Cimarron
IRL is not real
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2008
- Messages
- 3,417
- MBTI Type
- ISTJ
- Enneagram
- 5w6
- Instinctual Variant
- sp/so
Obviously, it draws attention to your cause. The more dramatic a display, the more likely it is to receive attention. This is why it's used by people who really feel a major lack of attention to their cause, compared to the attention it should be given.You have a right to do what you want with your own body, and I do find it tragically noble. But what exactly does it accomplish, other than causing pain and sorrow for those that love you?
And it strikes empathy into those who watch. With a strong show of anguish--that a cause is so important, and a situation so emotionally painful, that you prefer physically burning yourself with fire rather than continue with that emotional pain*--you evoke empathy in others who start to gauge how seriously much pain you must be in.
* = The idea is that you either live with the emotional pain, or the attention of this spectacle will bring someone to change the situation, relieving the emotional pain at the price of the physical pain of the fire.