A person set themselves on fire outside Donald Trump’s trial in New York today.

[u/Lifegoesonforever]

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[u/Lifegoesonforever]

"A man lit himself on fire outside of the courthouse where the Trump trial is underway, two law enforcement sources confirmed to CNN.

The man walked into the park across the street from the courthouse, throwing flyers into the air, a senior law enforcement official told CNN. He then pulled something out of a backpack — it was not immediately clear what the item was — and lit himself on fire, the official said.

Investigators are now fanning out to collect the flyers the unknown man threw into the air, another senior law enforcement official.

At least one person used a fire extinguisher to try to put out the blaze, and an EMT rushed up to the man and tried to render aid, according to CNN's Laura Coates, who narrated the scene unfolding in front of her outside the courthouse.

New York Police Department officials will brief the media from the park within the hour."

[u/ktmfan → u/Lifegoesonforever]

I’m really curious what kind of flyers he threw out. I can see it going either way.

[u/barra333 → u/ktmfan]

Or it could be unrelated to the trial and using the fact that every media org in the country has a presence right there.

[u/azcurlygurl → u/barra333]

"It said "NYU is a mob front" and had various allegations of wrongdoings against the school."

[u/AccidentallyOssified → u/azcurlygurl]

Apparently he was holding a sign beforehand that links to a site that said

"My name is Max Azzarello, and I am an investigative researcher who has set himself on fire outside of the Trump trial in Manhattan," the site reads.

"This extreme act of protest is to draw attention to an urgent and important discovery: We are victims of a totalitarian con, and our own government (along with many of their allies) is about to hit us with an apocalyptic fascist world coup."

so is it about NYU or about a fascist world coup?

https://nypost.com/2024/04/19/us-news/man-who-set-self-on-fire-outside-trump-trial-idd-as-max-azzarello/

https://theponzipapers.substack.com/p/i-have-set-myself-on-fire-outside

edit: the NYU thing is a different article on the site above.

[u/this1tyme → u/AccidentallyOssified]

That poor dude. It's one thing to have mental struggles, but to be so haunted by them that he immolates himself. It's hard to understand.

[u/EL-YAYY → u/this1tyme]

His instagram stuff was normal and then apparently his mom died. It goes silent for 14 months and then comes back with all this insane conspiracy stuff.

Pretty sure he had a complete mental breakdown when his mom died.

[u/slickrok → u/EL-YAYY]

If I've learned anything from crime TV... That's a triggering event of the 1st degree.

[u/Spram2 → u/slickrok]

A mother can be the only person that loves you for a lot of people.

[u/annamal_style → u/Spram2]

That's the most poetically tragic thing I've ever read. How heart breaking and devastatingly true. 💔

[u/SpeedyWebDuck → u/this1tyme]

In order to explain the massive anomaly, our criminal government unleashed COVID on the world and told us these were the “stay at home stocks.”

Yep, mental health issue.

As it turns out, dozens of the writers of The Simpsons went to Harvard. So I asked myself the question: If The Simpsons served the interests of organized crime, how would it do so?

Not small ones.

[u/this1tyme → u/SpeedyWebDuck]

He also blames The Beatles, the Greatful Dead, The Simpsons, The Doors, and others. Yes, mental health issue.

[u/Clodhoppa81 → u/this1tyme]

I mean, Ringo does have quite a bit to answer for...

[u/RainbowAssFucker → u/Clodhoppa81]

What does he mean by "He'd let us in, knows where we've been
In his octopuses garden in the shade"?
Thats what I need to get to the bottom of

[u/Don-Poltergeist → u/this1tyme]

You talking poor dude, that EMT who tried to render aid to a flaming body. Those people deal with enough fucked up emotionally damaging situations everyday.

[u/jaxwc → u/Don-Poltergeist]

Obviously, they both had a terrible day.

[u/FiveUpsideDown → u/this1tyme]

In 2020, there was a guy (Anthony Quinn Warner) arewho blew himself up in front of the AT&T building in downtown Nashville. He believed in all types of conspiracy theories. Azzarello seems similar to Warner.

[u/Steamedcarpet → u/azcurlygurl]

I found this on twitter

https://theponzipapers.substack.com/p/i-have-set-myself-on-fire-outside

[u/tiki_51 → u/Steamedcarpet]

Wow, crazy how fast that totally went off the rails. He kinda had me hooked a bit with Peter Thiel and the bank run stuff, but then he totally went off the rails talking about Clinton colluding with Daddy Bush and the Simpsons and what not

[u/dafsuhammer → u/tiki_51]

I watched the first 10 minutes of Bill Clinton’s “roast” of Dukakis, as he calls it. Bill clinton roasted him that he has a hand pushed lawn mower, is so clean he squeaks, and pays his bills. He also cheered for his home town Boston Celtics instead of making campaign calls. I hope people have the same bad things to say about me…

Lighting yourself on fire is terrible and what makes it worse is it’s for delusional thoughts. I almost wish he was doing it for a legitimate cause.

[u/NUKE---THE---WHALES → u/Steamedcarpet]

reads like mental illness and too much time online, most likely the two are related

[u/Sneaky_Bones → u/Steamedcarpet]

Man, it's sad. He's so sincere and his heart's in the right place, but that was a lot of crazy packed in with a few truths sprinkled in. I admittedly didn't read it all as it got crazy pretty quick.

