Sadly--but clearly to his mind, necessarily--a young man named Max Azzarello set himself on fire this afternoon in Collect Pond Park behind the NY Supreme Court building, site of the Trump trial.
Not surprisingly, Azzarello wrote a manifesto before self-immolating. Quite surprisingly, the stodgy, barely breathing Newsweek published it within an hour of the horrific incident. What's to be found in the nine page document?
Unlike the other burning man in the news, Aaron Bushnell, who claimed to have knowledge of US forces fighting in the Gaza tunnels, Azzarello's beef isn't with America's involvement in two foreign wars. His is a much wider accusation.
Azzarello posits that there is no America as we know it, that the two political parties are one, play-acting (he uses the term "kayfabe") to achieve desired results, specifically, to enrich politicians and the elite.
Brings to mind the net worth of individuals such as the Clintons, the Pelosis, etc.
However--and Azzarello is adamant on this subject--his was not a partisan protest. He names not only several prominent Democrat politicians, but also Jared Kushner, Donald Trump, and Anthony Scaramucci as examples of those who have profited from the Ponzi scheme of broken American government.
Where Azzarello will lose many readers is in his copious use of pop culture reference. Perhaps only Gen X readers will be familiar with the entire catalog of TV, music, and movie mentions. These examples serve to undergird Azzarello's tenuous but seductive claims, such as:
And so on and so on he goes. Perhaps the best thing is to read his 9 pages of thoughts for yourself and come to your own conclusions. Please share your thoughts.
