I had just started my first 'real' job in September 2011. I was driving to work and listening to NPR when it was announced that an airplane had hit the World Trade Center. At 9am, the magnitude of the tragedy wasn't apparent. I taught my freshman english class without thinking much of what I'd heard on NPR; as I left that class and rounded the corner of the hallway to my office, I noticed that someone had pushed a TV into the hallway. I watched the tragedy again and again with an open mouth and wet eyes.
Like everyone else, I was stunned by the events of 9/11. Since the killing of Osama Bin Laden, we've heard that footage from that day played again and again to remind us why this killing is justified and important. And I am not writing today in order to defend Osama Bin Laden. (Because of comments I have changed 'murdered' to 'killing,' to say 'death' is misleading--he didn't 'die,' he was killed. I wasn't intending to suggest anything by the use of the word 'murder' except to describe his manner of death. Hopefully 'killing' will be more acceptable to the semantic posters.)
Yet the response of people around me has been startling. I am no naive tree hugger. (I'm a savvy tree hugger.) I know that in this political climate the capture or murder of Osama Bin Laden is a feather in Obama's cap which will help him in the next election. And given the way the idea of "justice" functions in the contemporary nation-state, capturing and/or killing Osama Bin Laden seems almost like a political inevitability if not a necessity.
What I don't understand is why people pin so much importance on what is essentially a symbolic act. I also don't understand how people who voted for Obama, so-called liberals, can rejoice at the death of another human being. One of my friends, who is avowedly anti-death penalty, called me with the "good news." How can this be good news? How is this news any different from anyone else being put to death for their crimes? Is it our belief and policy that it is our goal to seek out and kill our "enemies," without any reflection on how they came to be our enemies? It is the case that we only care about the realities of life for Americans but not for people around the world who are affected by our policies?
Is it our position that people living in Middle Eastern countries have no legitimate complaint against the United States? While I do not condone violence--I unilaterally don't condone violence: I do not condone the violence of 9/11 nor do I condone the violence of Iraq, of Afghanistan, or of the murder of Osama Bin Laden.
Our reaction, it seems to me, as a nation, and even among my so-called liberal friends, has been avowedly 'right wing.' If a Republican were in office and this had happened, most of the people I know would say things like, "killing old men on dialysis machines is all well and good, but look at these gas prices!" Instead, this is being talked about as if it proves that Obama is special and different when for me, it seems to prove that he is capable of enacting America's "business as usual."
A few months ago I dated a guy who is a retired Navy Seal. I asked him why we hadn't caught Osama Bin Laden. He told me that we could get Osama Bin Laden any time we liked; we knew (generally) where he was, he was on a dialysis machine which would be easy to detect with an infrared device, and that whenever we did take him out, it would be a stealth, precision hit that no one would see coming. Turned out he was more correct that I could have ever imagined.
Bin Laden's death couldn't have come at a better time for President Obama. I just hope that at some point we can consider the things which are being done in our name, as Americans. And it seems that in my name American power remains unchecked. What this event demonstrates to me is the extent to which we are operating as a hegemon and the fact that we are celebrating this show of power is much more than disappointing.
