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UPDATED: In Two Cities, Two Men Tried To Light Themselves On Fire (VIDEO)
by David Badash on October 5, 2013

in News
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A man who poured gasoline over himself and lit himself on fire Friday around 4:00 PM ET on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., died hours later. Reports state another person was present and had set up a tripod, presumably with a camera to film the act. There are no reports the the man, who has yet to be identified, said or did anything that would indicate his motive.

READ: Man Lights Himself On Fire On National Mall In D.C. (Photos)

“Officer Araz Alali, a police spokesman, said the man died Friday night at a Washington hospital,” the New York Times reports:

The man’s name and age were not immediately known, and his burns were so severe that authorities will need to use DNA and dental records to identify him, Alali said.

Police had said he was conscious and breathing at the scene, but he was airlifted to MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

But one week before the D.C. self-immolation was drawing national attention, most news outlets missed an eerily similar act was attempted 1400 miles away, in Houston, Texas.

Reports state that in Houston, Friday, September 27, another man whose name has not been released, poured a red can of gasoline over himself and tried to light himself on fire. He was unsuccessful and passersby stopped him by gaining control of the lighter he was using. He was taken to a hospital. That happened at about 5:00 PM local Houston time.

[khou.com] Video | News | Weather | Sports

Fri Sep 27 20:15:22 PDT 2013
Man taken into custody after trying to set himself on fire in downtown Houston

Friday afternoon rush hour in downtown Houston took on added drama when a man in a business suit doused himself with gasoline and tried to set himself on fire. view full article

It’s extremely rare for acts like these to happen in the United States. They do happen, all too frequently, in some Buddhist and Hindu cultures, as political protests, in India and Tibet, for example.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the date of the event in Houston. We apologize for this error.

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Man taken into custody after trying to set himself on fire in downtown Houston

Carol Newquist » 05 Oct 2013 16:48 wrote:

Man taken into custody after trying to set himself on fire in downtown Houston

You have to love this. Man taken into custody. Why? Because he was a danger to himself? But the man operating a drone that drops bombs on innocent children, women and men thousands of miles away is not a danger and is not taken into custody. But the Men in Black calling themselves the Capitol Police who murdered a woman for no good reason other than they were itchy are not taken into custody. No, the guy who wants to burn himself to death rather than burn later when the drones come is taken into custody. Nice.

please relax. no drones are coming for you.

God we're living in bizarro world

Carol Newquist » Sat Oct 05, 2013 4:03 pm wrote:

He's had his say. too bad he's not around to explain the purpose of his "protest."

I haven't looked into the story outside of the headline to this thread and what's been said in it. From that, it was mentioned that he possibly had an accomplice and this spectacular protest was filmed. If so, it's possible that accomplice will release the message at some later date....if you, and I do mean you as in you personally in this case, and the authorities allow it. I say this because you quipped about the potential film of it being uploaded to YouTube. Underscoring 8bitagent's technological augmentation thesis, perhaps this Burning Man and his accomplice understood/understand precisely what 8bitagent means and were filming it for upload to reach the "connected," and otherwise distracted, audience....which is a growing audience, by the way. Of course, there is no guarantee how this technologically augmented audience will respond to such an act if it crossed their tiny screens. There's a chance they just may say "ouch, that's looks like it would hurt. Why would someone do something like that? What a nut" and then go about typing barely decipherable text messages to their so-called friends about nothing in particular. Either way, in the least, his protest was fulfilling for him and no doubt it will affect some people in the way he had hoped, so his act was most likely not entirely in vain.

Iamwhomiam » Sun Oct 06, 2013 1:00 pm wrote:Yeah, 8bit, he coulda been a star in a snuff film.

Iamwhomiam » Sun Oct 06, 2013 1:32 pm wrote:Perhaps you'll explain for me then Carol's remark to me, "if you, and I do mean you as in you personally in this case, and the authorities allow it," or what you found humorous in any of my remarks?

"Nah, I think you would have filmed it and rushed to upload it to the web." is what I said.

Please explain how I could have prevented Carol or some unknown videographer from uploading such a vile video to the web.

I do not like it when one twists another's words to become something not said or intended or assign attributes to another all should see as being false.

Carol says we have no right to interfere with his or anyone's right to free expression. I suppose we must let our mass murders kill away at will until they tire of it, huh? After all, he is entitled to express himself unimpeded, right? Regular ol' performance art. Street theater you could call it.