Pathologizing Dissent (While Normalizing Genocide)
As a 20 year old college student I remember visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC on a field trip with my art history class and looking up in awe at Jules Bastien-Lepage’s ‘Joan of Arc’. It’s an imposing painting that thoroughly pulls you in to the scene of Joan’s epiphany, the moment she realizes her destiny and her calling.
Although revered as a saint today, let’s remember how Joan of Arc was once pathologized in the lead up to her tragic murder at the hands of the Catholic Church (from wikipedia):
In early 1430, Joan organized a company of volunteers to relieve Compiègne, which had been besieged by the Burgundians — French allies of the English. She was captured by Burgundian troops on 23 May. After trying unsuccessfully to escape, she was handed to the English in November. She was put on trial by Bishop Pierre Cauchon on accusations of heresy, which included blaspheming by wearing men’s clothes, acting upon visions that were demonic, and refusing to submit her words and deeds to the judgment of the church. She was declared guilty and burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, aged about nineteen.
A few months ago when the student protests against Palestinian genocide erupted on American college campuses, I recognized something of Joan of Arc not only in the righteous determination of the students, but in the cynical attempts to delegitimize them and brand them as modern day heretics. The brutal response to these protests showed us that the mainstream orthodoxy of support for Zionism, capitalism and American imperialism is not meant to be challenged.
When active duty Air Force soldier Aaron Bushnell self immolated in front of the Israeli embassy earlier this year, there was an immediate flood of mainstream media commentary about his mental health. While many were invested in viewing this young man’s actions as stemming from a disturbed and mentally unwell frame of mind, when I saw the immolation I immediately thought of Joan of Arc being consumed by flames with her head held high. As we see multiple aircraft carriers and other U.S. military assets being moved into position in the Middle East, we can understand more clearly why Aaron was desperate to draw attention to the complicity of Amerikkka in the genocide of Palestinians. As an Air Force officer with access to certain intelligence, Aaron was well aware of how complicit our government is in the starvation, torture, rape and murder of innocent civilians.
Aaron Bushnell’s immolation reminded many people of Rachel Corrie, the young American woman who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer while attempting to protect Palestinian homes in Rafah, Gaza. I’m old enough to remember conversations where questions were being raised about Rachel’s possible mental illness as an explanation for why someone would do such a thing. She must have been mentally ill, because why else would an American with so much potential and promise throw their life away for some “backwards Arabs,” is how the narrative usually went. In 2010, an Israeli civil court ruled that Rachel was responsible for her own death, absolving the IDF and the operator of the bulldozer that crushed her. The United States government never condemned Israel or attempted to hold them accountable for the murder of this peace activist.
While Rachel Corrie’s mental health was questioned at the time, no one in power was questioning the sanity of Israelis who ghoulishly celebrated her tragic death.
The statement released by Aaron Bushnell’s family after his immolation highlights how invested mainstream people are in pathologizing legitimate dissent. Notice their insistence on being Christian supporters of Israel.
Smearing people who dissent as crazy is a long standing method of trying to guarantee that no one takes these people or their message seriously. Aaron Bushnell, Rachel Corrie and other dissenters who come from the American mainstream absolutely must be demonized and delegitimized because those in power here are especially terrified of dissent spreading among this particular population. “White”/European descendant folks, and especially young people, are the future of American colonialism and imperialism. How will this evil empire function effectively in the future if more and more people socialized as white begin to realize that something is wrong, that we’re on the wrong trajectory, and that much of the misery in the world (including their own) stems from this blood-soaked empire and its predatory economic system? People like Rachel and Aaron who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of justice are especially threatening because they could possibly serve as an example or inspiration for other white folks, leading them away from their preordained role as submissive and unquestioning Amerikkkan workers and consumers.
While the sacrifice of Rachel Corrie and the self immolation of Aaron Bushnell represent the extreme end of the spectrum of actions people can take in service of justice, there are in fact many Americans who are outraged by our government and seeking systemic change. The recent comments below from a facebook friend and social media users highlight the general current mood of many socially aware Americans:
As someone who has been involved in the activist world for over twenty years I can say with certainty that justice oriented people are always labeled as “crazy” or “troublemakers” for refusing to march in lockstep with mainstream logic. The logic of the mainstream tells us that mental wellness is synonymous with being an efficient worker and a happy consumer under capitalism. Caring about anything other than your job, family or bland hobbies is a “fixation.” Being sad and angry about the people your government is murdering means you are “disturbed.” But guess what? I prefer to not behave as a German Aryan in 1942 going about my day without a care in the world as my government rampages and commits genocide. Feeling empathy for other people is a normal human response. Justifying murder, torture, rape and dispossession is sociopathic behavior. What I would like to see more of is people turning the mental health conversation around and asking if the genocide supporters are mentally well, because obviously they are not — look at what they’re supporting, enabling, and turning a blind eye to.
