Osama Bin Laden is dead. And so to it seems, the reverence with which we should regard human life. While we can’t deny his role in what historians will call the most heinous and zeitgeist changing crime of our times (fact) the sarcastic obituary which appeared in today’s Daily Telegraph, on a back page usually reserved for rugby league scandals and other topics which we can’t quite think of right now, was embarrassing, unnecessary and heaped with the kind of absolute morality reserved for super heroes and Bond villains. It reads:
DEATH NOTICE
BIN LADEN, Osama late of Pakistan
Passed away Mat 2, 2011
Devoted father of terrorism, genocidal mastermind, despised by all who loved peace and freedom. Lamented friend of oppression, hatred and horror. Will be sadly missed by al-Qaeda’s mass murderers and Taliban terrorists.
A celebration mass will be held across the free world
Translation? Us: good. Them: bad. Sure, we all indulged in Twitter yesterday while trying to reconcile the demise of a monster with the trivialization of his death, but the difference between a national media organization and a personal twitter account is the assumption that the former will treat news with objectivity and tact. With loaded words like “mass murderers”, “sadly missed” and “celebration” (not to mention smug sarcasm throughout) The Tele exhibits neither. By presenting this as an official obituary they ask that we accept their sentiments as fact and by extension some kind of concrete national consensus; not that Bin Laden’s actions were abominable – we can all agree on that part – but that we should treat his death with frivolity. That it should be celebrated. Clearly, this was meant to make a statement but the only one we can think of right now is that this does not speak for all of us.
Excuse the cheesiness but I now defer to a man more eloquent/insightful than I.
“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that”
– Martin Luther King Jr
