I’ve had a little time to reflect on the news that Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces. My first reaction when I heard the news was to think “GOOD, Bin Laden was a murderer, now Obama won’t make bad foreign policy decisions because he’s been accused of being soft on terror, and now the U.S. can withdraw from Afghanistan”. I texted a friend in anticipation of the media’s ridiculous hoopla saying “here we go, Bin Laden has joined the wicked witch… ding dong”. Then I started to hear both the news commentary and U.S. public reaction and it was not funny… it saddened me. Hearing crowds chant “U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A” and newscasters say that “this will be looked upon as the biggest achievement of Obama’s first term” really brought into focus how twisted and surreal our values can be. Welcome to munchkin land. Really?… killing Bin Laden is more significant than healthcare reform? How could killing Bin Laden, when it can’t bring back the people who died on 9/11, be more of a triumph than healthcare reform, which is supposed to save many lives in the future? I want the U.S. to practice the justice it preaches. I wish we had taken Bin Laden alive, put him through the justice system, and administered whatever fate that system deemed him to deserve. It’s not that I mind that the guy is dead, maybe he wouldn’t be taken alive, but killing him in a raid makes him more of a martyr than capturing him alive. Also, violence perpetuates violence. Whether it’s the Sharks and the Jets, the Crips and the Bloods, or the Israelis and the Palestinians, we all know that a cycle of violence and retaliation must be broken by the person capable of rising above the impulse for revenge. The thing that made me sad about the reaction to Bin Laden’s killing is how perfectly normal it seemed to gleefully celebrate killing. It reminded me of the news footage right after 9/11 of people in the Arab world cheering the twin towers falling. We need to be better than people who use extreme hate and violence as tools. Justice cannot be confused with vengeance. I’m not trying to be contrary, or a downer, I just feel that I am witnessing a general nationalistic, vindictive atmosphere that I can’t abide with a clear conscience. Bin Laden didn’t deserve to live, but I’d still prefer to see Americans celebrating (and valuing) life more than death.
-Shepard Fairey