Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead

First of all, this post does not really deal with the normal subject matter of online/offline communities. I thought it more important to avoid the academic implications of last weeks news in order to just discuss the occasion of Osama bin Laden’s death, and more importantly the reactions to it.

My thoughts here were largely stirred by the latest episode of This American Life and specifically a report from State College, PA about the loud celebrations that followed the announcement of bin Laden’s death. The reporter lives in the same town as Penn State University and was amazed at the raucous reaction the students had to the news. Now college, students will use any occasion to throw a public party of course, but when the reporter went out to interview students she realized just why this kind of a reaction was so particular to these college students.

These students were about 8-12 years old when 9/11 occurred. Most of them probably didn’t know tragedy before that fateful day that a whole nation experienced it together. There is a good chance that most had never lost a loved one, seen a country at war, or even dreamed of being afraid for their own safety. Before they were really adults they were introduced to the “Boogie Man.” Osama bin Laden was the face of an event that drastically brought them all into adulthood – collectively at that. If you think you were confused by two planes being flown into skyscrapers then imagine being at such an impressionable age when that happens.

For the next 10 years (their entire adult lives), the country went to war. Who did we go to war with (putting WMDs aside)? We went to war with the man who was on television proudly declaring that he had killed 3,000 civilians. We did not go to war with Afghanistan, and from the simple standpoint of a 10 year old we did not go to war with a confusing network of multi-national terrorists. No, we went to war with Osama bin Laden (did the rebel alliance fight the Empire or Darth Vader? now what did the 10 year old you answer?)

So when the announcement is made that the boogie man is dead, that we have won the war against evil then you better believe there will be some celebration. Some, including me at the time, thought that this seemed inhumane and morally wrong to celebrate the murder of a human being. But I have since realized that many people did not see this event as the simple death of a person. It was a victory over an enemy. For a generation that has been without its own V-E Day or Berlin Wall moment, what else is their to celebrate but the elimination of the thing that your society fundamentally opposes.  Bin Laden was the face of underhanded death, fear, and chaos. He made himself into that image. He took on the persona as a direct attack on the Western World because it suited his purpose. And he did it with the skill of a Bond Villain. So when that persona is destroyed and the cloak of fear is lifted, the people deserve their moment to celebrate. Not the death of a person, but the victory over the Witch that had enslaved them for a decade.

“Ding Dong the Merry Oh, Sing it High,Sing it Low.

Let them know The Wicked Witch is dead.”