Bin Laden Mania

I started ranting on facebook, but I have too much to say on this topic for facebook to contain. The American government is so great at congratulating itself, it is laughable. Trust me, I lived there. So, as I said on facebook, I do not understand why people are dancing in the street over this. And I think Matt thinks I am evil because of this. He is crying, he is so pleased that Osama is dead. I, on the other hand, am not. For one thing, WHY DID IT TAKE 10 YEARS to kill this dude? As Wulf B just said on CNN, he was a lighly recognizable individual. It only took them 40 minutes to "get him" they say on CNN. Yeah, 10 years and 40 minutes.

Well, let's see. North American (and other) governments have used 9-11 as a "reason" to suspend almost every civil liberty that our ancestors fought for. Now that we have all been conditioned to expect to be treated like criminals when we try to fly to Disneyland (or anywhere), they don't need excuses any more.

Is it just me, or is the poster boy just the tip of the iceberg? By now, he has been replaced by some other f-ing psycho, who has yet to make a name for himself around the world. Yes, he was the "leader". Of a huge, and complex organization that continues to operate with or without him. I mean, the dude has been HIDING OUT, so you're trying to tell me he has the same kind of power he used to? Nope. Other, younger, and imaginative men have undoubtedly been running the organization for many years.

But gosh, it sounds good. And the media sure does perpetuate the hysteria over the "significance" of this moment. They won't say how or what they did to OBL. He probably died in the bathtub. I'm bitter. I'm pissed about body scanners and water bottles and Ziploc baggies. I'm annoyed that I have had to strip to almost nothing to travel. I'm pissed that field trips don't get approved because of this bs, that people have fears of public transit, that we barely remember how free we used to be, and how we bought into a culture of fear. I'm troubled that we went to war with Iraq over this guy and about what the west has done in the east, and what we have done to our own service men and women. Well, we are all nicely conditioned now. Good for us. It's good that the bastard is dead, but has the idealogy been killed? Hardly. This is more than likely to fuel the fire, not snuff it. What does Osama's death mean? One step. One good step. Nothing more than that, to me.