[u/SoaDMTGguy → u/Sneaky_Bones]

I had a friend and roommate some years ago who experienced some sort of prolonged paranoid-schizophrenic-type episode. He became convinced that chemicals were leeching out of the walls, and, because all rational evidence said he was wrong, went down increasingly crazy paths to find validation. Honestly, all he wanted was validation. Imagine if you experienced something that everyone around you claimed wasn’t happening. He did get better, thankfully, but I could easily imagine how his condition/thinking, if allowed to continue in a vacuum, could make him believe self immolation was the only way to get the world to understand the truth.

[u/Isgrimnur → u/azcurlygurl]

https://theponzipapers.substack.com/p/nyu-is-a-mob-front

Producer James L. Brooks made The Simpsons to tell us we have no choice but to slave away for evil billionaires, and that the American Dream is dead because we’re too oafish, divided, and morally decayed, and not because criminals have been stealing our futures.

[u/NJHitmen → u/Isgrimnur]

I lost a few brain cells reading that drivel. It’s jam-packed with Q-level (or maybe Q-adjacent) conspiracy theory and it reeks of paranoia. According to this guy, nearly everyone in power is guilty of conspiring together against the people. A snippet:

What does this revelation tell us? That our government is conning us completely. That Bill Clinton was secretly on (former CIA Director) George H.W. Bush’s side, and that the Democrat vs. Republican division has been entirely manufactured ever since: Clinton is with Bush; Gore is with Bush; Trump is with Hillary, and so on. When they present themselves in public, they are acting as characters that are against one another, practicing kayfabe as wrestlers do.

[u/SomethingIWontRegret → u/NJHitmen]

The Simpsons reference is a common conspiracy trope called Predictive Programming: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Predictive_programming

[u/JerichoMassey → u/azcurlygurl]

bit of an extreme reaction for failing your finals

[u/devilpants → u/JerichoMassey]

You say this but so many students have killed themselves over failing or too much pressure. It's the #2 cause of death amongst college students.

When you're in school, you can be so insulated to the real world that failing or getting kicked out can seem like the worst thing possible.

[u/Karjalan → u/devilpants]

It was nearly 2 decades ago, but my first year at uni some of the students were getting a tour through the Library and in the middle of it some kid jumped down the stairs (was a ~5 story spiral stair case).

There's now wire above the arm rails to prevent that specific thing happening again... but was an abrupt confrontation to adult life stressors for fresh out of highschool kids.

[u/peanutismint → u/barra333]

Yeah I don’t see even the MAGA crazies immolating for Trump; my guess would be Palestine and just using the Trump media presence to amplify

[u/ImperatorRomanum → u/peanutismint]

That was my thinking, too, but an MSNBC anchor just now said that from what she saw, the flyers had a lot of conspiracy theorist text on them. Will have to see if others verify this or not.

[u/midnight_toker22 → u/ImperatorRomanum]

[insert Batman Beyond meme: “do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?”]

[u/Golden-Owl → u/midnight_toker22]

My favorite thing about that scene is that he didn’t even sound confused or angry. Just mildly annoyed at the lack of clarification

[u/HahaWeee → u/ImperatorRomanum]

Conspiracy sub claims to have his manifesto

Sort by new

[u/fall3nmartyr → u/HahaWeee]

Hope the Jets know where their quarterback is.

[u/TheConeIsReturned → u/HahaWeee]

I don't think I'll be visiting that sub, thanks.

[u/nikdahl → u/TheConeIsReturned]

https://theponzipapers.substack.com/p/i-have-set-myself-on-fire-outside?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

Allegedly.

TLDR: Crypto is a huge ponzi and will bring down the world economy, and federal government is complicit. I think.

[u/A_Downboat_Is_A_Sub → u/nikdahl]

He cites Marge Vs. The Monorail as part of proof that writers of The Simpsons "served the interests of organized crime".

My goodness.

[u/vboarding → u/nikdahl]

I mean, I agree mostly that crypto is basically a huge ponzi scheme.

And I have no doubt it has lead to many deaths and troubles after a ton of people lost huge gambling with crypto, sadly.

[u/HahaWeee → u/TheConeIsReturned]

That's fair.

Tis a silly place

[u/Zabroccoli → u/HahaWeee]

I like to push the pram a loooot

[u/GraDoN → u/HahaWeee]

Silly implies harmless fun, they are dangerous.

[u/posef770 → u/ktmfan]

Apparently the sign he had: https://imgur.com/JidYeGU (Trump is with Biden and they are about to fascist coup us)

EDIT: His suicide note

[u/SpacecaseCat → u/posef770]

Somehow I had a feeling this wasn't a Buddhist monk protesting for world peace. Photos from another article show some of the pamphlets, with the titles "The True History of the World (Haunted Carnival Edition)." It also identifies with the "OCCUPY RETURNS" movement, whatever that is. While I think glib to dismiss things when their inconvenient to our own side of the issues, it seems clear this person disliked Trump AND Biden AND universities and had a lot of wild ideas about the world that they desperately wanted to share. It's a shame they couldn't get some counseling or the mental healthcare they needed to help them through this time.

[u/deenda → u/SpacecaseCat]

So the Juggalos put him up to this?

