Immolation

By any standard, immolation is a harsh punishment. Even those who enforce the punishment would have to agree it is harsh. Part of the reason for doing it is because it is perceived as harsh on all sides. So why enforce the punishment on oneself?

Self-immolation is the act of setting oneself on fire, to sacrifice oneself to the fire. Immolation is brave, no doubt. It is the king and conqueror of fear. The one who chooses to perform the act has to put fear of pain and death and consequences out of mind. But it is suicide, plain and simple.

Immolation is the ultimate act of inefficient communication. In the past, those who have performed the less than sane act of immolation did so to gain attention for a cause. A cause such as social injustice, political oppression, or to end tyranny. The reason it’s so inefficient is because as soon as the fire starts, the conversation is over. We will hear no more argument from that person. Their final statement goes up in a foul-smelling smoke.

Inefficient also, because there’s no assurance that the cause they so desperately wanted to highlight will get any attention. No survivor or witness is forced to carry on the conversation, to pursue the argument.

Perhaps this is why Gandhi fasted. He could prolong the conversation, continue the persuasive dialog. All the while, his body became emaciated and frail. His method was more of a slow burn.

The immolator will also leave a mess that is difficult to not talk about. The smell of burning or burnt hair, the destroyed flesh, the charred bones, the screams of pain, will all be what the witnesses talk about for days to come. Talk will turn to questions of how the immolator could have possibly brought themselves to do it. “How did he overcome his fear?” OR “Why did he use kerosene instead of gasoline?”

Talk will turn to how it affected the witnesses. “I had that nightmare again last night.” OR “Did you hear Jimmy stopped having barbecues?” None of this was what the immolator wanted people to talk about, but it is inevitable that they will talk about what they want to talk about, again showing how inefficient the means of communication immolation really is.

If you wanted to start a conversation, and finish it after lighting yourself on fire, get one of those suits they use in movies to act out a person-on-fire scene. Light yourself on fire safely and walk away from the violence, avoid the self-harm, and live to continue your cause. Live to be the champion against social injustice that you wanted to be.

Also, that could be an epic way to celebrate the 4th of July. Walk down the street as if you were Fezzik in a holocaust cloak. Tell everyone your fireworks did this to you and scare the neighborhood pyromaniacs from ever lighting so much as a firecracker again.