special forces to the rescue!

Goodness, Facebook has become an even LARGER cluster**** than normal, with the news that Osama bin Laden is dead. I have not only learned that bin Laden is dead (via the actual news, not the pseudo-reporters that seem to comprise my friends list), but I've also read some pretty interesting (read: some are weird, some are funny, and some are just dumb. Some are also pretty normal. You can decide which is which) status updates:

"...is interested in the news and wonders where the United States goes from here...?"

"Is this the killing of Osama bin Laden or a Sugar Ray free concert in Daytona Beach?" (from George Stroumboulopolous' Twitter, reposted via fb)

"Hey Obama, will I be able to keep my shoes on at airports now? Can I take my water bottle with me?"

"I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about this."

That last one resonated with me particularly. Right now, outside of the White House, Americans are cheering and singing the national anthem, and all this other nationalistic stuff. Goodness knows people are already/have already blogged about everything, and I'm sure all the pseudo-reporters have already (or are now starting to) geared up to tackle this on their blogs, calling it a 'new day in the fabric of history' or other such stupidness. Let's be honest here: Osama bin Laden hasn't been relevant for almost half a decade now (if not longer) within the scope of international terrorism, and millions of people ALREADY thought he was either A) already dead B) part of a government conspiracy or C) both. I greatly enjoy that so many people are coming out of the woodwork now, and declaring the world a safer place all of a sudden. Really? Reeeeally? The world is safer now because ONE guy is dead? Yes, sure, he claimed responsibility for the attacks on 9/11 on his own behalf as well as the behalf of Al Qaeda, but...I'm sure that this massive terrorist organization has more than one person in its structure. Apart from that obvious fact, and I'm certain the White House (along with every other government) knows that already, but....the world ISN'T suddenly a safer place. It's still as dangerous as it ever was, both overseas and domestically. There are still dangerous people and organizations (Al Qaeda and many others) that are out there for their own gains, and, really, I am a little disappointed that so many people are proclaiming this a 'new day'.

I read something that was pretty interesting, on one of those aforementioned blogs (see, they're not ALL bad):

Apparently people are rallying around this subject at the White House. ‘People’ being the people I went to college with, the same people who rallied around the White House when Obama was elected.

So here’s what I think about this. I think that this death should not be a celebration. This death should be solace. I think that the culture we live in is incredibly militarized and no one really thinks about it, because when you live under the specter of war for ten years, you get used to it. I think that there are millions of people who will wake up tomorrow able to breathe a little easier. I think that this war is not over, and until it is over we have to continue to work toward its end. I think that militarization is quiet, and angry, and does something to a person and to a nation that is difficult to fix. I think it gets inside of you and makes a part of you spoil. I think that there are children who can never remember a time when the US wasn’t at war. I think I am one of them, and I am not a child. I worry about what that does to them. I worry about what that does to me.

This is a moment. We should take it in. And tomorrow we get back to work.

That was taken from http://hopesichord.tumblr.com/post/5122451903/its-a-busy-evening; while I don't read that blog at all, the link was posted on fb, and I thought that was interesting. It's not a 'new day in history'. It's just another moment in the war, a war that was declared on terror and ending terrorism (or at least denting it seriously). Killing this man does not end that war, and like that blogger said, tomorrow we get back to work. Everything continues as normal, really; it's just another moment.

Yet another person had this to say about the whole bin Laden situation:

The best outcome for this guy, the best sort of revenge or way to undo what he stood for, was just to let him fade into obscurity and be forgotten. His whole MO was getting attention, that's what terrorism IS, and now you've given it to him again. The Celebrity President dragged out his corpse on the eve of his re-election campaign and all of his 'intellectual' followers are now chanting "USA!" too.

You can feel good about whatever sense of revenge you've got from this or whatever, that's fine, but killing an old man on dialysis isn't going to accomplish anything. It doesn't help the economy, cure the sick, feed the poor, or do anything even remotely noble, like governments are supposed to be worried about. Hell, it's not even going to end the war they started over him!

That's pretty much right on the money. I agree with this wholeheartedly, and while I'm definitely not begrudging people for feeling good (although they're feeling good about a man's death, which is someone morbid and a little wrong, in my opinion)i n a time where it's always their soldiers getting sent home wrapped in a flag (which is awful, by the way, there's no sarcasm or making light of the situation here), his death doesn't really accomplish anything.

Someone ELSE posted about the ramifications that this could have for the Canadian federal elections, and had this to say:

Canadian (hence short term). Does the conservative base get all energized and be like 'oh hey wait, terrorism, we DO need super jails and jets and stuff) or does everyone forget that it's election day and turnout falls stupendously

I dunno if I think ANYthing will happen, really. I think that people are going to come out tomorrow, and think to themselves 'well, Osama bin Laden is dead. Time to go vote!', and everything will proceed as normal. Turnout will be fine, the Liberals will still get destroyed, Jack Layton will still win his popularity contest (but not be made Prime Minister), and Harper will get another minority government. Yeah, sure, I could be wrong...but normal polls open in a matter of hours, so...I guess we'll see! Anyway, I'm going to go to sleep. I had aimed to go to bed earlier, and then my friends decided they wanted to hang out, so we ended up playing video games. I have an interview at 2:30pm, so...time to go get some rest!