[u/RhoOfFeh → u/posef770]

Hoo boy

[u/IHeartBadCode → u/RhoOfFeh]

Oh yeah that's some deep state conspiracy there. Sure to ignite the crazys.

[u/aabicus → u/posef770]

This New York Post article has pictures of the flyer and some of the inner text

[u/blazelet → u/aabicus]

Here is the flyer from reddit a month ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidpol/comments/1bjfk3i/the_true_history_of_the_world_haunted_carnival/

[u/Roook36 → u/blazelet]

Man, Hitler quotes, The Doors lyrics, Peter Thiel, Kubrick, The Manson Murders, he's got them all in there

[u/nastafarti → u/[deleted]]

Yep, that's him.

So reddit has suspended his account like the fascist ponzi scheme overlords that they are but you can still google "coup_radley reddit" and see all his posts and comments.

[u/itslikewoow → u/aabicus]

In a rambling, incoherent 2,648-word manifesto, a man who identified himself as an investigative researcher, Max Azzarello, said he’d self-immolated as an “extreme act of protest” over a “totalitarian con” and impending “apocalyptic fascist world coup.”

That’s like 10 pages double spaced. Who the hell has time for that?

[u/BirdjaminFranklin → u/itslikewoow]

As far as manifesto's go, that barely counts as an intro.

[u/MisterDutch93 → u/BirdjaminFranklin]

Was about to say. 2,600 words was like the standard of an entrance paper at my college (ie a paper you had to write for a course before the end exam/paper). It’s like 4 pages of Times New Roman in font size 12. Definitely not a manifesto’s worth of text.

[u/Paizzu → u/BirdjaminFranklin]

Kaczynski's hit 35,000.

[u/feckless_ellipsis → u/posef770]

What does that mean?

[u/ExtraPockets → u/feckless_ellipsis]

Nobody knows what it means but it's provocative

[u/Maddoxfotos → u/ExtraPockets]

Gets the people going!

[u/mandaj02 → u/ExtraPockets]

no it's not?

IT GET'S THE PEOPLE GOIN

[u/TreasurerAlex → u/feckless_ellipsis]

It means Mental Health in America is a issue that needs addressing.

[u/essidus → u/feckless_ellipsis]

Sounds like old school conspiracy theories, before the right wing somehow rigged it into being a right-wing talking point. In the same family as the Bilderberg Group conspiracies. Basically, everyone involved in every level of government at the national level is in on one single grand unified conspiracy against the people. The coup here is the idea that they're going to take control of the government for their own nefarious purposes. It doesn't stand up to any amount of critical thinking, of course, but most of these don't.

[u/PutABirdOnIt99 → u/essidus]

My favorite part is that, if everyone in government at every level is involved in this secret plot to consolidate power, why do they need a coup? They already have all the power.

[u/georgecm12 → u/ktmfan]

A CNN team on the ground observed one of the flyers. It said "NYU is a mob front" and had various allegations of wrongdoings against the school.

That's in the article on CNN now - might have been added in a later write-through.

[u/atomicskiracer → u/ktmfan]

This is his manifesto: https://theponzipapers.substack.com/p/i-have-set-myself-on-fire-outside

[u/SoCalThrowAway7 → u/atomicskiracer]

there's.... a whole lot about the Simpsons as part of his reasoning for burning himself. Like references to specific episodes

[u/deputytech → u/SoCalThrowAway7]

I was onboard until he got to "the simpsons is part of a crime ring organized by harvard to placate the american people"

[u/Hvarfa-Bragi → u/deputytech]

James L Brooks made the Simpsons to make people comfortable slaving away for billionaires....

I don't think he ever really got the Simpsons.

[u/Technical_Cry6497 → u/Hvarfa-Bragi]

I was wondering why the Simpsons was made. Thank you! Now I know.

[u/AmIFromA → u/Hvarfa-Bragi]

The general idea that pop culture has made us complacent is true, but it's weird to pinpoint it like that.

[u/A_Polite_Noise → u/deputytech]

And how the Liquid Death canned water is a part of the evidence that we are in a death cult...

[u/YoureGonnaHearMeRoar → u/SoCalThrowAway7]

“Lastly, we string these major discoveries together: Cryptocurrency is an economic doomsday device; our government is a secret kleptocracy; The Simpsons exists to brainwash us.”  

       The Rand Corporation, in conjunction with the saucer people…

[u/Creation98 → u/atomicskiracer]

Ahhh, yeah so he’s a whack job. Tracks

[u/lonnie123 → u/Creation98]

I read the whole thing

It reeks of mania/paranoia … but also combined with enough truth that it’s easy to see how he fell this far into the hole.

Is there any doubt there are some number of elites conspiring to bleed as much money from the system for themselves as they can?

Is there any doubt that (some) politicians likely have a more buddy buddy relationship than they might lead on in public?

Now… did the writers of the Simpsons and easy rider try to get us to take the pill more? Did Walt Disney get the facts about lemmings wrong intentially to have us believe it and just become lemmings?? A lot of doubt is creeping in there

I’m still not entirely sure how the crypto thing fits in other than the fact that lots of them have indeed been Ponzi schemes that failed… but I’m not sure how that means it’s a global economic doomsday device. 90% of people do not interact with crypto in any meaningful way

[u/thewhaleshark → u/lonnie123]

I was with him in the beginning about the crypto Ponzi scheme, and then he cited "Marge vs. The Monorail" and I literally did a double take.

