Possibly one of the most instantly recognisable photos for our generation. On the day of June 11, 1963, one Thich Quang Duc stopped at a busy intersection in saignon and proceeded to pour gasoline on himself before setting fire to himself in an act of self-immolation.
David Halberstam, of the New York Times witnessed the event and later wrote:
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"Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think.... As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him."
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Thich Quang Duc was protesting against the Buddhist treatment under the South Vietnam government. In a world of fake-plastic celebrities with fake plastic politics, Thich Quang Duc is a timely and confronting reminder that we, as individuals, as human beings, have the ability to shape and to mould and to create our own destinies.
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Thank you 'Today Tonight', 'A Current Affairs', MTV and other such propaganda machines for diluting the individual passion and thought processes of people.. There's nothing proper about your propaganda. (thankyou RATM)
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Much love to those who still demontrate individual will and independant thought, which sadly, these days, appears only to be a teardrop on an otherwise eternal fire.....
1 comment:
Crazy. I've seen that video. How the hell could you sit so still and calm whilst enduring perhaps the most hardcore pain possible.
Dyl, I can imagine you doing that at uni before your time there is through. It's been building up inside for a while...
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