Frst american to self-immolate over justice system....

gets no mainstream media coverage. Apparently, this story is not considered of national interest even as a curiosity.

-Thomas James Ball in his “last statement” before he self-immolated in front of the courthouse that was integral in destroying his life.

I just got back from the Cheshire county courthouse, the site of yesterday’s self-immolation. As I was walking out, they were painting over the scorch marks they attempted to wash away earlier in the morning.

Thomas thankfully dropped off a “last statement” to the Keene Sentinel, so we could all know what he was going through. I will post that below.

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

His statement is lengthy and well-written for a man committed to making a point by setting himself on fire. RIP. Like our soldiers and young men who kill themselves on a regular basis - ignorance is bliss.

There was no mainstream media reporting of a person who sets himself on fire and there is no interest here, but there is interest in deleting any reference to him and his actions in wikipedia. Control of what information is disseminated/available helps shapes our perspective everyday.

Political Suicide

Thomas James Ball's self-immolation took place near the main rear entrance of the Cheshire County Superior Court House, sandwiched between the Ashuelot River and Robin Hood Park. Just before 5:30 on the evening of June 15, 2011, he doused himself with gasoline and set himself ablaze, in a calm and confident manner. Witness Sean Desio described Ball's demeanour as "like he was just chilling there, doing yoga or something." [4] After the fire was burning, Ball refused help from several nearby men. [5]

Ball made no sound while he was burning. Witness Dan Koski describes "I saw a man standing on fire. He walked around a little bit, walked on to the grass, collapsed on all fours and literally sat there and burned." After Ball collapsed, witness Jerry Goodrich describes the intense flames as being "over his head, and when he was on the ground, they were probably a good foot over his body." [6] Thomas James Ball expired a few minutes after setting himself ablaze.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_James_Ball


The reason for the proposed deletion:

Fails WP:EVENT. There is no lasting or historical significance of this event. The coverage has been limited to local news, and there are few GHits. Singularity42 (talk) 13:38, 18 June 2011 (UTC)

A rebuttal:

Update on google hits (by author, in support of keeping the page): Initial google hits were very limited for "Thoamas James Ball". I recorded about 270,000 on the first day. Currently, the number of google hits stands at 8,800,000. This is significant evidence that this event is highly relevant.

In addition, I submit evidence that the mainstream media is avoiding coverage of the Ball event. Evidence: A google search for James Whitney Bulger results in 480,000 google hits. The event of the capture of Bulger is the front page news item at this moment on cnn.com, even though it has generated only a tiny fraction of the amount of interest that exists in the Thomas James Ball event. Comparing the raw number of hits obtained by a google search of "Thomas James Ball" (8,800,000) to the raw number of hits obtained by a google search of "James Whitney Bulger" (480,000) is glaringly asymmetric to the coverage that the two events have received in the main stream media (no coverage for Ball, front page coverage for Bulger). Therefore, the absence of coverage by the main-stream media should not be used as justification for removing the Thomas James Ball wikipedia page. In addition, I will point out that James Whitney Bulger has a long wikipedia page, which is further evidence that the Thomas James Ball event (which currently generates 20 times more google hits) should remain.

Finally, I point out that the presence of interested/non-neutral pro-keep parties in this discussion (sometimes called sock/meat puppets) should not be used as a justification for removing the Thomas James Ball page. The only proposed argument for removal of the page (lack of significance of event) has been soundly rebutted by (1) the exponential growth in the impact that this event continues to have in the blogosphere and in non-traditional media outlets, as well as by (2) the very large number of google hits (8.800,000), the majority of which can easily be seen by inspection to be directly related to the event (few coincidental hits). For purposes of proof of relevance of the raw GHit number for Thomas James Ball (currently 8,800,000), I point out that a google search for "Alexander Hamilton" produces 8,700,000 GHits, almost exactly the same number observed for Thomas James Ball.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Thomas_James_Ball

WOW!

Very interesting reading, and a number of good points made. I certainly do not agree with all that Mr. Ball wrote, but there is much there that deserves serious consideration.

Of course the mainstream media would not publicise this, it might cause people to start thinking. What a horror that would be!

It seems the lack of mainstream media coverage and the take down of the wikipedia entry is not stopping reactions. This is further rebellion in the same court/town. The mention of the man who set himself on fire, Thomas James Ball, is at 5:25.

[youtube:2fip7922][/youtube:2fip7922]

I suspect there will be more disruptions not only in this court, but in many courts across the country. Perhaps we can reach new highs for the number of men in prison in this country as a result.

jf1acai wrote: WOW!

Of course the mainstream media would not publicize this, it might cause people to start thinking. What a horror that would be!

Yeah, that's it. You nailed it. <sarcasm off>

Father About To Go To Jail For Not Paying Child Support Commits Suicide

I pray you never have to walk in his shoes...

I also pray that you can get past your apparent preconceived notions about 'deadbead Dads', and actually look at the situation that currently exists. There are many things wrong about it, and the current system is NOT handling it well.

Why bring religion into it?

Who did?

Would you prefer that I used the PC (Bullsh*t) way of putting it, and say 'I hope'?

Or do you just want to argue?

I do not think WayneH read about all the other straws on the camel's back.

That was a very sad case. His letter makes some good points about problems in the "Justice System" but it's a shame he veered off into talk of violence and vengence as his message will be lost due to that.