New Hampshire man lights himself on fire to protest America’s decline

[stockholmer]

http://www.businessinsider.com/new-hampshire-man-lights-himself-on-fire-to-protest-americas-decline-2011-6



Late last week, Thomas James Ball reached his breaking point. Driven to desperation by a system that bankrupted him and destroyed his family, Ball walked up to the main door of the Keene County, New Hampshire courthouse, doused himself with gasoline, and lit himself ablaze.

Hardly anyone seems to have noticed.

Conversely, when a 26-year old Tunisian man lit himself on fire a few months ago after police confiscated the fruits and vegetables he had been selling without a proper permit, it launched a wave of revolution across the Middle East.

People were shocked into taking action… protests and riots swept the region and one regime after another crumbled.

Rather than sparking an “American spring” and shocking US citizens into taking their country back, though, Mr. Ball’s act of self-immolation seems to have been largely ignored. There has been scant coverage (and scant is being extremely generous) of Mr. Ball in the mainstream media, and what little coverage there is generally discredits the man as a troublemaker.

This is how the system’s gatekeepers have been so adroit at maintaining the status quo– by suppressing dissent, marginalizing the detractors, and distracting the populace with meaningless, irrelevant drivel.....................

snip

[justiceischeap]

1. Just goes to show how disconnected American's can be

Obviously setting oneself on fire isn't near as exciting as a politicians penis.

[Lionessa]

4. I think that's a little unfair, "Americans" can't be so judged if we didn't even know about it,

in order to decide which was more important.

The Media however could be called that disconnected, or perhaps, as I think is more likely, it was intentionally squelched by TPTB in order to assure we couldn't/wouldn't react.

[justiceischeap]

6. I'm sure it was on the news in NH... this is the sorta thing that would go viral on the Inet

Yet, it doesn't appear to have. The media are American's too, and they didn't find it worthwhile to report nationally, because as I said, they were probably focusing on Weiner's... weiner.

[Taverner]

10. Now now now, didn't you get the memo, we're supposed to hate Weiner

And we're supposed to shake our head in disgust, scrunch our faces in disdain and wag our fingers like a 19th century schoolmarm

And if we don't, I think we're sexist or something...

[justiceischeap]

21. Or something... maybe smarter than the average bear? nt

[WhiteTara]

2. But we all know everything about Casey Anthony.

We are inured to the pain of others and think that it's all "on tv" so it is/isn't real

[Rebubula]

3. There is more to this story..

...than is reported.

I am friends with 2 art professors (University near DC) and they are friends with the ex-wife (never knew him, only her post-divorce). According to her (obviously one sided) - he was physically abusive to her and her children. Even according to his rambling fuck you letter - he slapped his 4 year old because she would not stop licking him - he hit her hard enough to cut her lip. When someone admits that kind of story (who the fuck slaps a 4 year old for licking your hand???) - you can bet that there are more incidents of his anger getting the best of him.

I have not seen this in any news article, but according to my friends - his son was at the courthouse when he set himself on fire and may have instructed his kid to get the gas can (again...one side of story told 3rd person).


This is NOT a story of a man that strove to be good and always got screwed. This is a sad story of a man that thought he should have been more and was angry at everyone when he failed.


The only thing that I can say nice about this person is that he took himself out only instead of the whole family.

[Lionessa]

5. So you offer hearsay as "more to this story?" By your own comments, "one-sided"?

I'm not saying you are wrong, but I certainly don't see anything in your post that justifies believing you.

And yes, slapping a child of four, firmly could in fact cut a lip, their baby teeth are pretty sharp. Apparently he was aware enough to recognize that it shouldn't have ended with a cut lip, so again, difficulty condemning someone who sees their mistakes. Having been a parent, sometimes I had responses I wasn't pleased with in retrospect and didn't do again, on both sides ... sometimes too harsh, sometimes too soft.

[Rebubula]

11. I prefaced all of my comments as such

Yes...I am throwing out 3rd party hearsay. Mostly, I am saying that this guy is NOT a spokesman for what is wrong in America - he was just an angry asshole.

Again...WHO THE FUCK SLAPS A 4 YEAR OLD??? FOR ANY REASON? I have been mad at my kid many times - but I never thought of slapping him in the face. It sounds as though you have no problem with slapping a kid...I hope that I am reading you wrong on that one.

Did you read his 'manifesto'? He is a very angry and confused man.

[struggle4progress]

44. Keene suicide saw jail in his future

By MEGHAN PIERCE
Union Leader Correspondent
Published Jun 17, 2011 at 3:00 am (Updated Jun 16, 2011)

... Ball ended his life in front of the courthouse where two thick files trace the disintegration of his marriage. The files include reports of slaps on the face of a preschooler. An arrest. A subsequent divorce. Visitation disputes. Orders to pay child support. A pending contempt charge ...

In his letter, Ball said he was facing jail time.

“I am due in court the end of the month. The ex-wife lawyer wants me jailed for back child support. The amount ranges from $2,200 to $3,000 depending on who you ask. Not big money after being separated over ten years and unemployed for the last two. But I do owe it. If I show up for court without the money and the lawyer say jail, then the judge will have the bailiff take me into custody. There really are no surprises on how the system works once you know how it actually works. And it does not work anything like they taught you in high school history or civics class,” he wrote.

Ball was set to appear in court on June 24 for not following a judge's order that he pay half of his children's medical expenses — $2,062 — that his ex-wife, Karen Ball of Jaffrey, had paid ...

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20110617/NEWS07/706179973

[PassingFair]

9. I heard he dumped babies out of incubators, too!

:sarcasm:

[Rebubula]

15. Read his manifest and get back to me...

...the man was unbalanced and blaming everyone for his failures.

[PassingFair]

16. Who the fuck ELSE would set himself on fire?

Only someone who felt that they could have
no other positive effect could do that.

Doesn't mean he didn't die for a reason.

He doesn't have to be Mother Teresa to
make a point.

[Rebubula]

18. OK...

...but he does not prove a point other than angry people sometimes do not get the mental help that they need.



He died for a reason - just not one that sane people can relate to.

Also - you are correct, you do not need to be a saint to make a point. However, if you hit a 4 year old hard enough to draw blood - your point may get watered down.


You read into this what you like - I will do the same.

[Lionessa]

20. You keep saying he's angry as though he has no right to be... what's that about?

Are you absolutely sure his manifesto as you call it is wrong? Perhaps he has faced injustice most of his life, there are many thousands I'm sure who actually have been wrongly persecuted throughout their lives for various reasons including mild social issues, as I have been. I even got to the point where I would have pow-wows about many of my bigger decisions because I was beginning to believe it had to be me (or as you say above, anyone with such anger and feeling just injustice, it must be him), but in the end, the group came to the same conclusions and decisions I would have on my own, so apparently it wasn't just me being nuts.

For example, everyone that knows my parents think I'm a liar. My parents started telling everyone I was a liar when I was just a babe to cover any possibility that their abuse would be found out. Along with that lie came all kinds of comments with catch phrases like, "drama queen," "chicken little," and so on. Though people here and anywhere that don't know my parents think I'm honest to the point of being tactless. But those that know my parents react to me as though I am who they said I am, and no matter how calmly or coolly I reproach them for acting, reacting, and judging me based on nothing more than two people's say so, it doesn't stop. I have to stay entirely away or I spend all my time just furious about the injustice of the illusion that's been sprayed upon me. Edited to add: And unfortunately if one stays, by choice or not, in a situation where these sort of things are happening, it becomes a hugely negative spiral of animosity and lies, distrust and anxiety causing knee-jerk reactions that appear overly dramatic or highly tempermental, which breeds more animosity and strength in the belief of lies.

You are basically doing that same thing here. You have no first hand or even reliable second hand knowledge and yet you spew stuff. And apparently you've never been a parent, or you'd know that sometimes we react wrong. The better of us notice it, he noticed it, therefore he's one of the better of us.

