In Celebrating OBL’s Demise, the Kids Are All Right
On the evening of May 1, I was heartened to see crowds of mostly young adults waving American flags and chanting “USA! USA!” in front of the White House, near Ground Zero, and elsewhere to celebrate our military’s killing of Osama bin Laden. Sadly, my sentiments are far from universal.
The next morning, certain of their elders, from perches of alleged moral superiority, began wringing their hands in an ongoing critique which lasted the rest of this week. At the Washington Post, petulant Petula Dvorak called the apparently spontaneous festivities “crazy” and “almost vulgar,” while “Spirited Atheist” (that’s really what she calls herself) Susan Jacoby was “repelled by the scenes of mindless jubilation.” A professor at Iowa State University, where 1,000 students reportedly celebrated on campus, told the Des Moines Register that he found it all “unseemly” and “tacky.”
The topper came Wednesday morning on the Today show, when contributor and psychiatrist Gail Saltz criticized the celebrants for messing with the heads of today’s kids by creating “a contradictory image” of joy in bin Laden’s death, claiming that the revelers “reacted in a way that later on they may not be happy about.”
Let’s talk about kids and trauma, Gail.
On September 11, 2001, grade school and high school children around the country saw giant jets crash into two 100-story skyscrapers. They saw those towers, with thousands of people still inside, collapse one after the other into horrible and previously unimaginable heaps. They saw the carnage at the Pentagon, and they heard about how Flight 93′s heroes died preventing an additional attack targeting either the White House or our Capitol. Children shouldn’t have to see these things, but it was of course unavoidable.
Many of them, especially in and around New York and Washington, either lost relatives or dear friends that day, or know someone who did. Unlike the Kennedy assassination which shook the baby boomers, the September 11 generation saw it all unfold in real time. Unlike the kids who saw the Challenger explosion live in 1986, everyone who witnessed 9/11 in school soon learned that the building takedowns were acts of war perpetrated by an unprecedented type of enemy.
This enemy had and still has no respect for life, not even their own. This enemy was and still is bent on destroying Western civilization and taking the world back to a seventh century existence which would enslave everyone who won’t subscribe to their oppressive Islamofascist belief system. This enemy recognizes no norms of conflict, will kill anyone and everyone they can in the process, and will broadcast and brag about their murderous “accomplishments” in the hope of instilling fear and anxiety in everyone else. Adults can, and thank God we did, push back against this. Kids can only hope that they will.
Yes, as if people did not celebrate when Hitler offed himself! Gimme a break! It truly was something to be happy about. OBL got what was coming to him…
It is incomprehensible to hear that people demorlized the celebration of Usama bin Laden’s death. How many American lives have we sacrificed in the war on terror, in the pursuit of radical muslims bent on the destruction of Western civilization?? If you weren’t overwhelmed with joy on the evening of May 1st, when those brave soldiers conquered that villa and single-handedly removed the most dangerous mujahid in the Middle East, then I seriously question your philosophy and duty as an American citizen.
The celebration showed me that our younger generation does have pride in our country. I had been questioning this for some time. We do have hope.
The muslim world celebrated like crazy when the towers came down. They didn’t seem to mind that. Why do media outlets hire these America haters?
My thoughts exactly. How many paleostinian children were traumatized/damaged by the candy they got on 9/11? Actually it probably motivated them to strap on a bomb as they got older, similar to how our 9/11 kids have or are now fighting the very war started on that day.
One has to be blind not to see that the liberal media ingrates are operated by Marxist TRAITORS, who would love to see our Republic and Constitution destroyed, and have the UN and the New World Order, under the UN Charter place their boot on the throats of the slaves !
This might have been a mildly interesting, if not overly fascinating and astute, article, if the focus was on liberal vs conservative reaction instead of the false dichotomy of “youth” vs their “elders”.
How utterly stupid!
Here’s a thought: Whatever the cause, you are more likely to see young people dancing and prancing in the street as opposed to older people, who might be worried about throwing out their collective backs!
All kidding aside though, one other reason why the celebrations may have been predominantly populated by children is because adults tend to take a more mature approach and look at the big picture.
Other than extreme liberals and RINOs, I suspect most adults weren’t out dancing around because, even though the OBL killing was necessary and important, it does not “end the war on terror”, as many of these children were pretending.
This isn’t the fall of Berlin or Tokyo. One head of the hydra has been cut off, but there are many more.
And the reality that no one wants to face — certainly not THIS administration — is that the true head of the hydra was Mohammed, who died centuries ago. It is his teachings and adherents that are the root cause behind 9/11, the London bombings, Mumbai, et al. Kill the current “head” (e.g. OBL) and it will surely grow others.
As bad as OBL was, he was no “Hitler” in the sense of being the single charismatic national leader in control over all the “bad guys”. Taking OBL out of the picture may be needed justice, but won’t solve the problem of Islam, which by the actions of its adherents down through the centuries has indeed defined itself as a terrorist death cult, and not a genuine religion.
To the children (and Blumer) celebrating: “Go ahead and play, but sooner or later you will have to grow up and face the realities of the world around you. THE WAR IS NOT OVER BY A LONG SHOT!”
Wow, I’m sorry, you lead a very disparaging lifestyle. Your comments reflect all the other bureaucrat pundits out there
Wow, I am sorry, that you have your head stuck in the sand … as well as up other places!
“THE WAR IS NOT OVER BY A LONG SHOT!”
Zheesh. Who the heck ever said it was? Even the celebrants acknowledged that.
In articles related to these celebrations, numerous celebrants made statements along the line of “The war is over”. And, in fact, there would be little reason to party so long as there is still a war going on.
Here is a very good example of an article written promoting this very same idea:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-02/osama-bin-ladens-death-time-to-end-war-on-terror/
Oh, yeah, and there’s this one:
http://www.truthout.org/war-over-start-packing/1304352151
But anyone with their eyes open can do a search on the web, and easily find many more statements that “the war is over”.
So if you actually aren’t aware that many of these celebrations were in fact declarations that the war was over, I would again say “you have your head stuck in the sand…”
It seems you imply OBL should not have been taken down, nor should the young find joy in the justice applied to a very evil person. I, for one, prefer the joy to apathy. It is a sign that they may be more engaged in their own defense. I feel they danced in my stead.
> It seems you imply OBL should not have been taken down,
Excuse me, what part of the following statements from my comment don’t you understand?
“the OBL killing was necessary and important,”
“Taking OBL out of the picture may be needed justice,..”
Nothing in my post implied otherwise, so your reply is disingenuous.
And in fact, recognizing that the war on terror is not over is further from being “apathetic” than partying in the streets and pretending that it is.
Everyone finds joy in the administration of justice well deserved. Its a matter of how we express that joy and what other implications we make in that expression.
Josh,
What are you saying? Find me just ONE of these supposed “bureaucrat pundits out there” who has the NERVE to accurately call out Mohammed himself as the root of Islamic/Muslim violence in the world.
A “Bureaucratic Pundit” that dares to speak out against Mohammed?
Where?
Who ARE these “bureaucrat pundits” you speak of?
Government officials? Teachers? Newspeople?
The vile life of Mohammed, as unmistakably written for all who care to see, is a FORBIDDEN TOPIC for all TV newscasters, newspaper reporters, network talkshow hosts, and most certainly ALL layers of government officialdom and public education venues EVERYWHERE IN THIS COUNTRY….
Expecpt for “alternative media” articals on places like pajamas and “comments” from guys like Wallabe and myself, THAT conversation is STRICTLY OFF LIMITS, and you know it.
You expect me to believe Catie Couric would, ON THE AIR, examine the child rape of Aisha?
You expect me to believe Eric Holder would ever speak out on the racist foundations of current Muslim slave trading pratices?
You expect me believe Chris Mathews could discuss the Violent Precident Mohammed set, by commandanding his followers to murder POETS, who’s only offense was to TALK about him in unflattering ways?
Find me JUST ONE of these “bureaucrat pundits” you say wallabe sounds like.
All I hear are crickets chirping on that subject.
The Prof is wrong. It is gody without being tacky.
I passed out candy, and burned the moon god worshiping black flag. Then, had a cold beer with hot pork skins.
