OSAMA BIN Laden is dead, killed along with several of his associates by a Navy SEAL team inside his Pakistani hideaway. His killing removes an undoubtedly evil man who, if he had become increasingly irrelevant in recent years, nevertheless remained a potent symbol of opposition to the United States. We should be glad that he is gone and thankful to his killers who risked their lives for this success.
And yet, the American response to the news of bin Laden’s death has been one of unseemly celebration and the worst kind of jingoistic hubris. The crude chanting of “U-S-A!” at sports games ; the visible excitement of television news anchors, making a mockery of their objectivity; the festival atmosphere of crowds rejoicing in the streets, evidently shared by Condoleezza Rice, who declared the news to be “absolutely thrilling” — these are symptoms of a callousness and an overconfidence that are morally troubling and practically damaging. Watching a CNN reporter compare Bin Laden’s death to the killing of Hitler or Mussolini, one was staggered by the swaggering, nationalistic bravado that could produce such an equation. On the other hand, for unflappable capitalistic self-importance, it would be difficult to match Warren Buffett’s off-hand comment: “I don’t think this is a big market factor.”
The aforementioned responses are, in some ways, understandable. In recent years, the American mood has been depressed, soured and lacking in high points. With little respite from economic slump, viciously futile political competition and seemingly interminable military adventuring abroad, one might reasonably leap at the chance for an outburst of national pride. For a nation constantly troubled by murmurings of its own decline, there could be few things so cathartic as the crushing of an old enemy in a resolute and righteous display of power.
Let the point not be slighted that Osama bin Laden was just such an enemy, who deserved his fate. The massive bloodshed he had inspired — both of Americans and many others — was an appalling record of senseless hatred. It is difficult to justify execution under any circumstances, but surely Bin Laden would have merited the death penalty had he been captured alive. Despite this, it makes the blood run cold to think of the public fever that would have surrounded Bin Laden’s trial in the United States. One only can imagine something like a medieval mob — on a national scale — cheering on the executioner while some hapless traitor was hung, drawn and quartered before their eyes.
Indeed, has this imagined picture been so far from the case? The near-universal American elation at his death – unthinkingly exuberant or full of great-power braggadocio – seems to spring from that same age-old love of revenge. In its basic moral content, this is essentially an atavistic revival of the impaling of criminals’ heads above the town gates. “Look,” it says, “this is what comes to those who do us ill.” In more recent centuries, the punitive expeditions of European colonial powers in Africa, steaming into the interior in their armoured gunboats to put down restless tribes, come to mind. While Bin Laden is not the same, his death has brought out similar impulses.
The basic premise of these impulsive responses to the killing is the rightful might of the United States. At the moment, we would do well to maintain a sense of perspective. The most elite, highly-trained and superbly equipped forces of the American military, acting upon ten years of intelligence-gathering by the world’s most all-seeing security apparatus, have managed at last to eliminate one old terrorist hiding out in a mansion in Pakistan. This is hardly a testament to national power.
As we will no doubt be reminded in the coming days by the generals and spymasters, whose War on Terror depends on this fact, those actually responsible for recent threats and attacks against the United States remain at large. Bin Laden’s death, despite its symbolic value for Americans, will do little or nothing to change the situation and may well spur retaliatory attacks. The Obama administration recognizes this, and so Americans have been treated to the bizarre juxtaposition of the president playing to the excited national mood, while at the same time striving to convey that Bin Laden was given a proper Muslim burial — albeit at sea — in an effort to maintain the newly respectful American façade. Jingoism, before even considering its moral detestability, will do no good for the reputation or for the security of the United States.
We have killed Osama bin Laden. The man responsible for the September 11 attacks, for the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa and for many other atrocities besides, is dead and gone. This ought to be a moment of quiet thankfulness, of reflection upon the causes and mourning for the victims of evil. Instead, it is in danger of becoming an occasion of disgusting and dangerous triumphalism, of cocksure pride that blinds us to the issues at stake. Let it not be so.
David Wilson is a second-year College student.