[PassingFair]

25. Well, he still sounds like a jack-ass, but last time I checked...

being a jack-ass was not a jailable offense.

My mother-in-law back-handed one of her daughters
for using the "f-bomb" and cut her lip pretty
badly (needed stitches) with her "spoon ring"
back in the 70's.

If my mother-in-law decided to self-immolate,
I doubt that people would say that the statement
was worthless because she had once slapped her
daughter.

[Rebubula]

26. Did you read the whole thing?

His ramblings are full of misplaced anger at everyone other than himself.

Feel free to keep trying to hoist this sad man up as anything other than a self absorbed angry man.

[PassingFair]

28. I know a shit-ton of self absorbed, angry men.

The fact is that this self absorbed angry man was
going to go to jail for a lousy $3,000
in child support.

He had been out of work for 2 years.

[Rebubula]

34. LOLZ

Ok...seriously...

You are putting this guy on a pedestal (did you even read his rambling BS?) because someone abused you and no one believed you and therefore - you identify with him. I empathize very much with being in the position of being abused and no one believing you - I really do. However, just because of that I cannot ignore everything that I see and read.


Read his entire letter and then make your decisions.


Of course....you just may be better than the rest of us.

[nessa]

14. Here's more, with links to his last statement

http://freekeene.com/2011/06/16/thomas-james-ball-self-immolated-in-protest-of-the-justice-system/

[PassingFair]

22. Jeebus! We're lucky this guy only set fire to himself!

That was the longest suicide note I've ever read.

Obviously a member of the he-man woman(and children)-hating club,
his inability to find work for two years, and his fear of going to
jail for $3,000 (!) worth of child support is what brought this
crazy person to this place.

[joshcryer]

46. I'm about 1/5th of the way through and I can already see so many talking points used here on DU...

...it's uncanny. Wow.

[lynne]

7. While I feel sympathy for his family and those he left behind -

- his method of protest wasn't the most effective. All he managed to do was leave his family and friends to grieve for him. He solved nothing and - as a method of protest - I'm not likely to pick up and carry the cause of someone who was obviously not in their right mind.

[Springer9]

8. Sounds like a guy who could spark a revolution to me

A man who died after lighting himself on fire outside the Cheshire County Superior Court House Wednesday had a history with local courts.
Thomas J. Ball, 58, of Holden, Mass., was embroiled in legal battles over how much he owed his ex-wife for their three children’s medical bills, according to court documents.

Ball also filed suit against the town of Jaffrey in March 2004, over what he said was the police department’s mishandling of his arrest following an April 9, 2001, incident.
The Sentinel received a document Thursday mailed by Ball indicating his intention and outlining his discontent and anger with the government.

Sometimes a self-immolation is just a self-immolation.

http://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/man-who-set-himself-on-fire-had-a-history-with/article_a2d27492-9840-11e0-9fe9-001cc4c03286.html

[Ganja Ninja]

12. A man lights himself on fire and still nobody pays any attention.

Perhaps he should have tweeted his penis instead.

[slackmaster]

13. Needs more Weiner. How quickly the narrative has changed.

[Generic Other]

17. He did this to strike out at his ex-wife

It's no different than a murder-suicide except he didn't have the pleasure of the ex-wife's company. This is not martyrdom to some noble cause. Not even a political statement of any sort. It is ridiculous to paint it that way. IMO it's just another sordid divorce with domestic violence and irrational thinking thrown in. Blaming it all on "system that bankrupted him" seems a bit of a stretch.

I can't visualize him being held up as the martyr for the non-custodial fathers' parental rights movement.

[Rebubula]

19. Exactly!

Holding this man up as anything other than a charcoal briquette (yes....I am going to hell - if there were such a place) is wishful thinking just looking for a hero of our times.

