How a Burning Man Is a Good Sign

Okay, I doubt many commentators will be looking at news reports of a man who set himself on fire in front of the White House today and reflecting upon it positively. But they'd be wrong. For a long time now, based on the example of the Palestinian movement, the radical Islamic activist has known one main tool to get attention of the world: killing the innocent. Whether it be homicide bombers in Israel, murdered hostages in Iraq, plane hijackings over the skies of America, or IEDs in the paths of our soldiers, the main tool of political change for the Radical Arab Activist has been to murder others. This marks the first time - to my knowledge - that an Islamic demonstrator (which I assume from this person's chanting of "Allah" while he burned) - has borrowed the lessons of Gandhi and the Indian movement for protest. While this is still a violent act, it is not the turning of violence upon an innocent, but upon himself. He is forcing the world to take note of his plight by sacrificing himself, not by sacrificing others. One might even say, "Greater love has no man than this, to lay down his life for his friends."



Of course, I would rather see a hunger strike a la Gandhi than this kind of attempted suicide. But this shows (1) that some Islamic activists are taking note of more peaceful means to pursue change and (2) that the lessons of peaceful revolution can be effective in gaining the attention of the Western media... even on the doorstep of the White House.