Osama's Death Should Not Be Celebrated

In my previous entries, I've been clear that in my opinion, Americans should not celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden. Hours after the news came out, as it turned out, I was not alone in my opinion. Columnists, a few political pundits, and even the Vatican all spoke against the initial reactions some Americans (or at least those who showed up in Lafayette Park in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. and Ground Zero in NYC) showed during the immediate aftermath of the big announcement. 

I singled out a banner prominently displayed by one reveler in NYC, which read "Obama=1 Osama=0" because of its taunting and provoking tone (or perhaps intent).  And now here comes another shameful play on the news of Osama's death under the hands of US Navy Seals that callously insinuates sex after an enemy's death is highly gratifying. I can't even imagine how this team of yellow paper journalists put sex and the news of Osama's death together. Add to that, why ask your readers about what they think. But of course, it's TMZ.      

Not a cause for celebration indeed. In Pamela Gerloff's article on Huffington Post today, she writes that people should have the decency to caution themselves against any celebration of sorts. Osama may be the biggest threat to Americans when he was still alive and now that he's dead, it doesn't mean that his death should not be afforded at least a little decency or even modesty. Real victors celebrate with humility and complete respect for their defeated enemy. In this case, we may have slain the beast but the poison remains and it would linger far longer than most Americans have estimated.

As I've said, more people are saying that although it's Osama, world's public enemy No. 1 and most wanted, it's not a cause for public display of celebration like it's a major win in the World Series or the Stanley Cup or the Olympics. Caution and decency are the things we should consider.

Here are the other pundits, intellectuals, and writers that speak and feel the same about how wrong it is for us to celebrate boldly Osama's death: Dr. David P. Gushee (Professor of Christian Ethics) ; the celebrity and well-respected Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (Rabbi and writer) ; Jim WallisChristian leader for social change ; and finally, Rev. James Martin, S.J.Catholic priest and author, 'The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everyt.   

  

The Guy Who Liveblogged The Osama Raid Without Knowing It

Imagine you're living in a remote area and out of a sudden, helicopters start hovering your village at around 1:00 am. You can’t sleep, right? What would you do? For a Pakistani computer programmer, who lives in Abbottabad, Pakistan, he resorted to Tweeter. This guy, who now has thousands of followers on Twitter and for several hours became a trending topic on the micro-blogging site, unknowingly livebloged the now historic US Navy Seals operation that resulted in the capture and death of the world’s foremost fugitive and public enemy no. 1, Osama Bin Laden.

With his early morning Tweets, 33-year-old Sohaib Athar, became an instant Internet sensation and has now appeared on CNN, Al Jazeera, and other major international news organizations. He is now dubbed online and by the news reports as “the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it”.

Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it.less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet ReplySohaib Athar
ReallyVirtual

I need to sleep, but Osama had to pick this day to die :-/less than a minute ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet ReplySohaib Athar
ReallyVirtual

Manic Monday Round-up

Last weekend, President Obama hosted the White House Correspondents Dinner with Saturday Night Live’s Seth Meyer as the comedic “roaster”. Although, it wasn’t as funny as the previous years (Colbert is still the funniest!), a lot of surprisingly audacious media-whores attended the event like Donald Trump and Michelle Bachman.

So, here’s the classic spoof video primer, The President's Speech:

And to give warmth to this otherwise damp and sullen spring Monday, watch this trailer of the new Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess movie, "One Day":

If I were you, READ the book first. I don't know but it seems like I almost always enjoy a movie based on a book if I've read the book first. And I think, it really is more classy and snobbish at best. Buy the book: