In the days since Osama's death, my fellow progressives have seen the need to condemn me and those like me for taking to the streets to celebrate. These attacks have been destructive, chipping away at the unity of the progressive movement. What portion of the progressive movement shares this outrage, I do not know. But that portion must be addressed.
I first need to preface this by saying that I have no extraordinary connection to 9/11. I lived in Ohio at the time, had no family members present or otherwise in danger, and formed my memory of that day in freshmen art class. I felt only the impact that every American felt that day, and only the emotions common to America in general given the events that followed.
But when Osama Bin Laden died, I was one of the gabbles of college students that took to the streets. I tried to encourage my girlfriend to head to ground-zero with me. I cheered, I wooed, I high-fived an NYPD cop. I was happy. Was I happy because he was dead or because he was neutralized? I don’t know. It’s impossible to connect my instant glee with a rational thought. It wasn’t rational. It wasn’t a logical decision to celebrate. It was a gut reaction, a surge of testosterone and a release of 10 years of frustration. Every time I saw a 9/11 rescue worker without health care services, strapped with broken medical equipment and barely struggling to live… Every time I saw a video of planes flying into the WTC, killing thousands… Every time I saw a politician use 9/11 for political gain… it added to the frustration. It brought me to tears at times, most recently when John Stewart interviewed 9/11 rescue workers concerning the Zadroga bill. What I can say is that my celebration, if based on the events in general and not on death, was not diminished because of the life lost on that day. I shed no tear for Osama. I stopped no celebration for his death. I refuse to feel one bit of remorse or temperament because he happened to die in the attack. It was a great day for America. It was a moment of catharsis for our entire people as collective victims of the 9/11 attacks.
I understand that not everyone feels this way. Some, for religious or moral reasons, find death solemn and refuse to celebrate the death of another. Others, including many Americans, feel no real connection to the United States or New York City/D.C. They are citizens of the world and feel the same whenever any 3,000+ people die. Osama means little more to them than any other aggressive force therefore their emotional response is greatly diminished. Still others take a broader view of the situation and fail to see Osama’s death as significant. I get that.
But May 1st and 2nd brought more than just a range of emotional responses. Many who did not feel the same emotional response did not simply refuse to celebrate. They judged us. They called us barbaric. After charging us with dehumanizing Osama, they dehumanized us saying, “What kind of person celebrates death?” Below is a collection of these comments with the names of non public-personas removed.
“disgusted with my country. to those of you who seem to find reason for celebration in the death of another, i'd ask you to think long and had about what, exactly, you are rejoicing about.”
"What kind of person celebrates death? It's amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side..." – Rashard Mendenhall, Running Back for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Well, I agree with the first sentence of his tweet; ‘What kind of person celebrates death?’” – Kevin Osborne, News Editor/Political Columnist at Cincinnati CityBeat.
“It is deeply troubling to watch the lines between us and the people we hate getting so blurry. I hope we have not fought monsters for so long that we have become one ourselves.”
“You're missing the point, kid. The point is that when we celebrate, dance and sing when a human being - no matter how disgusting - gets assassinated, we become dangerously similar to the ideologies we fight against. Celebrating when someone gets shot in the head is beneath us. That's something bin Laden would do.”
“I think it is a bit barbaric that we take to the streets shouting USA after killing people.”
“Gleefully celebrating anyone's death seems a little sad/barbaric.”
“This is bin Laden’s lamentable victory: He has changed America’s psyche from one that saw violence as a regrettable-if-sometimes-necessary act into one that finds orgasmic euphoria in news of bloodshed. In other words, he’s helped drag us down into his sick nihilism by making us like too many other bellicose societies in history -- the ones that aggressively cheer on killing, as long as it is the Bad Guy that is being killed.” – David Sirota, Salon.com
This particularly smug piece in the nation - http://www.thenation.com/...
This is but a small taste of the condemnation. A continuing theme, especially with in-person debates, has been to compare my reaction (never personalized, always stated in the hypothetical as if I didn’t just take to the streets of NYC) to the reaction of Osama or other terrorists after 9/11. It’s as if they don’t realize how much that statement hurts. It’s as if the horrific tactic of comparing a set of victims to their attacker during a moment of closure is lost upon them.
This wasn’t a rare collection of what many on the internet would call “trolls.” This was a large and vocal segment of the progressive population. These were the same people that stood up with me and opposed the Iraq War. These were the same people that shouted, “Not in my name!” when Bush misused our grief in the aftermath of 9/11. These were the same people who stood with me and helped pressure our congress to pass universal health care. These were and still are some of my most trusted friends.
Perhaps that is why it hurt so much. I respect these opinions. When a tea-partier insults me, I can easily remind myself of their other crazy beliefs and simply learn to ignore them. If you think Obama was born in Kenya and is a secret Muslim, you’re position on real issues loses credibility by association. But when you are otherwise sane, the insults stick. The condemnation hurts. And one must stop and ask, what is it accomplishing?
Many have asked the same thing of me. What are you accomplishing by taking to the streets? The answer is easy, catharsis. It’s the same feeling a murder victim’s family feels when they watch their killer hauled away to prison. It changes nothing in the world but the internal stress of the victim. It's about closure. It's about knowing there IS justice in this world. That evil will be met by a powerful good. That we are strong enough to deliver this justice. As long as the attacker, or the terrorist, remains at large - it's an open wound. To know that you were harmed in such a horrific way, and that the man responsible is free…. It's as if you're harmed repeatedly. That stopped Sunday night for many Americans. As a public defender in training, I am often on the other side of the table with crime victims. I often will stop their passion from turning into a judgment of law. But I will never…. NEVER attack a victim for merely feeling closure. I will never condemn them for celebrating even if my client was treated unfairly. It doesn’t help my client, and will turn a moment of closure into a moment of rage directed at me.
That, in essence, is exactly what happened this week. I was experiencing catharsis. I had closure. Yet, in the midst of the celebration came the condemnation. Again, these were my friends. These were my progressive allies. I couldn’t bring myself to ignore them. I tried defending myself, but to no avail. They considered my actions barbaric and made that opinion known. My catharsis ended. The closure I once had was eviscerated.
I am reminded of the months following the Iraq war and capture of Sadaam Hussein. Those who opposed the war at the time were called un-American. We were not accepted as patriots. We “sympathized with terrorists.” We “simply forgot 9/11.”
Those attacks were uncalled for, were they not? Well, they will be back. Those not celebrating the death of Osama will face attacks from the right for being un-American. It’s only a matter of time. That’s what the right does, whether you forgot your flag pin or your GOP ID card. I’m only left with a question I must answer myself. Should I defend these people? Should I defend the condemnation of those that condemned me?
I cannot definitively answer that question yet. I still can’t bring myself to speak with my progressive non-celebratory friends about this entire mess. It hurts.
But my prediction is that I will defend them, but not because they deserve it. But because progressive causes deserve it. And thankfully, I care more about policy than declaring myself better than those that disagree. I care more about results than moral judgments. That is what is truly important. I just wish my non-celebratory friends would have discarded righteous indignation in favor of policy. Where do we go from here? What can we accomplish in this moment of unity? Those are the real questions.