“Take your weapon. Strike me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!”
- Emperor Palpatine, Return of the Jedi
This story doesn’t end with us as Luke Skywalker.
Millions of Americans went nuts yesterday, cheering and celebrating the assassination of Osama bin Laden. Apelike, gorilla-chest-pounding celebrations, reveling in sheer murderous bloodshed while chanting our nation’s initials. In yet another shining moment, we, as a nation, demonstrated conclusively that we are no better than the people we claim to oppose.
Let’s go back to September 11th, 2001, shall we? Video of Palestinians dancing in the streets was met with moral outrage while we were still reeling from attacks that killed almost 3,000 people, yet only a decade later, we’ve gone and done the same thing. I guess it’s OK, though, because those people are savages and we’re civilized.
2,996 people killed on 9/11, and our response to that horrific act of terrorism was two wars spanning an entire geographic region that has cost over a million people their lives, and displaced millions more. If this is a war on terrorism, then we have met the enemy and it is us. What’s our punishment for that?
