I didn’t know about Arnav Gupta until someone send me the text “Have you ever heard about Arnav Gupta? Me neither.” a couple of minutes ago.
He burned himself in Washington, DC. Near the White House.
I wonder why this is not widely reported. This CBS report makes me think something like this happens more more often than I would have thought.
Is there some code of conduct at work, to prevent the so-called Werther effect, as often is in cases of suicide?
However, burning oneself in public is so radical, and established as the last resort to gain public attention in political matters ever since the famous LIFE magazine photograph that I have trouble seeing this as just one suicide.
Does anyone have some background info on these incidents? Does it happen often? Has anyone insights on the reason this didn’t pop up as a larger newsworthy incident?
ETA: the CBS / MSNBC link above is basically a copypaste from Reuters: