RicksView

politics, hypocrisy and meanness in public affairs, alligators, anti-empire-ism, occasional personal stuff

Monday, May 02, 2011

Death of bin Laden

If, in fact, he is dead, I do not share in the orgy of self-congratulation and astonishing joy that characterizes many Americans today. I try to imagine the response of my fellows if, say, Chinese commandos dropped into Ohio and killed one of their enemies. As with my long-held question regarding the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, I wonder if the indefinite surrounding of bin Laden's house would have sufficed, eventually, to bring about surrender ... and the treasure of his capture ... and the saving of the life of the woman who died last night.

Wherefore came the awful - and to me shrill - exultance of last night in front of the White House? When did we last feel supreme joy at the violent death of any person? I must be so foreign from my fellows that I cannot share in this grand emotion.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home