A 2006 Ignotable

Quote of the year:
“From the way a lot of people behave, what they must want on their gravestones is ‘I kept expenses low.’”
--Preston Creston, from Bright Lights and Big Waves, December 17.

Most inane act of protest of the year:
The man who set himself, a flag, and a Christmas tree on fire to protest the San Joaquin Valley school district’s decision to rename winter and spring breaks as Christmas and Easter vacation. A sheriff’s deputy put the fire out, and the man had first-degree burns.

I would compare this act of protest to singing a few verses of "We Shall Overcome" to protest the loss of your reserved parking place.

I do not agree with the school board’s decision. Freedom of religion is basic to who we are, and that includes freedom of no religion. But to protest by setting yourself on fire is so completely out of proportion as to be ludicrous. Just as it would be if the situation were reversed, and the man were protesting the renaming of Christmas and Easter vacations as winter and spring breaks.

At best, this is simply a stunt, because the man only lit the match when he saw a nearby deputy (with a fire extinguisher) look over at him. At worst, it makes a statement that this issue is a life-or-death question, which it simply is not.

For those who were alive during the Vietnam War, the indelible image of self-immolation is the Buddhist priest sitting in the middle of the road, pouring gasoline on himself and literally burning to death before our eyes.

That was a quietly tragic and powerful protest of a war that was claiming thousands of American lives and tens of thousands of Vietnamese lives every month. It was not a statement of abstract constitutional principle. And there was no one with a fire extinguisher nearby.