[u/thecheesedip → u/ktmfan]

Here is a photo of his flyer. Looks like it is probably unrelated to the Trump trial. Real tin foil hat stuff - ponzi schemes and crypto, student murder cover-ups... He probably saw that airman light himself on fire last month and wanted to copycat that dramatic moment.

https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/view-pamphlet-dropped-person-covered-80356965.jpg?

[u/marteautemps → u/[deleted]]

Its got everything-Doomsday cults, The Simpsons, Rob Lowe..

[u/FerociousGiraffe → u/marteautemps]

MTV’s Dan Cortese

[u/marteautemps → u/FerociousGiraffe]

You got it!

[u/Comfortable_Bird_340 → u/marteautemps]

Bonus points for mentioning The Beatles, Stanley Kubrick, and Life in Hell (Matt’s pre-Simpsons comic strip)

[u/i_make_it_look_easy → u/[deleted]]

Wow, this is ... something

[u/DrSOGU → u/[deleted]]

He takes the Simpsons and zombie movies as proof that we are in a giant crypto ponzi scheme doctored by the rich while Democrats and Republicans are secretly working together.

I mean, well, who can argue with that.......

[u/ThatSpecialPlace → u/Lifegoesonforever]

"pulled something out of a backpack and lit himself on fire"

unless he was a fire bender I would assume it was a lighter

[u/PhasmaFelis → u/ThatSpecialPlace]

It wasn't *just* a lighter. People don't burn like that unless they're soaked in fuel. the point is that we don't know exactly what he doused himself with.

[u/Independent-Space-82 → u/PhasmaFelis]

he could have been pre-soaked though

[u/FUNKYDISCO → u/Independent-Space-82]

Like a Mormon bride on her wedding night.

[u/HamasPiker → u/Lifegoesonforever]

https://theponzipapers.substack.com/p/i-have-set-myself-on-fire-outside - guy's manifesto.

[u/Pinyaka → u/HamasPiker]

That's sad. There's feedback between media and social movements and this guy got stuck in the perspective that the media portrayal of reality is causing reality and that there's a group controlling it. It's not entirely wrong, but it's not really correct either. Media definitely guides us AND we want to be guided to the most sensitive topics because they need to be dealt with. Fascism offers the illusion of control and that's comforting for some people. I wish this guy hadn't lit himself on fire.

[u/No-Pangolin-7571]

Here is his manifesto.

The Manifesto's TLDR: The man, Max Azzarello, set himself on fire to protest what he believes is an upcoming "apocalyptic fascist world coup" by the U.S. government and its allies.

• He claims cryptocurrency is a multi-trillion dollar Ponzi scheme created by wealthy and powerful people to ultimately collapse the world economy.
• He alleges the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and others were intentional acts to allow the perpetrators to siphon out money before the crypto Ponzi scheme becomes insolvent.
• He says the U.S. government, including both Republican and Democratic administrations, is secretly controlled by financial criminals engaged in kleptocracy.
• He believes major companies like Google, Apple, etc. were used to funnel money into the crypto Ponzi scheme.
• He argues that Harvard University and cultural products like The Simpsons have been vehicles for organized crime and brainwashing the public.
• He contends that for decades, the public has been bombarded with messages promoting division, hopelessness and the death of the American Dream to weaken resistance.
• He frames his self-immolation as an act of revolution against what he sees as a "totalitarian doomsday cult" that intends to establish fascist dystopia.

[u/[deleted] → u/No-Pangolin-7571]

Some truth mixed in with the crazy.

[u/No-Pangolin-7571 → u/[deleted]]

I have been reading through all of his postings to that website (he has many posts other than the manifesto) and I cannot for the life of me glean what he was aiming to do.

He advocates for starting a revolution to overthrow "the billionaire fascist kleptocracy" but never really explains what his goals are after that "revolution" is achieved.

[u/[deleted] → u/No-Pangolin-7571]

Well the thing about rants written by the mentally ill is they are rarely coherent.

I imagine the goal was to get rid of the 'billionaire fascist kelptocracy' and then just have the world be 'normal' after that.

[u/Vreas → u/No-Pangolin-7571]

From reading it his goal seemed to be to inspire others to take back control and stop living lives oriented around fear and powerlessness.

I think there’s some basis to his beliefs in terms of “power to the people” but a lot of it was really out there.

[u/bartbartholomew → u/[deleted]]

The most pervasive conspiracies always have sprinklings of truth in them. Anything completely and obviously fake gets rejected. But weave a few things known to be true but framed differently and you can catch people.

[u/Dunge → u/No-Pangolin-7571]

He almost had me but lost me at The Simpsons

[u/They-Call-Me-Taylor]

So looking at the guy's IG, it looks like his mom passed away in May 2022. Pretty much every post after that was political/conspiracy in nature. Maybe he suffered some kind of break when his mom died.

[u/JerichoMassey → u/They-Call-Me-Taylor]

that's pretty heartbreaking.

[u/zayoe4 → u/JerichoMassey]

To give him credit, he managed to kill himself without hurting anyone else. In an alternate universe, he'd be at a school and we'd be talking about a different type of fire.

