As we wrote earlier, a lot of folks on the left are bizarrely boosting the nut job Air Force guy, Aaron Bushnell, who immolated himself while yelling 'Free Palestine!' on Saturday, claiming him as a martyr for their Hamas-sympathetic cause. It's a truly horrifying and sickening turn of events and speaks to a worrying degree about the overall mental state of the far left these days, but what speaks even more to their mental state is that just as they'd begun to really rally around the horrific event fights began to break out amongst these lunatics because of the language being used in commemorating him... specifically around the use of the term 'Rest in Power':
rest in power is for BLACK people. black people have asked time and time again not to use this outside of the community. and every single time you do.
— layla (@laymagdalene) February 26, 2024
Now the term certainly has recently been used for BLACK people, but you'll doubtless be shocked to find out that this take is as ignorant as it is absurd. Apparently the phrase 'Rest in Power' was first used to commemorate not a black man but rather a Filipino man, Mike 'Dream' Francisco, a graffiti artist who was gunned down in an armed robbery in Oakland, California in 2000. This usage was on a random message board though, so maybe it's only been used in print for black people? Well, no. The first time the term was used in print was it seems in 2003 to commemorate Rachel Corrie, a white woman who was run over by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza while trying to prevent it from destroying a house.
But despite the obvious problems with this whole narrative it's one that the wackadoos on the extreme end of the left are going with. The best part is that you apparently don't even have to be black to get up in arms about it!
It's a nice memorial, but "Rest in Power" is for Black people. Aaron wasn't Black.
— Kristen (She/Her) (@kcotenti) February 26, 2024
Now obviously the whole phrase 'Rest in Power' is kinda stupid and nonsensical, especially when the topic under discussion is a guy who clearly should be being viewed as a reminder of the importance of mental health outreach efforts and suicide prevention, but getting into fights gatekeeping who it can and cannot be used for is beyond stupid... it's almost parodic in the level of stupid it's exhibiting.
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Not one of my black friends or family members -none of which are new blacks who became black after Ferguson or hate capitalism- has ever asked anyone to not say this. We have lives and don’t care about policing the blackness we discovered 10 years ago. Grow up weirdo https://t.co/ZeQL25Jl0L
— Do Not @ Me, PhD (@UsingLyft) February 26, 2024
Actually, it’s often traced back to a Filipino guy and started within the graffiti community in CA. https://t.co/N11KJ2mK7S pic.twitter.com/aZ1pdoCgGm
— shereallyisinsane (@insaneisgone) February 26, 2024
Does "rest in power" mean anything? https://t.co/TLLwybiNyH
— James ✝️🇺🇸 (@wjamesawill) February 26, 2024
No... no, not really. It's one of those kind of weird nonsense phrases that the left likes to pop up with sometimes like 'I am woman, hear me roar' that is incredibly cringe inducing but also sounds kind of good chanted at a march so they go with it. The best guess at a meaning that we have is that it's going for Dickensian a 'It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done' thing, that the person will be remembered beyond and for their death 'for the cause' and it will spur others to action and victory... but nah. It's just dumb.
I see why people hate identity politics. https://t.co/6bCjMts5QG
— TN Spittin (@MarxIsMyNigga) February 26, 2024
It's good again to see this type of Liberal pathetic nature manifest like this because it's obvious to everyone what it is https://t.co/e8NShZKeUc
— WhiteBurnVictim (@AsianWifeOwner) February 26, 2024
The bright side of blk activist is that they're so ethnonarcissitic that a coalition involving them will invariably collapse. https://t.co/XaYrhwUfrI
— Bphm (@BlkPHomo) February 26, 2024
That's a good point!
Identity politics always seeks to fragment and lay claim to values that are universal. https://t.co/IpLGFBUDD4
— Yasar Xalimo (@Xahlimo) February 26, 2024
Gatekeeping words / phrases based on her supposed culture is funny cos even her name “Layla” is Semitic. When you gonna stop saying your name girl? Tick tock. Stop appropriating it I’m deeply offended on their behalf. https://t.co/ca0I2B25i5
— DH (@DH_1997_) February 26, 2024
Of course not everybody is against this treatment... It seems that even killing yourself for a liberal cause du jour isn't enough to wash you of the sins or your race and profession for some.
especially not for a white member of the united states air force https://t.co/Wj7CJZJyF9
— 🍉leebs🏳️🌈 (@leebbees) February 26, 2024
Isn't that charming?
Well show us a black member of the United States air force who set themselves on fire already. Geesh.
— LIZZY💥 (@LizzyStarrrdust) February 26, 2024
This is hilarious
— Daily Roman Updates (@UpdatingOnRome) February 26, 2024
If literally setting himself on fire for your cause wasn't enough I'm not sure what would be
— Aliases too numerous to list (@IsMNordauInJail) February 26, 2024
Apparently nothing.
The funniest thing about this whole 'Rest in Power' business that the right is pointing and laughing and a lot of people on the left are begging them to stop this, but this kind of racial grievance is so engrained at this point that some people on the left are clearly incapable of thinking beyond it. Even when the folly of this whole tactic is pointed out to them by their own side they still have to double down... because at the end of the day for the racial identitarians this kind of racial grievance is all they have. It's kind of sad, really.
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