Retribution. In the modern vernacular, payback. Today’s youth totally get payback. It is about consequences. It is a very adult concept. The youth celebrating this is NOT unseemly. Youth express themselves with energy and vitality. That is normal. What they are celebrating is very adult: payback; consequences.
What is NOT adult is the hand-wringing, trying not to offend the “sensibilities” of Muzzies, trying not to hold them accountable. It is NOT adult to not require consequences.
And it IS a very victory. It is not the final victory, but it IS a victory, and so, we cheer. We’re supposed to cheer.
It is the death of the Muslim Admiral Yamamoto, the leader of the sneak attack. His death is not the end. It is a small measure of justice.
He had as much chance as his victims, so I’m losing no sleep over him being unarmed. I still see those poor souls jumping off the Word Trade Center to avoid burning to death. Osama died too quickly and too easily.
Yamamoto had some sense of honor, and he was courageous, no matter the crimes he committed against Americans. Bin Laden died like the dog he was – whining and cringing. Good riddance.
Celebrating the death of a murderer IS celebrating peace. Liberals are absolute fools, and perhaps worse. And isn’t it sadistically ironic the way they fret over some inexplicable respect for “every human life”?, in this case a mass murderer, while in the same mind they promote a woman’s supposed right to terminate a gestating human any chance they get. What balance they use to determine justice I’d like to know. It needs to be examined. Their morales are a disgrace and always have the taint of scheming or politics of some kind. They pretend to desire righteousness applied to the State, but the actual synthesis of their morality is the State applied to morality and then sold as the original.
Liberals are just being who they are, when they condemn the reasonable actions of “us”, while excusing explaining rationalizing the barbaric behavior of “them”.
And who ARE liberals?
Liberals are smug, elitest RACISTS.
The “soft bigotry of low expectation” is their hallmark. Only white, euorpean ancestry Americans are held to their impossible standard of perfection. Everyone else is given a pass…those poor inferior things need special understanding and support from their superior benevolence, you see.
“Beheadinds by YOU are expected…riots by YOU are expected….outrage over cartoons? Well OF COURSE we dont expect YOU to control your inferior selves…dont worry, allow ME to scold the white men of my tribe who upset you….after all, I know its not YOUR fault you are violent”
Whereas, Conservatives have principals they apply (and expect in return) from all good people, no matter their ethnicity.
Liberals + Double Standards = Racists, and Racism
Call it the video game effect.
While their elders were busy preaching to them via the old media, the kids actually had the TV set off or were using it to play games like Call of Duty. First-person shooter games don’t hesitate to capitalize on what young people already know at gut level- that the bad guys are Islamic terrorists. And deserved to be blown to bits.
I just read yesterday that the rate of TV ownership has fallen for the first time ever. Young people are increasingly turning to the internet for their entertainment and information, and buying a TV when they get around to it- if they ever do. Not only does that send a shiver down the spine of every network and cable company, it ought to give a similar feeling to lefties everywhere. The narrative is now out of their control.
I’ve seen this phenomenon first hand with my own three children, especially the boys. Of course, another admirable trait kids have is that they have pretty highly developed BS detectors. Sometimes their youthful arrogance causes them to get things wrong, but often they’re right on the money. And now that their sources of information are more free, they’ll probably be right more often than they used to be.
I agree. The morning after the big announcement, my older son’s 5th grade class was all abuzz. There were lots of high fives and “we got him – dude!”. It wasn’t just the boys: it was everyone. These kids have only lived in a post-9/11 world; my son was 19 months old when the towers fell. But they get it all the same.
“…enslave everyone who won’t subscribe to their oppressive Islamofascist belief system.” Along with any idiot woman who does.
Oh, and the ‘kids’ aren’t just alright. They are correct in what they did. Our enemy thinks we’re wimps who are ashamed of winning. The POTUS and his gang are trying to prove them correct. The ‘kids’ just proved them both wrong. I’d like to see MORE of the same, not less.
