Monday, 2 May 2011

How to Celebrate Justice

I find this image:


of celebrations in Washington last night at the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden, rather reminiscent of this image:

of a another woman celebrating what she equally perceived as "justice", almost 10 years earlier on a bright September morning.

Personally I see no cause to celebrate "justice" in either of the events that inspired these impromptu jubilations.

Of course I am pleased that a particularly nasty ideological hydra has had its most venomous head removed. And perhaps it really was the only way that this could have been accomplished, but I had always equated justice with some sort of trial.

I'm afraid each of the celebrations above look to me worryingly more like retribution, and I've got an uncomfortable feeling that that has a rather circular element to it. I hope I'm wrong.
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12 comments:

  1. Harry the Bastard2 May 2011 at 17:20

    One small difference. The top photo is a group of people, (maybe tastelessly) celebrating one hard won death, the death of a mass-murderer.

    The bottom one is a celebration of the deaths of thousands of innocents.

    I'm afraid this time I can't agree with you. Let them have their moment.

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  2. Le Canard Noir2 May 2011 at 17:37

    Arthur - can I suggest that this one death is the tip of an iceberg of an operation that has caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people?

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  3. Harry the Bastard2 May 2011 at 17:46

    Absolutely, and I am bearing that in mind. The whole thing has been horrible. But my comment was simply addressing the point at face value. Obviously I'd much prefer it if none of this had happened at all.

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  4. Chris Smith2 May 2011 at 18:26

    I agree, Arthur. I wouldn't call my feelings about this "joyous" but I'm pleased that there's some closure for 9/11 now. We needed that. Different people mourn or celebrate things in different ways. I would have preferred that we hauled this swine in alive so we could make him face those whose loved ones he had murdered senselessly, but I'll take the death anyway. It's a clean ending.

    Of course this fight isn't over, indeed it may well escalate for a bit. I hope not.

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  5. Alice Hogan3 May 2011 at 01:04

    There's a massive difference. The second photo is a woman celebrating a perceived religious victory upon the deaths of thousands of innocents in the name of her faith. The first is a group of people who were greeted one morning ten years ago to the sudden, brutal deaths of those innocents, accomplished by the planning of one sick man, who has finally been brought to justice. It is a shame to compare the two.

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  6. Anonymous3 May 2011 at 09:41

    I'm not remotely surprised that religious hypocrites would celebrate a man's death. Remember that this is the "Christian" country with the death penalty where parties are regularly held on execution night.

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  7. Crispian Jago3 May 2011 at 10:16

    Alice / Arthur,

    I’m not attempting to equate the atrocities of 9/11 with recent events, merely expressing my discomfort with the jubilant celebration of an execution. I had hoped that the comparison of the celebrations above may highlight this fact. To me, sombre relief would have been a more appropriate response.

    Anyway, I notice there’s a quote attributed to MLK trending on twitter today, it looks like he might have expressed what I was trying to see a little more succinctly…

    "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy." - Martin Luther King

    Although I did consider musing on whether an allegiance with the supernatural deity inspiring either side may make the rejoice of death more possible.

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  8. elbuho3 May 2011 at 10:31

    Totally agree with your points, Crispian. Have you read Robert Fisk's excellent analysis in the Independent? The last sentence is also a perfect encapsulation of the sceptical position regarding the conspiracy theories about whether OBL was actually killed.
    http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-was-he-betrayed-of-course-pakistan-knew-bin-ladens-hiding-place-all-along-2278028.html

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  9. Anonymous4 May 2011 at 05:14

    how to celebrate your DEATH



    FAKE MONARCHY


    disclose.tv/forum/criss-angel-mindphoque-the-end-of-atheism-t50514.html

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  10. Alice Hogan4 May 2011 at 13:34

    Just because this quote was thrown out in this particular post, thought I'd share:

    http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/05/anatomy-of-a-fake-quotation/238257/

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  11. M7 May 2011 at 08:34

    I think we're missing the more serious point here. Because of the way in which the Americans disposed of Bin Laden's body, the sea now contains homeopathic quantities of terrorist. I for one will not be going to the beach this summer.

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  12. Anonymous11 May 2011 at 21:01

    The lower image is one of celebration of victory -- a victory that involved the slaughter of thousands of innocents. I believe the celebration in the upper picture is joy that a terrible chapter in our national history is over. This has been hanging over our heads for 10 years, used to start two wars, and kill who knows how many people in the name of "The war on Terror." I don't think it's a celebration of death at all... well, a man's death triggered the celebration... but, it's a celebration of the fact that maybe we can now start to move on.

    All of that said, plenty of people were probably celebrating his death...

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