How did you take the news?

I don't really know how I feel about the chanting, or the fact that people think we 'won' something. I don't blame them for feeling that way, though. Not for one second. And I understand all of the larger picture implications and all that, but I can say this for certain.

I'm not said he's dead.

I don't think it's wrong that he didn't get a trial.

And I'm not disgusted or upset at the idea that people are happy about it.

Last night, I heard the news that Obama had a serious announcement to make, and I watched CNN for about 20 minutes before they actually released the information (it would be another while before Obama spoke). When I heard the news, it was honestly unexpected. Wolf Blitzer said he thought he knew what it was, but I hadn't a clue. I thought maybe there had been some sort of nuclear attack that hadn't been reported yet or whatever.

When CNN said that the president would be announcing the death of Osama Bin Laden, I sat there saying, "Oh my god. Oh my god." And then I cried. I can't honestly tell you why, because I don't know. I haven't lost family in any of the attacks, and I have no military members in my family, but somehow, that moment gave me such relief that I broke down. It's the only time in my life that I've ever spontaneously cried from anything other than serious sadness. After that, I couldn't stop shaking for a little while. It was surreal. Absolutely beyond what I expected from anything. I think that's why my reaction to people has been so strong. I was so blown away by my own emotions that I felt like I couldn't let that moment be trivialized.

I listen to NPR every day, so I understand the grand, large scale politics and situations that happen in the world. I know nothing is over just because one man died.

But I don't think he should ever have been given a trial, and I'm glad it didn't become a question that needed answering.

I don't think people are wrong to celebrate the death of a mass murdering terrorist.

Respecting human rights is one thing. But that man gave up his rights to being considered human a looooong time ago.

I can't say I'm happy that this guy is dead. Really all he was, was a face to a much bigger idea and "threat" that's still out there. Just because Hitler is dead doesn't mean antisemitism doesn't exist, that genocides no longer occur, and that there aren't still people out there moved by his words for some reason or another.

When it comes to religion instances like this can further reinforce WAR. Personally I'm more worried for what's ahead.

^^this.

My mind has shifted over into defensive mode over the retaliation we can expect. Something's gonna happen.

I'm with y'all on this.

I don't think his assassination was legal though. They didn't inform the Pakistani government and they didn't charge him of a crime before hunting him down.
It's a good thing that they took down a terrorist but they never proved any innocence that it was in fact Osama that was responsible for 9/11. Weather we trust Osama's word or not, Osama did deny any involvement in 9/11.

I kind of think Osama as all terrorist threats are just another thing to distract us. Another boogie man like communism and fascism and AIDS.

I'm just playing devil's advocate here though. These are just my opinions.

A friend of mine posted this quote on Facebook and I found it quite fitting.

‎"I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." -Martin Luther King Jr

The problem I have is that other people, not the ones rejoicing over this event, are adding words like 'hate' to the discussion. By turning Osama Bin Laden into some sort of victim, you're changing the nature of the event. I'm really getting a sick feeling at the way people are talking about this. Asking if this was a 'legal assassination?' Give me a fucking break, man.

And no offense, but we aren't all MLK Jr.'s okay? Most of us can't just take the high road when some asshole decided to kill millions of innocents. But I feel like my words are falling on deaf ears, ears that have decided that talking about human rights and illegal assassinations and not rejoicing in a death is the right way.

People have reduced this event to a debate over how we treat other people. I'm sickened by it.

only one person in here has said anything about assassination.

You don't think MLK had the right idea?

I'm not concerned with his human rights or whether he should have been tried or killed, I'm concerned with the celebration of violence and death.

Thats a pathos argument. Years from now 9/11 will be like the holocaust. Like the invasion of Greece. America has a habit to take over whatever government it wants like the nazis did. Attacks wouldn't happen if America wasn't sticking its nose in everybody's business just because it has the tax dollars to do so.

Yeah. But Osama was kind of an asshole though..

/facepalm

The Cult is not the only place that has people expressing opinions about this event.

And yes, I think MLK had the right idea, but that doesn't mean we can all live up to that ideal, or that we can get past the fact that Osama Bin Laden was an evil bastard.

I understand where you're coming from. I guess I should differentiate between people like you, those who try to turn him into a victim by using words like 'assassination', like Jack's_Asshole and others, and people who are trying to act like this means nothing.

You're not all the same, and I get that, I'm just frustrated by all of you.

Joking, babydoll. Joking.

Fano you act like you were there or you actually had family involved. Being a cry baby doesn't make you the ultimate voice of reason.

Hell I'd blow myself up too if I couldn't handle hearing from Americans: Justin Beiber, Justin Beiber, Facebook, Facebook, Coca-cola, we need more oil than anyone else, Ipods, Taco Bell, Twilight, USA the best country in the world, insert american cliche here.

I love the usage of these quotes. I mean let's be realistic for a second here what was the proposed action here?

Hug him to death?

Send him postcards, balloons, flowers? What?

The guy was born into riches and had a gazillion kids and multiple wives. Tell me what's the M.O.? Send him on a tour with Charlie Sheen?

How can a nation show love when that concept doesn't exist in other countries. When our ideologic romantic ideals do not exist elsewhere. I mean this type of conversation would have ended in gunshots by now in those countries.

How do you counter that?

He doesn't say that people shouldn't die for their crimes, just that we shouldn't rejoice in death even if it is the death of an evil man.