I was unable to write anything about his death for nearly the entire week. I couldn’t celebrate it either. Not because it was unseemly or because I knew the war was not over, but because it was too late. Twenty two years too late. Had he died in Afghanistan in the eighties or Zawahiri had not traded the lives of his friends/associates for his own freedom when he should have met the death penalty for Sadat’s assassination in 1981 instead of getting out and going to Afghanistan where he shared his ideas with bin Laden….
The only thing I could think of was watching those people die on 9/11, the many young men and women who never came back from the war or the many more who were physically and mentally changed, the ten years of real war and the previous decade where we treated the terrorists like gnats to be swatted instead of taking it serious so we never got to 9/11.
There was satisfaction in his death, but it was tempered with the knowledge of what had gone before. The beautiful dream of a peaceful world after the fall of the USSR had been crushed with the reality that there was no such thing as a peaceful world.
If it is cold to say that I do not care whether he was armed or not, I don’t care really. There is a very dark satisfaction in knowing that we did not unexpectedly drop a bomb on him, but instead a single American laid his sites upon him and gave him two to the chest and one to the head. To me, that isn’t just retribution or justice. That man who will never be known and will remain faceless has a face.
He was every single American who perished that day. He was every family member who stood for hours on the streets holding up pictures of the missing with phone numbers beneath, begging for information, for hope that never came. He was the firemen, covered in dust and ash, sitting on a curb staring in shock and despair at the knowledge that so many of his brave brothers were lost. He was the policemen who had to watch helplessly as his brothers disappeared in a heap of rubble. The people that ran for their lives. The pilots and passengers who had to land, fearing they would be next to be hijacked and used as a bomb.
He was every American who had to watch the horror of that day, knowing so many were lost and knowing that the world was forever changed. All the servicemen and women we sent to war, the families that had to wait at home, praying. The good men and women who went unarmed as members of an NGO trying to do some good in the face of evil, especially those who had to face the fear of capture and appearing on one of those horrible videos. The last thing their families would ever see.
The man who pulled the trigger, looking into bin Laden’s face, was me on the day I watched that Mother F*(%er laughing on video about the destruction and death he had caused and telling those with him to wait, there was more to come.
Who did not imagine what it would be like to stand face to face with that evil and put it away like the rabid dog that he was? I never had the wherewithal or opportunity. If given the chance, I cannot say that I would have had the guts to pull the trigger. That SEAL did and, while I cannot feel joy, I feel deep, cold and abiding satisfaction.
Maybe it is too much of a burden to ask of a single man and his brothers on that mission to bear the burden, but those faceless men are not faceless. They are millions of Americans who could not forget and will not forget that day and all the days since.
Those that I saw celebrating were so young I wondered if they could remember or really know what had happened when they were barely grade school children. Then I realized why they were celebrating. They have grown up in this war for ten long years. The fear that people speak of was on their minds as much as anyone else. They were never going to experience the world that we had lived in before that day, secure behind our borders and military, never fearing.
For one moment, that fear was lifted and they understood that, with his death, it might not be over, but it would not go on forever. Like Hitler’s 3000 year Reich, this too will perish from the earth.
It took me a moment to remember all those years ago, after days straight of the horrific coverage, taking my nephews to a toy store to pick a present for a birthday. A birthday that had to be celebrated as a reminder that life goes on and it must be as normal as we could make it. The building next door had caught fire and was partially destroyed, the center collapsed and the shell dark with soot. One of the boys who was eight turned to me and asked fearfully if a plane had flown into that building, too.
I told him, no, it was just a plain old fire and we had nothing to fear. I knew I was lying about that last part because I did fear and I think that my young nephew knew it and knew that I had lied to make him feel better. How could he not know it when he had seen the TV and heard the adults crying and talking angrily? No matter how much we tried to keep it away from them, they knew.
The boys are all grown up now like these young on campuses and on the streets. They have known the fear of war on their doorsteps this whole time and now they have grown up in that world. Why wouldn’t they feel the need to celebrate over the demise of the nemesis that had shadowed their lives for a decade?
For all the horror and rage that I had felt on that day and the days after, it was really that moment when I had to assure a young boy that planes were not going to fly out of the sky and kill us that I felt the first, real and pure hatred for another human being. After long years, the hatred had been tempered by time and experience, but it had not disappeared. It was simply turned into something cold and watching, waiting.