As I said in a previous post, at least he did not take the family with him like so many other failed men. However, I would bet that he took that into account when he was making his plans. Now everyone will say, 'Oh...poor Bob was really hurting. I feel so sad about his pain. His family killed him...'.

What a douche. Read the Manifest (the whole thing - it is a fun read - blames feminists and liberals for many ills) and then decide what kind of man killed himself.

[WatsonT]

40. Apparently people are desperate to have a hero

so I guess this nut who didn't want to pay his child support gets the job.

[joshcryer]

47. Uh, read his suicide note, it's going to go wide, real quick, particuarly on male-oriented forums.

Wouldn't be surprised if some more conspiracy-inclined DUers would take up the call.

[Generic Other]

50. The saddest part was his goodbye to his kids

I thought his arguments sounded like they might have been shaped by the non-custodial parental rights movement largely embodied by fathers who see themselves as the primary victims of divorce. I think it's sad there isn't more dialogue on the issue. He may believe he is doing his cause justice

BUT

he also said in the end it was about family. Then he delivered the worst blow he could on his family--he permanently deprived his children of his presence. They will suffer from his acts, be emotionally scarred for life, probably more than he ever was. They are the victims, not him.

Domestic violence is a family matter and should be treated as one. Like addiction. The wider community, particularly the state, should be here to help, not penalize. He is right about that part of his argument.

But a man who would set himself on fire to protest child support payments proved by his own actions that he was probably not a man who should have been allowed access to his children as he posed a clear danger to them.

[mrs_p]

23. I think he is becoming a martyr

for dads "fighting" the system - at least from the comments from the link in another person's post. I have no idea what truly happened between him and his wife and children. But, I don't think this was as politically motivated as it was a way to get back at those he thought were persecuting him, including his ex-wife.

[PassingFair]

27. Sounded from the "manifesto" that he didn't blame his wife or his daughters....

He blames a system that wouldn't let him be "king".

[Rebubula]

30. So...

...now that you have read his note...do you get closer to my way of looking at his suicide?

I recognize that many people get screwed by the system every day - I also know that many people that claim to get screwed by the system are really fuck ups that look for something other than the truth as it is hard to deal with.


This guy sounds just like what you described - someone mad because the system did not let him be the image that he had of himself.

[PassingFair]

31. I know a LOT of men like this.

They do not think they are in the wrong.

My mother whipped my with a frying pan cord
when she lost it.

She raised 5 of us to adulthood, and my father
never had her arrested.

Although I would NEVER whip my kids with a cord,
I think my father made the right move here.

He would have been a typical asshole living out
his self-pitying life, except that a lack of a
job saw him looking a jail time.

[Rebubula]

33. Honestly...

...I am not sure what you are trying to say.

It does seem that you came from an abusive household. In those days, spare the rod-spoil the child was SOP. So...your father not having your mother arrested (now...why he did not stop her is another story) is not surprising.

[PassingFair]

36. He wasn't around.

The thing is, both my mother and my mother-in-law
"parented" in the same way that this guy did, and
they were not dragged through the legal system as
a result.

This guy was FAR from perfect, this guy was a nut-
case that blamed "feminists" for his downfall.

But his actual "downfall" was caused by his inability
to get a job, so that he could keep up with his
child support and not go to jail.

[librechik]

24. not to self: Wait for large crowd to build before igniting....

terrible story. Because we are terrible.

[yawnmaster]

29. He is protesting a decline, and he's blaming it on feminism...

read his manifest.
a couple of excerpts:
..."If these feminist had to deal with men on a regular basis, then maybe the country would not be in the pickle we are in now."

..."Feminists had always claimed that when women took over, we would have a kinder, gentler, more nurturing world. After 36 million arrests and 72 million evictions what we got was Joe Stalin."


you really want to start an anti-feminist movement based on his self-immolation?

[WatsonT]

41. Hehe, don't introduce facts

they're on a roll.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

43. If someone had just said he was a teabagger.....

....this thread would die on the vine twenty posts ago with a few stragglers saying they wish they had brought matches.

