I have read about this famous incident but I had no idea there was a video but hereit is.
One of the most aweinspiring things I have ever seen. It’s not as horrifying as one might expect because the monk was astonishingly still during the whole thing. Those Buddhist monks develop some serious will power I have to say; the toughest soldiers in the world would be screaming in agony.
That’s hot.
There’s a reason why the film was shot without sound.
I’d have chosen a Blue Öyster Cult song for the music track.
Seriously though, that’s serious dedication to a Cause.
The eye-witness reports, for example by David Halberstam say the monk didn’t utter a sound. From the Wiki article:
Did he scream a lot? What is the historical account of it from eyewitnesses?
I know. I was making a sick joke.
It’s funny how the cops just keep pushing people away (and occasionally turning to enjoy the show) instead of doing anything to stop it… are suicides-as-spectacles allowed if they’re tied to religion?
IIRC, everyone was impressed when Buddhist monks set themselves on fire, but when a Quaker did so at the Pentagon & a Catholic at the UN, everyone thought they were pinko wack jobs.
Dear Og, WHY?
video of “witches” being burned in Kenya (warning, graphic): h ttp://www.inewsit.com/video/gallery/Five-people-suspected-to-be-witchcrafts-were-bruterly-murded-in-kisii-Nyamataro-Village
Man sets self on fire to protest Iraq war http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=8001152
November 3, 2006 - Priest burns himself to death to protest Islam
How to make electricity? 
The mind boggles.
I don’t know what has me more dumbfounded – that the guy self-immolated, or the people on YouTube leaving comments about how heroic it was.
I’ve never seen the video before, and watching it, I see some interesting differences from descriptions I’ve read.
The wiki page says that police tried to reach him, but were blocked by the circle of monks. The video clearly shows that police were ten feet away holding back the crowds, and had an unobstructed path to the priest.
Also, the wiki page says that after ten minutes, he tumbled forward. But you can see him tumble backwards on the video.
I wonder if either of these discrepancies is significant.
What do you mean about the heroism comments? :dubious:
From the first page of comments:
I figured it was pretty self-explanatory. If you look at the comments on YouTube, there were people gushing about heroism, etc.
I’m not seeing the heroism, m’self.
Well I do think his act was heroic. He was showing total dedication to his cause which was a pretty good one: stopping the persecution of Buddhists by the Diem government. As the article mentions the self-immolation was a critical moment in the successful protests against the government which was ultimately overthrown.
Less famously, in 1970 a student at my alma mater, UC San Diego, did the same thing to protest the Viet Nam War. He was a former member of the ROTC who had no previous affiliation with the relatively large anti-War movement on campus. I was at that school for most of the 80’s and there was still a sparsely attended annual vigil for him on the anniversary of the event.
He did it as an act of attack and ended up winning the war. As far as non-violence goes, the man was the Rambo of monks.
Ugh. Something similar happened on the campus of my alma mater back in the '90s. A woman who was a local artist and struggling with mental issues immolated herself in front of the main library.
It was horrific.