Now that moment has passed and I embrace the satisfaction of knowing that we are, I am, alive and he is dead. For those young men and women who have grown up beneath that fear that lay beneath our attempts to be normal and felt the need to celebrate bin Laden’s demise, that moment of lifting fear, I do not chastise them nor assume any higher morality. Those that do, f*(% them. They are cowards. They are pretenders and liars. To themselves, mostly, because they know deep inside they want to celebrate, too. They just do not want to admit that that moment, these ten years of war, have changed them.
And, if there is one thing that I cannot forgive or forget, it is that I and my nation was changed, too. For that, even in death, bin laden remains unforgiven.
For the men who went into the compound and the man who pulled the trigger, thank you. You are not faceless, you are legion. If that is too much to bare, I apologize.
Still, thank you. What you have saved us from, we may never know. If we cannot know your names, it will not mean that you are forgotten.
Yours in Liberty,
Kat
We did not forget.
Great post! I have nothing to add or say that you didn’t say better!
That was absolutely lyrical. Thank you.
Perfectly stated, thank you. The only way it could have been better is if a woman had pulled the trigger.
Excellent, Kat!
Old fuddy-duddy that I am, this almost brought tears to my eyes.
Thanks many times!
May I add a probably redundant “BRAVO!” on your post? BRAVO!
Well said!!!
Reacted in ways they may not be happy about later? Like what? I’d be sad bin Laden’s butt is still dead later? I don’t think so! (Only if I loose my mind and become a bleeding-heart, America-hating left/libtard, I guess.)
Your post reminded me of a line from when SNL was funny-
“Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead!”
I for one was amazed at the amount of young(college age)people that were celebrating.
Visit a website like Lamebook and you’ll see facebook posts by kids who have no idea who Osama Bin Laden was.
It’s nice to see some remember.
WHY DIDN’T OBAMA KEEP OSAMA’S DEATH SECRET?
If releasing the photos of Bin Laden’s dead body is a grave national security concern as the president said; and that doing so could imperil the lives of innocent US civilians and soldiers fighting terror in the field then why didn’t Obama keep the mission to kill bin Laden a secret? Why wasn’t it completely covert from start to finish and beyond with Obama denying any responsibility or connection to the deed-if it managed to come to light? Does this make any sense? Could the release of gruesome photos with Bin Ladin’s face blown off be more of a national security risk than revealing the fact that we did it? That America was the executioner that struck the fatal blow? That the killing of bin Laden was a US operation with the President calling the shots? How does releasing photos that Al Qaida could easily fake for deceiving the ignorant be more dangerous than going public with the operation? Which of the two puts US lives at more risk? Indeed, the disconnect between Obama suppressing the photos but not info on the mission is so wide and bewildering that you can drive a galaxy through it.
Click my name to read the rest of this piece.
Rest assured the photos will come out, just as soon as Obamo’s approval ratings start to droop. If needs be he will identify the members of the SEAL team with photos. The Lame Scream Media will help keep it fluffed up as long as possible. The headline should be Obama Finally Does Something Right! What a hero!!!
As a Hindu, we do not believe that a person is evil. A person can commit evil acts, no doubt. We say that a person who commits evil acts is Ignorant. They are Ignorant of many things by committing these evil acts. The worse Ignorance is that is that we are all Connected by a common Spirit, the Spirit of God, and thus we should not be separating someone’s Spirit from their physical body based on improper motivations like “Terror”.
As an aside, defense of self, defense of family, defense of others, can be proper motivations to extinguish the Life of an other. Even perhaps, administering Karmic Justice such as was done to OBL this week, can be proper motivation. The State, after all, must follow Dharma (Spiritual Law) and protects its citizens.
But getting back to OBL’s and other Terrorist’s Ignorance. OBL, in particular, has learned that wrong actions have consequences (Karma). He will be punished in the After-life, for a time, and future lives will be in circumstances that will be uncomfortable as well, until he Learns and stops committing evil acts.
