Osama’s Death Causes Annoyance

I was surfing the net last night when word about Osama Bin Laden’s death started leaking out and that President Barak Obama was going to make an announcement. My twitter feed started going mad with updates. I immediately posted a tweet and facebook update on the matter and as the event when on I watched the television and the social updates roll in and it was interesting to see the reactions of my friends, followers, and those I follow.

The first round of reactions came from my Air Force buddies and could be basically summed up with “America! Fuck yeah!” I was basically in with this group. Hearing about the death of Bin Laden is a psychological boost. It’s been almost a decade with this guy in the back of our minds and largely symbolic of the mess that we are in the middle east.

The second round came from a couple sober friends that were quite disgusted in how a lot of us were reacting. They thought it was disgusting on how we were cheering over a person’s death. I suppose that’s a fair enough point but I have never subscribed to the idea that all life is precious or that a death of a human being—even the most monstrous—of us, should not be something to smile over. I think, though, that there is something more than just whether a man like Osama Bin Laden is alive or not. The death of John Doe down the street does not elicit the same kinds of responses in people that Osama’s does. As a result, I feel quite comfortable with my feelings of relief and happiness that something negative is gone. What undiscovered country we will move into now is another matter.

The third round, and my turn in getting annoyed, came when some people posted this:

A HUGE THANK YOU to our military, who have sacrificed, died, suffered, and worked hard, to fight people like Osama Bin Laden. YOU are the ones we thank. YOU are the ones who deserve ALL CREDIT. Thank our military for bringing due justice for those lost on 9/11 and all the victims around the world who suffered from his commands. Copy and paste if you agree...

Don’t get me wrong, I have a huge respect for our armed forces but I was getting annoyed by people with this sentiment which seemed to spread. While this operation would not have been possible without the military, it kinda gets me on to a peeve of mine that really isn’t a part of this story—and that is some people’s treatment of the military (and members) as a sacred cow. But anyways, I just think that something like this is insulting for all the others involved. Does not President Obama get some credit for making the elimination of Bin Laden a priority? (Something that was dropped by Bush administration, BTW) Does not the intelligence agencies get some credit for cultivating leads and providing intel?

Oh well, the social feeds have died down and are reverting back to mundane things like gas prices. I will still be looking forward to more information on the ops as well as the fallout. Will we see counter attacks? What is going to be politicized? We shall see.