Culture of Death:My Generation's Reaction to Osama Bin Laden's Death

As a college senior, I witnessed perhaps the greatest rapid
mobilization of young people concerning political events since the
election of Barack Obama.  However, I was generally appalled by what I
saw and have become quite cynical about the possibility of collective
action by my peers, even after having worked on three political
campaigns in the past few years and feeling the thrill of actively
participating in our democracy.

 I saw purported Christians celebrate the taking of a man's life.  I
saw self-described strident opponents of Obama's "big government"
accept his description of events without question, heralding him as a
visionary committed to justice. I saw steadfast defenders of the
Constitution  come to champion the practices of extraordinary
rendition, torture, extrajudicial assassinations, and undeclared wars
as necessary and noble, effectively substantiating the most egregious
crimes of the Bush years.  Not only am I sickened by the bloodlust and
palpable bigotry surrounding OBL's death, comparable to the psychotic
rantings of any backward nation, I saw a huge blow to the anti-war
movement and general challenging of our empire abroad. This religious
fanatic and CIA collaborator's death will not bring back the innocent
people killed on 9/11, nor those who died in subsequent military
misadventures.  But to hell with context of his life and our
complicated role in it, hand me a Bud Light since we "got the
bastard".

I'm no stranger to being called anti-American for expressing my
political viewpoints, and no doubt I have resorted to ad hominem
smears against others in my frustration and immaturity.  But for
perhaps the first time in my life, I was truly ashamed of my fellow
Americans' pathetic response.  What frustrates me most is when I
compare this mobilization to the student uprisings in Egypt or
Bahrain. There, against all odds, youth organized against horrifyingly
repressive regimes peacefully, becoming politically-aware and ardently
striving for genuine democracy.  Meanwhile in the United States,
despite all our privileges, talents, and idealism, the best we can do
is cheer for this monster's death, cloaked in the flag.  It feels like
we don't care about rule of law, human rights, our civil liberties -
just some John Wayne bullshit sense of frontier justice.

Perhaps there is a silver lining, that the Wars in Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and God knows where else can stop now
since Osama bin Laden has been apprehended.  The massive
redistribution of wealth from American taxpayers to weapons
manufacturers will cease, and our innumerable military bases abroad
can be shut down.  The killing of civilians by our drone strikes and
"kill teams" will be a dark chapter in our history, but one that is
closed.

A boy can dream, can't he?