Aum
Powerful, read: “To New Yorkers and kids of my age, #OsamabinLaden was the face of pure evil” http://ow.ly/4Pkl1
H/T to @NickGillespie, via Twiter
The Kids get it – it’s the adults who have a need to turn this into an opportunity to moralize. My 24 year old daughter (who has many friends in the military) gets it. Upon hearing that Bin Laden was dead, she said “Good – I’m glad he’s dead. I know this will mean something to my friends who are fighting, and I hope it helps the families who lost someone on 9/11. I don’t know if it will help end the war, but it is good to know justice has been done”.
Liberal elites in this country don’t really consider themselves ‘Americans.’ They prefer to view themselves as ‘citizens of the world’ along with the other liberal elites around the world.
I wonder if these “Citizens of the World,” can be deported as illegal aliens?
“I wonder if these “Citizens of the World,” can be deported as illegal aliens?” Now, there’s an idea.
The kids were celebrating a victory in battle in what has been for them a lifelong war. It was V-E Day or V-J Day for their generation.
I loved watching them. I work in higher ed, and I especially enjoyed the thought of their lefty professors sitting home and watching too.
The part I hate most about defending freedom, democracy, and our country from the insane muslims is that we have to defend the left in the process. The same left that finds it so unseemly to celebrate the killing of a bloody murderer who was in the act of planning more murder when justice in the form of US Navy Seals found him.
“Children shouldn’t have to see these things, but it was of course unavoidable.”
I hate this truth – but children do have to see these things. I made sure all my children understood what had happened. At the time, my sons were 13, 6, and 8 years old. They celebrated when their now-stepfather joined the Navy to fight this war, and then the oldest son chose to be a Marine. The second son is considering the Air Force. The youngest has thoughtful discussions with me about why people can be so evil, and what we can do about it. Their two little sisters, born much later, will understand why Daddy sometimes has to go away for a while, and what his uniform really means. How he and their brothers and uncle fight monsters so they don’t come to America ever again. They will understand heroism, and to understand heroism they must understand evil as well.
If children are not exposed by careful parents to the face of evil at a young age, they grow up not understanding it – and when they DO see it, as they inevitably will, they are not prepared for it. In a way, 9/11 inoculated an entire generation against evil. They are growing up very differently from those only ten years or so older than they are – and I am loving the difference I see.
18. Dandapani: “As a Hindu, we do not believe that a person is evil.”
It is odd to hear a Hindu, coming from a culture that murders Christian missionaries, professing that “we do not believe that a person is evil”. The true psychopath is lacking empathy (like the professor says near the end of Blumer’s article) but actually lacks the ability to learn otherwise. Allow me to suggest that Hindus could benefit from studying the topic of evil, and ought to examine their hearts on the subject of their collective compulsion to murder people who try to bring some light into darkness. Then (wishful thinking here) they might see the joy of seeing off psychos instead of missionaries.
Yes, yes. Let us examine the evil acts of all religious extremist: Christian, Jew, Hindu and Muslim. No one’s hands are clean. There has been evil done throughout history by all “religious” persons. Therefore, there is no basis for understanding… I’m being facetious.
We can both agree that OBL and his followers committed evil acts, and more evil acts will follow.
We may disagree on what motivates them.
“Oh why, why do they hate us…”
Dandapani: “No one’s hands are clean. There has been evil done throughout history by all “religious” persons.”
That is just plain ignorant rubbish. We’re all aware now who is doing the evil, and it’s not the Christians.
All I have to say to the hand-wringers is “Sod off, Swampy.“
The only problem I had with the Times Square celebration of Bin Laden’s death is that to many of those kids were either wearing Obama T-Shirts or carrying Obama signs…. Those kids need to understand that we got Bin Laden
not because of Obama, we got Bin Laden in spite of Obama
Jose Luis Stecca, You got that right my friend, can anyone believe that these
Muslim terrorists would allow one of their brothers who gave the order to kill OBL to live, unless they were hand in glove? It wouldn’t make any difference who the person is… Jose I wonder how long it will be before we’re called some rotten names, as I’ve been on another site… because we differ with their opinion.
Publishing death photos was good enough for John Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde and others. What makes it too good for Bin Laden?
