the power to voters. It's like they think we don't know basic probability theory or statistics
A major point relating to this discussion that was not mentioned is the US liberal commentariat’s belief that social media bubbles explain (relatively) young people’s political beliefs and activities, particularly with respect to Israel/Palestine. I believe significant attention has been given to Bushnell’s Reddit activity, for example. Also, I repeatedly see liberals lament the (supposed) role of TikTok in shaping young people’s (supposedly) overly critical attitude toward Israel. So, in my reading, the dominant interpretation of Bushnell’s self-immolation pushed by liberals is “young man with potential mental health issues is radicalized by online left echo chambers to take drastic action which we should not praise/respect because it might encourage similarly situated people to take similar action.”
Thank you for discussing this. I posted on the FX thread today that this has been weighing heavily on my mind.
I feel like this plus the food truck slaughter is breaking my brain
For sure. I find that I have to focus just on one day at a time. I have a family and when I think about this senseless slaughter and then add climate change on top of it I go into a downward spiral.
Once again you guys got the perfect guest for this moment.
It's insane that we shift all the fucking responsibility from people with all the power to voters. It's like they think we don't know basic probability theory or statistics
A major point relating to this discussion that was not mentioned is the US liberal commentariat’s belief that social media bubbles explain (relatively) young people’s political beliefs and activities, particularly with respect to Israel/Palestine. I believe significant attention has been given to Bushnell’s Reddit activity, for example. Also, I repeatedly see liberals lament the (supposed) role of TikTok in shaping young people’s (supposedly) overly critical attitude toward Israel. So, in my reading, the dominant interpretation of Bushnell’s self-immolation pushed by liberals is “young man with potential mental health issues is radicalized by online left echo chambers to take drastic action which we should not praise/respect because it might encourage similarly situated people to take similar action.”