There was a time, not long ago, when we expected our college professors and politicians to be serious folk... or you know, to act like serious folk in public. In politics the American people were assumed to be likely to oust someone who had terrible judgement in what they did and said, and while our colleges and universities have for a long time trumpeted 'academic freedom' there were certain lines one didn't cross.
Those days are, sadly, very much over in both spheres as evidenced every day by the way people in politics and academia act in both their personal and professional lives. It seems that today nothing is disqualifying for someone who would have once been expected to act respectably because of their 'respectable' job. Example one million three hundred thousand two hundred and sixteen of this phenomenon (so far this year) comes to us from current third-party Presidential candidate and Dietrich Bonhoeffer Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary in New York City Cornel West:
Let us never forget the extraordinary courage and commitment of brother Aaron Bushnell who died for truth and justice! I pray for his precious loved ones! Let us rededicate ourselves to genuine solidarity with Palestinians undergoing genocidal attacks in real time!… pic.twitter.com/9F7dXOAYJt
— Cornel West (@CornelWest) February 26, 2024
Yes, in case you missed it Professor West is praising the 'courage and commitment' of 'brother Aaron Bushnell', the guy who lit himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C. in protest of the Israeli's fighting Hamas. West, who while always coming off as somewhat insane is nonetheless a highly respected figure in liberal intelligentsia circles, is actively condoning people killing themselves in gruesome public factions by calling Bushnell's act one of 'extraordinary courage and commitment'... West even seems to be willing to settle the debate on if it's cool to say 'Rest in Power' about Bushnell by welcoming him into the 'brotherhood', we guess.
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Thankfully most people appear to have a cooler head than lauded philosopher Cornel West.
Celebrating self immolation is disgusting
— 𝕂𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕊𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕝𝕂 (@CallMeK1123) February 27, 2024
Aaron Bushnell's death is very sad. May this tragedy serve as a reminder to others in need of mental health care to seek treatment before it is too late
— Pericles 'Perry' Abbasi (@ElectionLegal) February 27, 2024
Usually one praises the courage and commitment of someone one wishes to emulate.
— AmishDude (@TheAmishDude) February 27, 2024
It's hard to say what the more disturbing possibility is, that Dr. West didn't think through the implications of what he's saying here or that he did think them through. Either way this is terrible all around.
You're encouraging self immolation?
— LIZZY💥 (@LizzyStarrrdust) February 27, 2024
Fun fact: Suicide is considered a cardinal sin in Islam. Muslims believe those who have committed suicide to be forbidden from entering Paradise.
— Charles Weber (@CWBOCA) February 27, 2024
He’ll be eaten by maggots and forgotten.
it's kinda sad that he won't be getting 72 virgins and the people he was brainwashed into giving his life for consider him nothing but a kafir and would have happily struck the match for him.
— PhotographicFloridian (@JackLinFLL) February 27, 2024
One doesn't get the impression that Aaron Bushnell had thought through much of anything. Despite his having left some sort of manifesto his actions aren't the ones of someone who's mentally well and capable of rational thought.
A young man just committed suicide and your response is to praise his death and holler Free Palestine…?
— Javon A. Price 🇺🇸 (@JavonAPrice) February 27, 2024
Talking up some mentally ill dope who killed himself for nothing is irresponsible and evil, even for you, which is saying something.
— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) February 27, 2024
Old men celebrating the death of young men for a cause they barely understand isn't a tribute. It's an indictment of your own cowardice.
— Mark Dahler (@MarkDahler) February 27, 2024
They just don't make philosophers like they used to, apparently.
Encouraging suicide is always problematic. Encouraging it in these circumstances is shameful and sad. It is a straight up endorsement of a troubled man, with a poor grasp of facts and consequences of his action, killing himself. Grotesque. https://t.co/62dzH6KNV4
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) February 27, 2024
Mr. Bushnell’s death was as meaningless and stupid as the cause he died for was unjust. Cretins on social media can attempt to lionize this deranged act of self-immolation, but such an act of self-destruction can only doom a man to eternal pity in the eyes of warriors. https://t.co/8AUIhLCFhJ
— Michael Wells (@mwellshalophile) February 27, 2024
Has the pro-hamas movement explicitly turned into a suicide cult? Cornel West is a very mainstream representative and he's explicitly encouraging people to commit suicide for the cause.
— Daniel (@growing_daniel) February 27, 2024
Honestly another bewildering response from this group https://t.co/S9UwTjVVK8
Cornel West has always been a bit fringy, but he's been on the fringe of the intellectual academic mainstream of the American left. To have a figure like this appearing to actively boost the idea of fellow-travelers imitating Aaron Bushnell's tragic stunt as a means of gaining the praise and acknowledgment of the people they look up to is sickening in every way. It also lays the groundwork for other, darker things... after all, a cause that's worthy of killing yourself over is surely even more worthy of killing others over, right? You'd think that a 'philosopher' like Cornel West could see the moral implications of sending impressionable people down this road. But who knows, maybe he does see the implications but doesn't care?
As of this time his praise of Bushnell remains up on his Twitter feed, and the longer it stays there the more is seems like maybe he just doesn't care about what his words may lead to. We're just saying.
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