Well, it's now 24 hours since the Big News, and all the usual suspects have chimed in. Everything from "
We finally won the war!" to "
Shut up, this doesn't mean anything" has been heard round the world, a few times over. The speed of news like this is only surpassed by the saturation levels achieved by all the meaningless commentary after the fact. So in the spirit of "one good turn deserves another," here's more on the subject.
As the educated, mature, and rational among us are quick to point out that Osama bin Laden's death amounts to no more than a "symbolic" victory; that now, ten years after the attacks of 9/11, bin Laden was no more than a figurehead -- a functionally irrelevant person more important to America's
ideas about terrorism, than to the operations of the various terrorist networks floating around like pond scum. They are right, of course. There are only a few things Osama still meant to anyone, and most of them were definitions given to him by us. There is some talk of his unique position as a fundraiser for Al Qaeda, but that's tenuous and it's about the best you're going to find in the way of "killing Osama makes a real difference."
But, lest these over-thinking blowhards carry the day (and all your jubilation away with it), let me remind you of a few things.
First of all, "symbolic victory" is more important than you might think. America is sliding fast down a greased slope toward a pit of historical anonymity. You can feel it in your bones, if you just admit it. The Empire's days are numbered. And while that's to be expected, and in many ways it may be deserved, it's also
sad. And, if you admit it, you know that, too. News like this is rare these days, and you shouldn't let some asshole with a Ph.D. take it away from you, just because he or she
knows more than you do. Bullshit. You know what I know?
I know that this...
was as evil an act as has ever been perpetrated against innocent people. And you can climb on the Post-American bandwagon all you want and talk about how America
deserved it -- and maybe you're right, maybe we as a collective summoned this -- but it doesn't change the fact that these
people didn't deserve it. It's only from the precipice of some imaginary moral high ground where it's nothing but hindsight in all directions, that one could say nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in an instant to an angry shift of fate they brought on themselves. But not from where I stand, where
every last one of us dogs is as guilty as the rest.
I'm not a Republican shill, and I'm not a Democrat shill. I only
wish there was a political party where I might fit in. I don't always Support the Troops™, and I'm as anti-Empire as the next guy. But at this moment, even if it means "nothing" logistically, emotionally I can say I feel better. Even if this is a "hollow, symbolic" victory, I can say
fuck you, it's a victory of
some kind. And it feels good. Not because I think America is now going to turn the tide of history against the forces of ignorant extremism, but because
one asshole who deserved it, is dead. And I invite you to bask in the radiant glow of Justice, even when it's at the hands of a Government you know has
you somewhere on its list, too. Don't let the Realists talk you out of enjoying it while you can.
Because in a century like this, you're gonna
need to remember what Justice feels like.