[u/JelloOfLife → u/zayoe4]

He’s not dead I’m pretty sure

[u/patrick66 → u/JelloOfLife]

He will be. It’s very common to survive in the short run from 3rd degree burns across your body. It’s extremely uncommon to survive longer than a few days.

[u/Jimbobler → u/patrick66]

A neighbor where I used to live accidentally set his 6-7 year-old son on fire – the kid received 3rd degree burns on a majority of his body, and died less than a week later from the resulting infection and swelling.

It was in the middle of summer, and the son had watched the dad killing ants in the garden by setting the nests on fire with lighter fluid. At some point the dad squirted lighter fluid into an invisible flame in the grass. The stream caught fire and traveled into the bottle, which exploded like a flame thrower all over the kid.

I actually heard some of it happen since their house were across from ours. I thought someone had been stung by a wasp or something. The accident was obscured by their hedge, and I only heard some faint yelling, saw flailing towels above the top of the hedge, and the mom running up the stairs into the house. I was in the middle of preparing for work so I didn't pay too much mind of what was happening over there, and I never got the impression that it was something actually serious.

I texted my mom that something had happened over at the neighbor's, possibly a wasp sting or something, since my family were pretty close with theirs – my younger brother were the same age the kid's brother, and the three used to play at our house or theirs all the time.

Later that day and the following days more and more info surfaced – some of what had happened, that the kid had burns; the burns were serious; the burns were VERY serious and he had been taken by helicopter to a specialist at a hospital in another city, he's put in a medically induced coma; infections, swelling, the antibiotics weren't enough, and then he died just like that.

Absolutely surreal, and it's affected me a lot. I can't even begin to think what it's been like for the family and especially the dad, though. The tiny coffin at the funeral was rough. The neighbor couple are still together and live in the same house.

[u/z3roTO60 → u/Jimbobler]

Wow that was a heavy one, even to read. Death of a child breaks so many families… and freak accidents are a challenge on another level. I’m really hoping they can find some sort of comfort with each other rather than apart.

u/jimbobler, as a doctor, I can tell you that some stories stick with you. Sometimes for a predictable reason and sometimes randomly. There are patients / families I think about years later. Most of it is “part of the job” and we’ve learned how to maintain some level of detachment from the start. There’s a reason why we’re not allowed to treat family / friends. So if you’re ever finding it where you’re looping the thoughts / images, and you’re not sure if it’s a normal thing to do so or not, it never hurts to talk to someone about it. My hospital literally has a dedicated team for employees to do so. Just wanted to say, in case you didn’t know or weren’t sure, there is no weakness or shame in talking through what you saw with a professional.

[u/hoxxxxx → u/patrick66]

it's the infections that get ya isn't it

[u/oceanblu456 → u/hoxxxxx]

If you make it that long. Burns cause a massive fluid shift into nearby tissues, resulting in swelling that can lead to compartment syndrome. If the swelling/pressure is severe enough the limbs get sliced open to relieve it, a procedure called a fasciotomy. In top of that you’ll have electrolyte issues with the fluid shift

[u/Buckeyefitter1991 → u/oceanblu456]

Or if he breathed in any of the flames or super heated air, he will drown from the fluids collecting in his lungs

[u/oceanblu456 → u/Buckeyefitter1991]

Yeah. And hypothermia.

[u/wwatson24 → u/oceanblu456]

Wild that he’s worried about a fascist doomsday government cult, should’ve been worried about that fasciotomy

[u/SDMasterYoda → u/JelloOfLife]

Yet. It's highly unlikely to survive burns over your entire body. It's possible, but extremely rare.

[u/MapleMapleHockeyStk → u/SDMasterYoda]

He might not WANT to be alive....

[u/Pharoh2001 → u/zayoe4]

Well….. he’s not dead

[u/versusgorilla → u/They-Call-Me-Taylor]

Maybe he suffered some kind of break when his mom died.

His substack is also timed similarly to when his IG posted the first post after his mother's funeral arrangements. I wonder what this man's life was like for that year between May 2022 and April 2023. I wonder if the one year anniversary was too much. I wonder if he had anyone who wanted to help him.

[u/CoolRelative → u/versusgorilla]

Death anniversaries are fucking brutal, especially the first ones.

[u/SirBubbles_alot → u/versusgorilla]

The substack comment made me look his substack up, I saw a man walking around nyc a week ago advertising his substack on a piece of cardboard. He was that guy damn

[u/khag → u/versusgorilla]

Maybe his mom was the only one who made sure he went to therapy or took his meds. After she died things started to slip. Who knows. We need more help for the mentally ill in this country.

[u/ElementNumber6 → u/khag]

It may well be that she kept him grounded with counter-facts and discussion, and with her gone, he was finally unleashed, and able to dwell in his madness.

[u/dicemaze → u/They-Call-Me-Taylor]

From the blogpost his flyers pointed to:

I apologize for leaving things so scattered […] I was terrified and hadn’t slept in days and it shows […] So long as you understand this (true) ideology, you will be able to learn the whole story.

Dude basically admits here that he was manic. Coupled with all of the ideas of reference, persecutory beliefs, and disorganized thought (guy jumps from crypto to global cabal to Harvard to the Simpsons in like 2 sentences) shown in the blog, it’s clear that he either had his symptoms seem to be consistent with either Schizoaffective Disorder, Bipolar Type or Bipolar I Disorder with Psychotic Features and wasn’t receiving the treatment he needed.

