STAFF EDIT: The bin Laden effect

The death of Osama bin Laden was as unexpected as it was exhilarating for Americans across the country. As the news leaked before President Barack Obama’s announcement, people took to Twitter and Facebook to express their instinctive reactions, most of which involved pure jubilance and vindication. The man who managed to slip away from the U.S. military after his attacks on the World Trade Center killed 2,974 Americans was dead and the collective notion was to gather with family, friends and complete strangers to celebrate or have a toast.

The exoneration of bin Laden’s death was undeniably sweet for some, especially for those who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 attacks and had not yet gained closure. It’s in human nature to desire revenge on a man who took so many lives without remorse, right or reason, and it was for that reason that crowds flooded the White House and the Boston Common to celebrate.

There are few events in recent history that have inspired Americans to sporadically unite. For Boston University students and other college students across the nation, bin Laden’s death was poignant because the memory of Sept. 11 has been so ingrained in today’s younger generation. Most people can remember exactly where they were, what their parents told them, what their teachers did and how they felt if they knew someone who had a loved one perish. Although some were too young to understand, that day left an irreversible impression – as did the man who planned it all. Osama’s face became all-too familiar as a result of unrelenting media coverage. Ultimately, for many Americans born in the 1980s and 90s, bin Laden would become what Adolf Hitler or Stalin were to generations past.

Like any other horrific event, the events of Sept. 11 can fade from mind. But on May 1, the memory of those 2,974 Americans came rushing back when U.S. special forces finally ended their killer’s life with a shot to the head. More than 10 years later, the generation that experienced such confusion and fear in 2001 came out in droves in support of their president and their country. It was the accumulation of a decade’s worth of resentment and uncertainty.

Nobody’s emotional response to such an event can or should be discredited. However, the extent of the celebrations, like the ones at Marsh Plaza at BU and on the Common at the Parker Grandstand, bordered on the mania that might result from one sports team’s victory over a hated rival. BU students who traveled to Marsh Plaza and Kenmore Square could be heard screaming “F— Osama!” in conjunction with “BC sucks!” Those who were there, in their actions and their words, expressed what seemed like an emotional outburst of American pride framed by an immature understanding of what had just taken place. At times, it wasn’t clear if the crowd was expressing genuine cathartic relief or if they had gathered simply to put off studying for finals.

This reaction to the news of bin Laden’s death were vested in the emotions and primal urges of every human being on this planet – when one’s nation in attacked, it’s natural to feel a sense of joy at seeing the perpetrators of those attacks finally punished. But when the planes hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, Islamic extremists poured into the streets around the world as well in similar scenes of joy. Granted, the Americans celebrating bin Laden’s death were happy because an evil man had been brought to justice, not because thousands of innocents had died. But by participating in these celebrations, are Americans no better than their enemies for celebrating in this way over the death of another human being?

It would seem that this kind of ecstatic demonstration by thousands across the nation would only serve to further perpetuate the image of American bin Laden himself wanted his followers to believe – that it was populated by people calling for the blood of its enemies who were not interested in the livelihoods of Muslims around the world. Would not a more sobered display, one that both remembered the innocents who were lost and expressed sadness at the fact that this country even has to resort to these measures in the first place, have been a better exhibition of America’s determination and will to persevere through adversity? The celebrations that occurred Sunday night were unlike the ones that those who lived through World War II participated in at the end of that conflict. No Americans celebrated the detonation of atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But all Americans did celebrate Japan’s subsequent surrender for one reason – no one else would have to die in this war. What that previous generation exhibited was a somber realization that having to invade other countries and kill thousands of human beings is an evil in itself, no matter how necessary it may be. That’s a humility that did not show itself on Sunday.

The outpouring of patriotism was uplifting, and reminiscent of the unified times that this country felt after Sept. 11. And while it is unfortunate this national pride can only show itself in times of war, for many Sunday night was still a catharsis, especially for those who lost loved ones in the attacks. For many Americans, bin Laden’s death will be the bookend to a long, frightful chapter in their lives. But there must also be the realization that despite the killing of a man much of the Free World rightly vilifies, the War on Terrorism is not over. It won’t be for a while so long as America values victory in war over promoting understanding rather than hate amongst its enemies.