Shortly after the September 11 attacks, Bill Maher got into very hot water for saying on his TV show Politically Incorrect, "We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly." This drew swift rebuke, most famously when White House press secretary Ari Fleischer warned that "people have to watch what they say and watch what they do." Really Ari? Even here in the land of the free and the home of the brave? Apparently so. This despite the fact that we often heard that Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda had attacked the United States becase of "who we are," which includes the freedom to offer unpopular opinions without fear of reprisal.
Almost ten years later, Bin Laden is now dead. He was a horrible, hateful man and the world is much better off without him. But jubilation in the streets, with the requisite chants of "USA! USA!," is the wrong way to respond. It brings us closer to the ugly orgies of satisfaction seen in other parts of the world, as David Sirota points out. Just because Bin Laden is gone terrorism won't fade away, and our reaction seems more likely to inflame a terrorist response than anything else.
Of course, these are not popular thoughts. Glenn Greenwald noted that Bin Laden's death immediately became a litmus test in which all "Decent People" express "unadulterated ecstacy at his death." Those pesky concerns about terrorist reprisals have no space here, whatever we might say about this being a country in which everyone is free to express their opinion.
Except, that is, for this little thing called Facebook (which didn't exist in 2001). Today I've been sharing my misgivings about the jubilation, stirring debate with some friends and support from others. Quite honestly it would be hard for me to swim against the tide verbally--I'd resist getting swept into it but not actively challenge other people's views--so I am glad to have another outlet. And now my misgivings are out there for all to agree or disagree with, so that whenever this does come up in conversation people will know where I stand.
Obviously I am not nearly as famous as Bill Maher; people in his position would still have a hard time today expressing an unpopular point of view. So I am grateful for my anonymity, as well as an enhanced opportunity to say what I really think.
I work for the government in Bethesda at NIH. I did not notice jubilation at work but nobody seemed against the action. I am. I think it was a needless act that does not provide any vindication to those that perished on 9/11. I am from Alabama and the deadly storms that just decimated so many places I lived and loved are gone. People die. Friends are killed, randomly and intentionally. It does no good to go down to the White House and chant and cheer. It seems pointless and barbaric to cheer death in any form. I am glad you posted your thoughts on this as another voice needs to be added to the cacophony of jubilation over this act.
Posted by: Libraries4ever | May 03, 2011 at 02:31 AM