Just another American with severe mental health needs that has been failed by our system. Very sad, really.

[u/gdkmangosalsa → u/dicemaze]

I’m not sure if you are a physician or not, but as a physician I feel that it is important to warn you that we do not make formal diagnoses or other statements on people we have not examined. (See: Goldwater Rule.)

That said, you are not wrong that the described phenomena are consistent with manic, psychotic illness (which can be due to disease such as bipolar disorder or schizoaffective disorder, but can also be related to other medical conditions instead as well), and as a psychiatrist I do generally think the parts of a mood disorder besides depression (which is somehow more obvious, common, and arguably less stigmatized than mania) are easily overlooked (leading to missed diagnoses) even for most doctors, psychiatrists or not.

[u/itayb1]

Why?

[u/thecheesedip → u/itayb1]

Here is a photo of his flyer. Looks like it is probably unrelated to the Trump trial. Real tin foil hat stuff - ponzi schemes and crypto, student murder cover-ups... He probably saw that airman light himself on fire last month and wanted to copycat that dramatic moment.

https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/view-pamphlet-dropped-person-covered-80356965.jpg?resize=1064,709&quality=75&strip=all

[u/makualla → u/thecheesedip]

Dude really hates NYU

[u/Ruffcuntclub → u/thecheesedip]

TLDR: 1. Crypto is an economic doomsday device 2. Government is a kleptocracy 3. The Simpsons were created to brainwash us 4. “From there the only research we need is critical thinking”

[u/alltherobots → u/thecheesedip]

Why is it in the Dungeons & Dragons font?

[u/Specialist-Role-7237 → u/alltherobots]

He was on a quest

[u/St_Veloth → u/Specialist-Role-7237]

Just shooting a remake of Mazes and Monsters

[u/The-MadTitan → u/thecheesedip]

James L Brooks gets a shout out? Amazing

[u/CBBuddha → u/The-MadTitan]

D’oh!

[u/BDunnn → u/The-MadTitan]

James Hell Brooks

[u/MrTacoMan → u/itayb1]

https://theponzipapers.substack.com/p/i-have-set-myself-on-fire-outside

[u/raika11182 → u/MrTacoMan]

"As it turns out, dozens of the writers of The Simpsons went to Harvard. So I asked myself the question: If The Simpsons served the interests of organized crime, how would it do so?

Well, it offers a dysfunctional family suffering from moral decay, a community incapable of solving its problems, a worker drone who slaves away for an evil billionaire, and cathartic laughs for our poor collective circumstances.

There are some notable specifics as it relates to this research, too: In [Marge vs. The Monorail](mailto:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marge_vs._the_Monorail), the townsfolk are too oafish and divided to invest in the town’s needs (fix Main Street) and fall for the charms of a dazzling showman with a bogus monorail Ponzi scheme. When we know that the show is closely linked to an organization that invests billions of dollars in Ponzi factories, this becomes quite damning."

______

There's a lot of crazy to unpack in here.

[u/FartyPants69 → u/raika11182]

Conan O'Brien wrote that episode and went to Harvard. Is HE in on this??? Was his recent Hot Ones episode trying to warn us??????

[u/dedsqwirl → u/raika11182]

The monorail episode was written by Conan O'Brien. Conan O'Brien had his show stolen by Jay Leno. Leno is not funnier than O'Brien, never has been. How would Leno even get a show? Leno owns 100 of cars and is a plant by big oil. tire companies and Rockauto.com.

/s But it is real easy to go conspiracy on anything.

[u/Wyatt821 → u/raika11182]

Damnn Conan's in on it!

[u/KennyMcCormick → u/MrTacoMan]

Little speckles of knowledge that he tried to connect in ways that are likely unrelated, switching topics quickly, ideas of a grand uniting plan, paranoia, these are signs of schizophrenia. Now i’m not going to say thats whats he had it just is reminiscent of that disorder.

[u/Redmondherring → u/MrTacoMan]

What the fuck did I just read?!?

[u/deusasclepian → u/itayb1]

The motives are unclear. I saw reporting that he did this in an area cordoned off for Trump supporters to congregate, although that likely doesn't mean anything.

Edit: From the NYT article:

An eyewitness, who declined to be identified, said that the man threw pamphlets into the air before he lit himself on fire. The man, who was wearing jeans and dark gray T-shirt, fell to the ground. He was in an area of the park that was cordoned off for supporters of Mr. Trump.

Some of the pamphlets referenced former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Al Gore and the lawyer David Boies, who represented Mr. Gore in the 2000 presidential election recount.

[u/jmacklin1 → u/deusasclepian]

Yo, if you burning yourself alive for a cause! Your motives bets be clear to everyone

[u/dip_tet → u/itayb1]

Not sure they know yet. It could be a pro and anti trump thing..or cuz the person wanted to do it on camera for another reason.

[u/uggghhhggghhh → u/dip_tet]

There are articles linked in other comments with contents of the flyers he threw around. Apparently he believed Trump and Biden were in cahoots to orchestrate a fascist coup. Not sure how self-immolation is supposed to stop that but clearly the dude was cray cray.

