Malachi Ritscher – a surprising casualty of the war November 9, 2006
Posted by Al in : people,politics,weird , trackbackYou wouldn’t expect a jazz musician, and sound recordist, to become another statistic in the war against Iraq. Indeed, I doubt that any authority would count him as such; but his suicide note suggests that the invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq was the primary reason for Malachi Ritscher setting himself on fire last Friday the 3rd of November. This was compounded by family problems, of course, but the war and his failure to kill Donald Rumsfeld when he had the opportunity seem to have been preying on his mind. I can understand his being annoyed with himself for failing to kill Rumsfeld, as he would have done what a large number of people would love to do.
I often wonder if people like Rumsfeld ever experience pangs of conscience, maybe as they look in the mirror in the morning. Do they suddenly realise that because of their decisions over 10,000 people are now dead? Those 10,000+ people all had families who have been hurt and destroyed, so that’s probably another 20,000+ people who have been hurt by the decision of someone who is far removed from the realities of life in the USA, yet alone life anywhere else in this world. Of course, Rumsfeld was only obeying orders from his masters, and as long as they see the profit they don’t really care who lives or dies. They are not expected to have a conscience, because they only believe in money, and they are completely divorced from the actual application of their designs – however you would expect the executioner to sometimes stop and think about what their orders are doing. In this case their actions have caused a well known local figure to kill himself in order to make a statement, and what’s worse is that his death didn’t even do that.
Rest in peace Malachi – there are a lot of people who share your views, and slowly they are beginning to make themselves heard.
Comments»
Who the hell was this guy kidding?! Did he thought that barbequing himself was going to immediately change people’s opinion on the Iraq War? Such naive thinking. Also what the hell is wrong with his thinking?! He regrets killing Rumsfeld when he had the chance?! Fucking fanatic psycho!