My thoughts on the death of Osama Bin Laden.


Just been watching the news of the American military's operation to take out the notorious leader of Al Qaeda.  All the news reports so far seem to have been interspersed with the same footage, file footage of Bin Laden delivering messages and firing his AK47 at a training camp, footage of planes flying into buildings on September 11, 2001, and various other acts of terrorism his group have claimed responsibility for, and finally footage of various world leaders responding to the news, Barack Obama's address on the subject, and cheering crowds outside the White House and the World Trade Center site in New York.

In all this I cannot help but feel I am witnessing some very ugly things. 

Firstly it seems that the once again endless replays of planes crashing into the World Trade Center.  These images are still powerful, and almost pornographic in their intensity.  Are we addicted to this imagery?  Do we need to be reminded of the point incessantly?  Will it intensify our rage against these acts of terror, or will it numb us into insensitivity?  Is it a case of the modern media being addicted to this mode of storytelling?  Are we really so numb as a culture that we need these images burnt into our brains through this hypnogogic repetition? 

Secondly, lets look at the descriptions of Bin Laden from the media and from individuals such as George W. Bush and John Howard.  Basically as evil personified is how he is portrayed.  I am not saying he was a good man by any means, but evil seems to be a word bandied about all too often.  Are people evil or do they commit evil acts?  I would wager those committing those acts would say they are fighting evil by their actions.  Could we therefore say that our perceptions of good and evil are then more about our perspective, and our beliefs and values than about any absolute objective definition of evil in this case?  I don't think we should necessarily call someone evil because they hold beliefs contrary to our own, or a lifestyle contrary to our own, especially in this case where it would seem as we peer through the murky depths of political machinations in the middle east that Bin Laden's fanaticism was harnessed by the Americans in their fanatical idelogical battle to overthrow Soviet communism. 

Finally, and in a related way, let's look at the crowds cheering and baying for blood on the streets of American cities, celebrating the end of a life, waving flags and chanting nationalistic slogans and anthems.  Apart from those affected by the loss of loved ones on 9/11/2001, how many have been personally affected by terrorism?  I am sure far more have been affected by the rippling effects of the 10 year war in Afghanistan and Iraq, a war which does not seem to have ended international terrorism, and is slowly but surely bankrupting the United States.  Is there a way people could come together and approach a measure of reconciliation?  I think the mutual ignorance seems to be a hallmark of this conflict.  Americans and middle-eastern Muslims blinded by rumours and half-truths and outright lies about the other side, often preached by deranged fundamentalists of all persuasions, and no longer able it seems to stop hating or fighting.  I know that not everyone in either culture thinks like that, but it seems such ignorance and hatefulness is capable of poisoning perception incredibly effectively.

In the end I think that Bin Laden, though obviously a paramilitary leader and planner, was merely one man, and despite his symbolic importance, he is not irreplaceable, and other terrorist groups may well now rise up and fight even more ruthlessly for their cause.  There is still a lot of bad blood to be dealt with and spilt in this ideological battle we find ourselves witnessing, and this conflict of fundamentalisms may well continue to mar our age for the whole of this century.  In the end, we become the change we wish to see in the world, and as human beings, members of society, and an organic part of this whole great organism we call the earth, as children of the universe, we need to start to live in new paradigms and tell ourselves a new story, that peace and understanding can be reached and that we are all part of the whole.