Yes, that's one part. But he proposes love as a cure all towards all hate and darkness. What about that part?

How do you that?

How do you approach all the extremist groups in the world and counter their programming?

They are programmed to die for their beliefs, just as we would die for our notion of "freedom".

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/02/135927693/is-it-wrong-to-celebrate-bin-lad...

Apparently this debate about 'celebrating a death' is going on all over the place. I realize I shouldn't be 'celebrating a death' and I'm not really, but I reject the notion that we should have done anything other than kill this man.

lol fight club

I think that's a bit to the extreme as well. Is not like people are celebrating his death literally. They are celebrating the end of what he represented, of the ideals he proposed. Of what he financed. Of what he brought here.

I don't see anything wrong with that. Even if it's unrealistic, and nothing is going to change tomorrow (or gets worst). I don't see it that wrong that people celebrate the end of a voice of a rhetoric that didn't enhance this world in any way, and did the opposite.

I actually thought of this quote today:

"Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends."
— J.R.R. Tolkien (The Fellowship of the Ring)

That being said, I don't think the man deserved to live. And, I applaud the US for the actions it took--from the gathering of intelligence right down to the not giving a f- about the terrorist harboring Pakistani government's permission to get him...

But I have a big problem with people cheering in the streets after we killed someone. This makes us no better than those scumbags in the middle east cheering when the towers collapsed. We're supposed to be better than this.

I am a veteran (albeit peace time) and have lost a family member to the war on terror. I hope this death gives a bit of peace or closure to the families who have lost loved ones stemming from this man's actions--but to be callous about any human life (no matter how much of a scumbag you thought the man) is, in my opinion, plain disgusting.

I'm sure that people are going to realize what they've done. Most people will, at least, and they'll understand that dancing in the streets was too much, and that it looks very bad and sets a bad example. But it's hard for most, I think, especially on an occasion like this, not to get caught up in the moment. The two major places that people were dancing in the streets was NY and at the White House. They were saying a lot of the people at the white house were college kids, and in that kind of atmosphere, I understand them not stopping to think. As for NY... well, I'd probably looked the other way if they wanted to dance on his grave, if he had one on land that is.

Man, the more we talk about this, the more I'm realizing that my thoughts are really split on this.

Oh, you indecisive people, you.

Regarding the MLK quote, he had the right idea, but for his own situation. When it comes to our own countrymen, we should choose to be diplomatic and understanding. He had many enemies, to be sure, but it was only through his good will that he beat them, because all he needed was to convince that his freedom, and that of every member of a minority, is just as important as any white man's. This is what was required to change a law using already well-established philosophy. He just needed to reveal it to the world.

However, Osama bin Laden is a completely different story. His mindset was truly antagonistic towards the very philosophy of freedom we TRY (serious emphasis on the word "try") to live by, and he expressed this antagonism in the loudest of ways. Rehabilitation was not an option after such a display, both because he was too far gone, and because his actions were far too horrific to not make an example of.

Did I celebrate his death? Yer darn tootin'! It's only natural. Is the party over? Of course. Not only did we run out of alcohol, but it also didn't seem right to celebrate for too long.

What's funny is that I instantly started to come up with conspiracy theories.

My theory is that we had already caught Osama during Obama's term, but were waiting for the right moment to kill him, and make a big thing out of it, so that Obama could get re-elected (meaning far enough into the term so that it doesn't look like Bush's team was responsible for a lot of it, but not too far in the term that it becomes obvious and distracts people from the rest of his campaign as well as not giving people enough time to fall in love with another candidate). I mean, c'mon, how could a helicopter just stop working during a 40 minute operation? It was obviously just an excuse to light a big fire to convince people that it had happened like they said it did. Not to mention, Obama was really laying it on thick that it was under his command that Osama was killed. I mean, how could they announce it so certainly within a day's time?

By the way, this was just a fun conspiracy rant. No seriousness was intended... unless I'm right, in which case I'll edit this part out and say, "I told you so, bitches."

Oh hey, look.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/05/anatomy-of-a-fake-quotation/238257/

lulllllllz

so the quote isn't MLK, big deal. It's still good and it really doesn't matter who said it.

I stand by not dancing in the streets over any death, be he mass murderer, oppressive leader, or just a fucking asshole.

I just thought it was interesting and relevant to the conversation.

...Which only illustrates why fake quotes are so widely dispersed. Though one commenter accused me of trying to make people feel stupid for having propagated the quote, that was hardly my intention--we've all probably repeated more fake quotations than real ones. Fake quotations are pithier, more dramatic, more on point, than the things people usually say in real life....

...We become invested in these quotes because they say something important about us--and they let us feel that those emotions were shared by great figures in history. We naturally search for reasons that they could have said it--that they could have felt like us--rather than looking for reasons to disbelieve. If we'd put the same moving words in Hitler's mouth, everyone would have been a lot more skeptical. But while this might be a lesson about the need to be skeptical, I don't think there's anything stupid about wanting to be more like Dr. King.

Ms. Dovey's status now reads: "has apparently gone back in time and put her words into one of MLK's sermons. I'm somewhere between nervous and embarrassed and honored... I really hope I haven't said anything he wouldn't agree with.. Only what I feel in my heart."

A lot of us were feeling the same thing--and I think it's clear from his writings that MLK would have too. There's no reason to be embarrassed about that.

"People will believe what they read on the Internet." -- Abraham Lincoln

He wasn't Hitler.