Has the left ever rooted for the USA? Been proud to be an American?
Their reaction is not a surprise.
I don’t understand why they insist on staying here.
Could it be the life style they enjoy that is unavailable elsewhere?
Those who claim that lack of empathy is evil miss the point. If someone is lacking the ability to empathize with another, that’s just another term for sociopath.
Along those lines, one of the primary presentations of evil is thinking that the ends justify the means. That is what OBL did. Wanting one’s own religion to take over the world isn’t bad in itself. However, the methods one might use to make this happen are wrong. Wanting a revolution in the US isn’t wrong. Blowing up the Murrah Building to foment that revolution is evil.
Those who lack empathy can’t be taught. Some day they might be medicated, but somehow, I doubt that.
I had just gone into eighth grade on Sept. 11th, 2001. When I heard from a classmate that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, I was sure it was a hoax; I’d been reading about famous fake news reports and thought I knew everything. Then the teachers brought in the TV. I remember watching the second tower fall, live on television.
For the last ten years, there’s not a day Bin Laden hasn’t crossed my mind. My brothers went off to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I prayed for their safety and hoped they’d drag OBL out of a hole somewhere so we could all end this. When the news came out, you’re damn right we celebrated! This man would’ve gladly murdered every last one of us and slept well at night–and call me naive, but I don’t like that any more now than I did when I was in junior high.
You don’t murder someone like Bin Laden. I don’t think you even execute him. You put him down. And if the whimpering ninnies in the media aren’t happy about that, they can go do something that I’m technically not supposed to say on a civilized site.
And yet academics and journalists are unable to figure out why their
“standing” among real Americans is in free fall.
Do you remember in grade school when teacher would leave the room?
And most normal kids would somehow misbehave?
I bet the same a$$holes who told teacher “Michael did this when you
were out!” are now lecturing us on how to behave when evildoers meet
their just reward.
They were jerks then and are jerks now. And, boy, how upset they
are when kids pay as little attention to them as THEY did to THEIR
elders. Wouldn’t our President’s long-time spiritual adviser say
something about “chickens coming home to roost?”
Tom,
Did it occur to you that the reason you only saw young people in the streets is because the Obama 2012 Campaign had the word out on Facebook and Twitter before the mainstream media even picked it up. This was reprehensible grandstanding by the recalcitrant President who can’t make up his mind to do anything except start his re-election campaign 18 months before the election. Only the communist left is always in campaign mode and they smell red meat in this stupid country right now. The kids were no more than campus level “useful idiots”. Sorry, but my take on this is completely different from yours.
I have been looking for that and haven’t seen any of the telltale slip-ups that would have given the strategy away. By now, if they were there, we’d know about it (Comment 27 is the first even tiny indicator if the possibility I’ve seen). IMO, if it was their strategy, it backfired, because Team Obama isn’t big on shows of patriotism, even ones that would support them.
Well written and beautifully said.
Our young people gathered spontaneously, with no time to pre-program the gathering complete with “goodie bags” and souvenir T-shirts. They chanted “USA! USA!”, they did not burn another country’s flag, or drag an effigy of bin Laden through the streets yelling “KILL KILL!”
Some people appear to be offended by any show of heartfelt patriotism and want the younger generation to think it’s cool and hip to hate America and every American should scrape and bow and apologize to the rest of the world when we fight back against evil. It was refreshing to see so many younger Americans are obviously not buying into it.
I was encouraged to see the crowd of young people chanting “USA, USA” too.
Our country was attacked on 9/11 and it has been under attack ever since. It’s not just foreign countries attacking us either. It seems that the liberal indoctrination of our youth has created a generation of anti-Americanists withn our own country; so seeing them cheer for the US surprised me.
As far as the morality of it goes.. cheering because the good guys actually won isn’t even comparable to cheering the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children on 9/11. Waterboarding prisoners in an attempt to get information that could save innocent people isn’t even comparable to the beheading of civilians on video; and hiding weapons in mosques, hospitals and schools so we won’t bomb them proves that they used our humanity against us.
I hope these kids understand that. They’ve been taught otherwise though.