Martyrdom only works when there are people paying attention and
who value you or your 'cause'.
In 1990, I was at Hampshire College in Amherst MA (never
finished *sigh* but I had a lot of fun).
Anyway, six months into it, a guy in town self-immolated. He set
himself on fire. Burned himself. I smelled it on the campus.
Gross, disgusting smell. 9/11 was the next time I smelled that
smell. Anyway, he got a write-up in the paper. There was a cause
he was doing it for.
No followup since then.
Why?
Nobody cared.
He was a martyr for nothing and became a by-word.
"Don't be like that guy who burned himself up for no reason". I
have the clipping in my files but I don't know his name. I
suppose he died happy though, so at least there's that. Here we
are:
[1]
http://www.nytimes.com/.../amherst-journal-candles-in-the...
Gregory Levy. He died as a war protest. There. Now I know his
name.
References
Visible links
1.
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/20/us/amherst-journal-candles-in-the-snow-honor-suffering.html