[XanaDUer]

49. And marshmallows

nt.

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. The anti-government 'Sovereign Man' movement thanks you for publicising their drivel

and their attempt to turn the suicide of a man who had hit his daughter into a reason to hate "institution of government" as the "enemy". They are particularly happy to see an article advocating "starve the beast" of government getting 30 or more recommendations on DU.

[stockholmer]

37. you are not a very careful reader, are you? the Sovereign Man has zero to do with sovereign citizens

learn to at least do some basic research before you pipe off

:thumbsdown:

[muriel_volestrangler]

38. It's true that 'Sovereign Man' turns out to be just one guy trying to sell stuff

but, nevertheless, I'm a careful enough reader to spot the anti-government message of the article you give us. He thus has something to do with sovereign citizen movements - an individualistic, anti-government stance. You're happy with the "starve the government" message, are you? Linking to a libertarian article?

[stockholmer]

39. I'm an eco socialist Swedish Green Party member,as for 'starve the beast' your beast is the military

so STARVE it, before you starve

[muriel_volestrangler]

48. No, it's not the military he's attacking - it's everyday domestic government

Perhaps you didn't read up to the end of the piece you quoted. There's nothing about the military anywhere in the piece. Here is the end:

My assessment of this situation, however controversial it may be, remains very clear: the great faceless enemy that opposes us, irrespective of our country of origin, is the institution of government.

Over time, this institution has inserted itself into nearly all aspects of life, such that a man cannot so much as enjoy a pint of beer, discipline his children, ride on the train, go to the doctor, open a bank account, apply for a job, go fishing, or watch a sporting event without the heavy hand of government being involved.

This is a beast that feeds on citizens; the more it feeds, the larger it becomes and the hungrier it gets. Of all the solutions out there, including armed conflict, civil disobedience, self-immolation, active democracy, etc., the only one that truly destroys the beast is starving it– take away the feast of productive citizens and accelerate its collapse.

See? This is nothing to do with a government's foreign policy or military; he's an extreme libertarian who thinks that government regulations oppress individuals and hold back their productivity. As an eco-socialist, are you saying that the state should not have regulations or laws about food and drink, whether parents can hit their children, run railways, have a national health service, regulate employment, or control the use of the environment? He is. I'd say the only area he complains about that an eco socialist wouldn't completely disagree with him about is watching a sporting event (and I haven't the faintest idea what his complaint there is - for all we know, he may regard dog fighting as 'a sporting event').

And note his comment "irrespective of our country of origin"; he's attacking your Swedish government just as much (given his views, he probably hates the Swedish government even more than the British or American ones).

[Scuba]

35. So much for that plan. Maybe if he had done it in a Playboy mansion hot tub.

[Withywindle]

42. I knew someone who did this several years ago in Chicago.

Malachi Ritscher was someone I knew from the local music scene. Set himself on fire at the base of the "Millennium Flame" sculpture by the highway coming into the Loop, with a sign that said "Thou Shalt Not Kill." He intended it primarily as a protest against the Iraq War and his auto-obituary was very, very political. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malachi_Ritscher

Mixed response. Some people denounced the act--but I think most of those who knew him reacted with a mixture of sadness and some admiration. He had mental issues, sure--and hid them very well. Because I saw him mostly at concerts, and he loved music so much, he always seemed like a gentle, upbeat guy to me.Not many people saw his dark, painful side.

Mostly I think that if someone is bound and determined to commit suicide--and some people are--then what's wrong with using that event to make a statement about something important to you? I used to be judgmental about suicide - I think I've developed more compassion, fortunately. It's really impossible to judge someone for that when you can't even imagine what the mental state feels like on the inside.

[Fool Count]

45. Duh, that's the whole point of capitalist "democracy' -

safely ignoring all and every complaint or expression of dissent under pretext that all grievances should be aired at the ballot box.
What a damn hoax that is! In view of the ballot choices offered to us, self-immolation looks like a sole viable alternative to many.