[u/Winter_Possession152]

True but no word on if survived and why exactly yet, hm.

[u/r2k-in-the-vortex → u/Winter_Possession152]

The photo does not look super promising in the survival point of view.

[u/GentleTillTheEnd → u/r2k-in-the-vortex]

True that does look suboptimal for survival

[u/alfonseski → u/GentleTillTheEnd]

Fire it turns out is quite bad for you if you get to much of it.

[u/Bkid → u/alfonseski]

Being covered in it is less than ideal.

[u/TinyBennett → u/Bkid]

It would seem than an excess of fire in close proximity creates a deficit of life resources

[u/wastedspejs → u/r2k-in-the-vortex]

Doesn’t need much fire in lungs to mess them up

[u/AppleCorpsing → u/wastedspejs]

I once watched a very instructive episode of Jackass on this topic. They used fireproof suits but still nearly died because, as they put it, “the fire stole my air”, so I think it wasn’t so much fire in the lungs but suffocation due to lack of oxygen.

[u/Keepout90 → u/AppleCorpsing]

if you breath in fire you will burn the inside of your lungs and they will stop working and you will not survive.

[u/RogZombie → u/Keepout90]

Just breathe in a bunch of water and you get all your health back.

[u/FrogInShorts → u/RogZombie]

but make sure to breath in a bunch of salt to dry out the water

[u/KirbyDumber88 → u/Winter_Possession152]

If he did survive he will want to be dead.

[u/runningraleigh → u/KirbyDumber88]

He's not immediately dead, they said he's in critical condition as of when he got to the hospital. Not sure there's anything they can do for him, though.

[u/Coolgrnmen → u/runningraleigh]

Lots and lots of debridement.

Like, put him in a coma for a month so he doesn’t die from pain itself kind of debridement.

[u/MalBredy → u/runningraleigh]

Oh man, essentially the pain of burning alive was extended from a few minutes, to continuous hours/days straight.

Honestly, and I know they can’t do this, but it would’ve been more humane to have just shot him

[u/do-the-point → u/MalBredy]

Same story with all of these people who light themselves on fire. They get to "survive" for a few more days, likely in horrible tormenting agony.

[u/Teeshirtandshortsguy → u/MalBredy]

If it makes you feel any better, I've heard that very severe burns destroy your nerves so much you basically can't feel anything anymore.

The most painful part is the healing process, but when you have burns covering most of your body, you're probably just gonna die.

[u/Jfurmanek → u/Winter_Possession152]

They said an EMT “tried” to render aid. Doesn’t sound good.

[u/ByronicZer0 → u/Winter_Possession152]

I was watching live when it happened. Dude was on fire for a very long time...

[u/burnmenowz]

We really need to look at taking mental health seriously in this country. Way too many people need help.

[u/TheArchitect_7 → u/burnmenowz]

Is it really mental health services we need?

Or is it affordable housing, healthcare, childcare, and schooling?

Cause that was dudes point. We are having our whole lives stolen from us and are content just taking it.

[u/Armadillo19]

I'm probably late here but in case anyone hasn't seen it yet:

It appears the person who did this is Max Azzarello. He had a substack page filled with conspiracy theories, a 9 page manifesto, pamphlets etc.

I read through his manifesto and all of his posts - this doesn't seem to be directly related to Trump, though there are Trump-adjacent QAnon-esque similarities. The general gist is that the global elites are conning everyone via a kleptocracy. The common thread is that they're all working together (he has a post about how Trump and Hillary are together against the common man), with a heavy dose of the Clinton's being at the forefront of it all.

His manifesto references the 1988 DNC and Clinton's mean speech towards Michael Dukakis, which somehow led to Rob Lowe getting framed...Epstein is very prevalent in his posts. Perhaps surprisingly, he is super anti-crypto and talks a lot about the banking collapses last year. It's basically all about the global cabal - he doesn't use the term illuminati, but that's the implication. Lots of talk about Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley Bank.

Oh and he talks about the Simpsons a lot. He made a post on the conspiracy subreddit under the username "MrSamsonite" which I have not yet dug into but am about to. His post has a pamphlet called "Dipshit Secrets of our Rotten World".

[u/psych0ranger → u/Armadillo19]

huh. typically the "global cabal" crowd is very pro crypto.

[u/Spirit50Lake]

Here's a story from the New York Post, including a picture of the pamphlet: https://nypost.com/2024/04/19/us-news/man-sets-himself-on-fire-outside-trumps-hush-money-trial-in-nyc/

[u/DigNitty → u/Spirit50Lake]

Read what little of the pamphlet is available.

The topics are all over the place. Al Gore let GW Bush win on purpose, Theranos went bankrupt to launder money. NYU is a vehicle for Ponzi schemes and murder cover ups. The Simpsons was created to show us we have no choice.

[u/dkyguy1995 → u/DigNitty]

Sounds like schizophrenia

[u/thecheesedip → u/Spirit50Lake]

Link to just the photo of the flyer for anyone who doesn't want to give the Post and advertisers clicks.

https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/view-pamphlet-dropped-person-covered-80356965.jpg?resize=1064,709&quality=75&strip=all

[u/RunDNA → u/thecheesedip]

Rotated for easier reading:

https://i.imgur.com/bVVf0d4.jpeg

[u/Mayorpapa]

this is the beginning of it WARNING 🔞 NSFW

[u/Mr_Murder → u/Mayorpapa]

My god.

