>I don't accept the near-tautology of "only mentally ill
>people would self-immolate, therefore he is mentally ill" so
>to this moment, I haven't seen any further proof that he was
>mentally ill. Oh, and the WaPo piece about being raised in a
>religious cult and being an an anarchist. Those aren't proof
>of mental illness either. Though it wouldn't surprise me if
>something surfaced soon enough. This story is pretty young.

I think a person needs to be in an altered state to harm themselves

it's an extreme thing to do. does that mean that someone who runs into a burning building knowing they're going to get burned is mentally ill? I wouldn't say that.

I do think setting yourself on fire is kind of a weird step to take, as you mentioned in another reply, a lot of people have done it, personally I haven't it have the kind of impact that would make me consider it but that doesn't by itself mean dude is mentally ill

>
>I don't agree with the distinction you're making between
>condition and motivation. But fair enough if you want to make
>it. If you want clarity, here it is: I was treating those as
>two separate motivators, possibly among a number of factors.
>
>Honestly, I think his own accounting for doing it is
>sufficiently worthy of attention and analysis. Not
>exclusively, per your point. But it feels like if somebody set
>themselves on fire then the words they say right before they
>do it are pretty important.

I think they're important too. That doesn't mean I take them at face value, no matter how important they are, not because I suspect that he's mentally ill, but because I think most people aren't capable of accounting for the reasons for their actions. him doing what he did doesn't make me think that he's more in tune than most.

if he wants to say he set himself on fire for those people, then he isn't here for me to find any other reason for it. I hope he didn't set himself on fire to change my mind about the situation, because I already agree with him and that would be really sad. If he did it for someone else to change their mind....we'll see I guess?

I think one thing that is for sure is that a lot of people are thinking about him, specifically. I'm not saying that was his goal and I can't tell you if it was, but if his intent was to put the focus elsewhere it's going to be very difficult to make that shift.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at