Thank you for so eloquently expressing what I’ve been feeling for the past couple of days. It helps to know I’m not the only one repulsed by the embarrassing displays of jingoism.
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”I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Anonymous, do your research, that is not what Martin Luther King said!
The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.
Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
Through violence you may murder the liar,
but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.
Through violence you may murder the hater,
but you do not murder hate.
In fact, violence merely increases hate.
So it goes.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Ann,
Calm down.
It is a fake MLK quote that has been circulating.
I’m sure it was not posted on purpose. No reason to get in a tithy.
Kyle
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Agreed Bin Laden’s death satisfies an old need for revenge and is a ‘triumph’ amid a sorry economic situation and hopeless entanglement in wars abroad. But is not the ‘jingoism’ the result of a stronger instinct: to make the USA the good guys and the enemy “Evil”. doesn’t the triumphalism and over-zealous cheering at football games confirm the need of Americans to always feel in the right. Ian Buruma reviewing World War IV: Islamofacism found the book to show the US guilty of “a weird longing for the state of war, for the clarity it brings, and for the chance to divide one’s fellow citizens, or indeed the whole world, neatly into friends and foes, comrades and traitors, warriors and appeasers, those who are with us and those who are against.”
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Totally agree with you, David. Thanks for the article- it was eloquent and well thought out. You might be interested to know that you’re referenced in a NY Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/health/06revenge.html?hp
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So sorry that those of us who celebrated the death of that dispicable mass-murderer have offended your fine-tuned sensibilities. If only we were all such thoughtful, reasonable robots instead of very real human beings.
Personally, I will save my sympathies for the 3000+ innocent Americans who were killed at Bin Laden’s direction. Bin Laden got out of this world quick and easy. Compare that to your fellow Americans who had to choose between being burned alive or jumping 50 stories to their death from the WTC. Or those aboard hijacked airplanes whose bodies were obliterated when their planes were flown into buildings or crashed in PA. Perhaps if your neighborhood had been plastered with pictures of the faces of those missing after the Trade Center fell – posters made by their families still desperately hoping their loved one had miraculously survived – you might understand the reaction by many across the country on Sunday. The rejoicing might not have been pretty but it was visceral and very human. In my opinion no one needs to apologize for it. I know I didn’t when I lifted a glass Sunday night to toast to justice finally being served.
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I wanted to say something to Miss Sarah Jones. yes, 3000 lives were lost, and the man deserved what he got, but do you really think lowering ourselves to the level of the one we are against, the right way to go? Lets say, we ignore the fact that the unlawful killing was result of the fear of spillage of information from Bin laden in a court than anything else, or even the attack on the sovereignty of a nation, but We can’t ignore the loss of a million lives, on road to this “Joyful moment”. Or at least we shouldn’t.
Maybe, that would make you change your opinion. It was not a joyous, but a sad moment, where justice wasn’t served. He needed to rot in a a jail cell for the rest of his life and die of old age and not as a martyr, which, now, would probably create 100s of more Bin Laden and we would go after them again.. taking millions of more NON-AMERICAN lives again..coz seriously..we don’t give a shit about them..all we care about is our revenge..it’s a vicious never ending cycle.
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Your article is not only a piece of young, naive, liberalist nonsense that uses large words to make your position seem interesting to the same young, naive, liberal girls who surround you. It is neither a piece of journalistic brilliance, nor a well thought out paper; it is the same stereotypical drivel we would expect to see from a college student. Its points make no sense. Your point about what would happen had he went to trial – ridiculous. The reason there was such a public display of emotion was because it was sudden. The long, drawn out nature of a trial would completely erase that. The idea of impaling heads on spikes – Don’t you think there’s a reason the U.S. government hasn’t released the photos of his body? And by the way, there’s an article on the NYTimes website (directly mentioning you, my good sir), about how your points about us being “jingoistic and cocksure” are just plain wrong. The celebrations make us human.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/health/06revenge.html?_r=1&ref=world
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Well said. Congratulations, you’ve been quoted by the New York Times.