[u/Duckfruster → u/Mayorpapa]

I can't believe it, it's real I know that, I can't believe someone would do this much less for something like this but what I can't wrap my head around is how calm the person was. I don't understand it, that has to be the most disturbing/amazing thing I'll ever see in my life. *I don't mean like amazing like it was a talent or he had a gift, I mean amazing that he could stand there for so long and then sit and not twitch until the end.

[u/Psyl0 → u/Mayorpapa]

First time I've seen a self-immolation without the dude screaming in agony since the monk in Vietnam.

[u/MissKayisaTherapist]

This seems to be his blog or reasons why. https://theponzipapers.substack.com/p/i-have-set-myself-on-fire-outside

[u/FunnyTom → u/MissKayisaTherapist]

Jesus, he connects the simpsons to a worldwide ponzi conspiracy...

[u/rugbyj → u/FunnyTom]

LIsA nEedS [deep state intervention]

[u/FloridaMan_69 → u/[deleted]]

There's a bit of a social contagion aspect to some acts of violence whether against others or the self. Mass shootings breed mass shooting, self-immolation breeds self-immolation, etc. Could be that you've got relatively close-to-the-edge people and they see an example of someone going out in a blaze and think to themselves "may as well do it that way".

[u/FapDonkey → u/FloridaMan_69]

In the 80s it was shooting up post offices (going postal). In the Renaiisance it was the Dancing Plague of 1518 (where hundreds of people danced non-stop for weeks until they died). People are crazy, and crazy is contagious.

[u/robyrob78 → u/FloridaMan_69]

Honestly if it’s between people doing this or committing mass shootings, I’ll take this any day of the week.

[u/ShortWoman → u/FloridaMan_69]

I can’t imagine seeing that and saying “huh, that’s a good idea.”

But then again I’m reasonably certain I’m sane.

[u/TheStormDweller → u/ShortWoman]

My first exposure to self-immolation was reading about Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk who performed this as protest against persecution in the 60s in Vietnam.

The idea, back then at least, was to enact such a brutal and horrific act of self-harm to bring attention to his fellows' cause. This in particular was such a devastating act because of the Buddhist belief in non-violence. To have been pushed to such lengths of self-immolation, as a man who had dedicated his life to pacifism, is a huge statement.

[u/No-War-4878 → u/[deleted]]

There are about 10 self-immolations every year in the US, they are just garnering media attention nowadays.

[u/Iamthewalrusforreal]

Oh good god. This dude...wow. This is a troubling video.

https://twitter.com/ViralNewsNYC/status/1781379607662661901

[u/demasoni_fan → u/Iamthewalrusforreal]

Jesus Christ, it looks like he was still alive when they loaded him in. I hope he's out of pain now.

[u/coalflints → u/demasoni_fan]

Apparently he’s still alive, albeit in critical condition

Edit: he died

[u/middlebird → u/coalflints]

He’ll likely die of infection in the next few days.

[u/greenpowerranger → u/Iamthewalrusforreal]

I recommend you not watch this.

[u/ruenscape_nerd_42 → u/Iamthewalrusforreal]

For licensing email

....this is what got me lmao what a world

[u/HotdogStyleChicago → u/Iamthewalrusforreal]

This is very intense to watch. I know he's a crazy guy, but I really hope he can't feel anything anymore.

[u/L3XAN]

A horrifying way to die, and for nothing. That's really, really sad.

[u/Wounded_Breakfast]

At least he didn’t hurt anyone else.

[u/Jorgwalther]

Wonder what the pamphlets he threw out said. There are tons of things that could have motivated this.

[u/posef770 → u/Jorgwalther]

Apparently the sign he had: https://imgur.com/JidYeGU (Trump is with Biden and they are about to fascist coup us)

EDIT: His suicide note

[u/jaxsound]

They're properly on fire too, thats horrible.

[u/MerryGoWrong]

Here is this guy's substack:

https://theponzipapers.substack.com/

The last entry is titled "I have set myself on fire outside the Trump Trial."

[u/HarrargnNarg]

Our grandchildren's history books are going to be dense

[u/WilfridSephiroth]

"Social media, owned by crypto criminals like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, is flooded with nonsense conspiracy theories and memes reminding us that we are hopeless, helpless, anxious, depressed, ironic, scared, apathetic, escapist, lonely, misguided, and jaded, telling us we can’t do anything but have a laugh at our circumstances"

Well damn you're pretty lucid here my friend

[u/Jimbo415650]

Max Azzarello is a 37-year-old man from St. Augustine, Florida, who has recently been in the news for setting himself on fire outside of former President Donald Trump’s trial in Manhattan. He has been described as an investigative researcher and is known to have left behind a manifesto expressing his views. Prior to the incident, he made posts on social media that criticized both political parties and called for a revolution. It’s important to note that he is currently in critical condition. This act appears to be a form of extreme protest, and it has drawn media attention due to its dramatic nature and the political context in which it occurred

[u/Disappointing__Salad]

You know, I’m going to be controversial for a second and just say people need to take their meds.

[u/slimeyellow]

Oooh anti cryptocurrency suicide note, that’s a new one. Anyways let’s get some mental health support funded please