Is it Usama or Osama? The fact that even now, none of the news outlets can decide is what really bugs me most. Kidding aside, what appears to be dividing the people I know is the actions of American citizens following the news of Bin Laden’s death. So let us discuss it (and by ‘us’ I mean ‘me’)
At this juncture, martyrdom was really Osama’s only remaining career move. However, his death hasn’t ignited the ‘Arab street,’ so he failed in this regard. That’s largely because Bin Laden “is so yesterday.” In that way, his anti–climatic death is fitting. Still, while it may have been a ‘kill or capture’ mission, OBL wasn’t going to be taken alive for due process in the states. There was never going to be a dignified prosecution.
Meanwhile, the practical implications of Osama’s death are severely limited. In the wake of the US response to September 11th, AQ was forced to transition from an operationally focused group to a propaganda focused one, meant to inspire decentralized jihad (because that is all it really could do). Similarly, the insurgents we face today are not funded or backed by AQ or the Taliban, but sovereign governments instead. They can fight what is known as the ‘near war’ in neighboring, destabilized countries, but they can’t be linked to a terrorist attack in the states (do you think Iran wants to take us on in conventional war?) The ability of loosely defined terrorist organizations to launch a coordinated strike on our soil in response to this development, though not impossible, is GREATLY diminished.
So what thoughtful people are genuinely perturbed by is the current imagery; what it makes us think of ourselves and what it says to the world about who we are.
As a friend pointed out, a little triumphalism is understandable if it is a spontaneous act and doesn’t last too long, but for some, particularly the very young, it seems like they were acting like the munchkins after the Wicked Witch of the West had been killed. Is that who we are?
Tom Brokaw has written ad nauseam about ‘The Greatest Generation’ and it seems likely that the people who lived through the great depression and World War II had a firmer grasp on humility, even as our economic and geopolitical situation improved. But there were plenty of dimwits around then too (some of them even became Presidents.)
No, it is more a function of the technology and distribution methods available to us. Factors like US hegemony, the rapid acceleration and penetration of television, digital (and increasingly) social media mean that widespread, instant reactions to any ‘seismic’ event are inherently more possible than they ever were before.
A few thousand people doing something here and there (ground zero/white house jubilation, occasional war protests and the like) and a press all too happy to regurgitate it don’t paint a full picture, but it does result in a much bigger picture for everyone to see. We have become great at magnifying the absurd slivers of our culture and beaming it out for all to see. Widely broadcasted spectacles like The OJ trial, Michael Jackson’s death/funeral etc. have become our specialty and legacy.
In the end, the American empire may well be remembered for hype; the circus empire. Yesterday was simply what the face of American revenge looks like at the dawn of the 21st century. A nasty bit of business to be sure, but not the whole story.
There are plenty who recognize that this moment shouldn’t have been one solely of garish celebration, but an opportunity for reflection and remembrance. A chance to display the better angels of our nature. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make for good TV or a smarmy tweet.
PK