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Wow, you really sound like a douche
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Reflect on the meaning of Osama Bin Laden’s death you say? It would have been more meaningful years ago, when the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was still fresh in all of our minds. Perhaps if Bin Laden had been killed in 2003, we would not be in the position we are in today: sacrificing our constitutional rights because of the looming fear of a faceless terrorist enemy.
Has the death of Osama Bin Laden led to an end to the airport fondling? No. Has it led to an end to the Depart of Homeland Security’s continuous increase in power? No. Despite telling us that we are safer now that one man is dead, the government is continuing to warn us that revenge attacks may be headed our way, and we must therefore continue to put up with the erosion of our rights as Americans.
While “Sarah Jones” was out celebrating one man’s death, the Department of Homeland Security was asking Mozilla to remove and disable a Firefox plugin that allows users to evade the DHS’ effort to establish an American “great firewall.” Thousands of travellers were forced to either agree to be photographed naked or to have a TSA agent inappropriately touch their genitals. Congress continued working to reestablish “national security letters” and to further extend the PATRIOT act.
When everyone is done cheering, can we go back to trying to defend our rights?
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wow, you really sound like a troll.
anyway, great article! we are justified in celebrating the killing of an evil man, but that certainly does not make it right. america is responsible for an absolutely horrifying number of civilian deaths (more than 9/11) in the years following 9/11 and i can only hope that the killing of osama bin laden will reduce our destructive presence around the world.
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Much ado about nothing. There were a few thousand people in front of the white house, the vast majority being college kids getting a great excuse to take a break from studying for exams at GW and American U.
There were several other small demonstrations, usually of the same demographic.
It’s not like there were mass parades or victory celebrations. I think it is being blow out of proportion. The images the news used are usually of the same crowd over and over again.
Hardly amounts to a national embarassment or even jingoism at any level of significance. 99.9999999% people simply welcomed the news and went on with their lives.
If American Idol or some other drivel was canceled, than we would truly see mass demonstrations.
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Well written. Also, congrats on being quoted in the NYT (That’s how I came across your article) It was reassuring to read about this perspective when I was having mixed emotions about this incredible event. It is nothing short of greatness that he is gone but the real feat will be the elimination of not only his predecessors but this cruel and primitave philosophy world wide. United We Stand
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Immature article, puffs of hot air and regurgitated liberal platitudes. Maybe wait for some life experience before writing again.
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This was quoted in the New York Times? Can you give us the name of the article it was quoted in? Thanks! Pretty cool and congrats!
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“Jingoistic hubris?” Looks like someone found the thesaurus his mom packed for him after spring break. Master Wilson is a sophomore in the truest sense of the word. I am hopeful he – like millions of other undergrads in this country – will withstand his college exposure to claptrap like this, and survive into adulthood where he’ll come to realize Osama bin Laden’s death is an objectively good thing for this country and everyone else that desires peace.
That the the GWOT goes on is no reason not to celebrate the passing of one of the modern world’s most despicably evil pieces of human detritus. If nothing else it sends the message of the indomitableness of Americans’ spirit and the implacability of its leaders – even the current POTUS – to drain the swamp of barbarism (see? I have a thesaurus too).
This young man would do well to learn a little more about the real world and spend less time in the commons listening to other self-important college students pretending to be so worldly.
USNA ’88
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Slight overreaction? The celebration of Osama bin Laden’s death was not jingoistic or embarrassing. Since when was cheering USA at a sports game “fanatically patriotic”?
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Glad to see UVA represented in the NY Times, but your editorial didn’t go far enough.
Americans should be outraged that our country has apparently lost all confidence in the one system that sets us apart from the rest–the judicial system.
Used to be we trusted it–Nuremburg, for example.
On this road, SEAL types, which are apparently an acceptable elite of the elite, are going to run this country, and we’ll all wear trident arm bands.
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Needs editing.
http://www.users.qwest.net/~yarnspnr/writing/adverbs/adverbs.htm
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Calm down children and play nice. Like, like, like, like..yeah.
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