The Fatman Weighs in: Osama Bin Laden

Subtle as a bomb and fat enough for two, the Fatman proudly proclaims “my application for membership in the Liberal Media Conspiracy has been approved.”

Okay peeps, let me apologize for how long this has been in coming. I didn’t want to interrupt literary talk just to hit you with POLITICS. And yet, I find that I must. I beg your forgiveness, and your VOTES.

Anyway, as I’m sure you’re all aware, a week ago now Osama Bin Laden, apparently the central most figure of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda was finally found and killed. Rejoicing ensued amongst many Americans. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not all that thrilled about the whole thing.

Leaving the moral questions about whether or not it’s right to be happy that someone else is dead, at the same time people here are celebrating the victory, other terrorists are vowing revenge. It’s astonishing that so many people think that in the long run, this event really changes anything. Even more astonishing is how this works on the conceptual level. And you know what? Maybe it is me. Maybe I’m in some sort of crazy upside down world and I’m the one that doesn’t make sense. But in general, fighting fire with fire results in a larger fire, not a smaller one.

Now, I don’t mean to sound like we should be calling up terrorists and having tea and biscuits as we discuss our mutual grievances. And I’ve got no problem with the concept of a death penalty etc. (which is not the same thing as being glad that it gets used) but here’s the problem as I see it-

“They’re a representation of all their people and trying to reason with them is like reasoning with snakes and scorpions. They’re mindless savages and this is the only solution.” A direct quote from my father, a historian and very smart man (with a distinct tendency to warp facts to fit his world view, and who, like as not was parroting Bill O’Reilley or someone.)

One of my biggest problems with the “war on terror” since its conception was that ultimately it was going to foster exactly this attitude. That before long people start thinking that the entire region is full of savages, and more broadly the religion. Therefore, perpetual violence is the only answer and we’re justified in doing it because of that same savagery. Doesn’t that strike you as more than a little reminiscent of the message conveyed by their own extremists? If we sound the same and we act the same, then by our own definition, we are *also* savages, a paradox which brings all our reasoning down around our ears.

I’m a carrot and a stick guy. I know there have been some attempts. Building schools and hospitals and stuff. Carrots are good things. I don’t deny that the stick is necessary too, but I put that love of history my father demanded of me to use. I sat back and I said “By gum. 75 years ago Dr. Seuss himself was drawing political cartoons depicting the Japanese as irrational, buck-toothed, brutal hive-minded fiends beyond redemption. 60 years ago, which is less than a generation later, they were an ally and they’ve continued to be our ally since and we’ve only become closer to them over time.” I guess what I’m trying to say is that declaring categorically that a group of people are unreasonable or violent or untrustworthy or irredeemable is kind of ludicrous and it isn’t helping anyone. Quite the reverse, that mentality is at the center of all the other conflicts in that region. And many in Africa. And India. And what makes those conflicts so brutal is that it’s all backed by religion. When God is on your side, you’re justified in anything. Even the more even handed folks seem to “concede” that they’re extremists but generally still blame Islam itself without understanding or concern for the fact that Islam is virtually identical to Christianity and Judaism from a doctrinal point of view. If we start reveling in the violence, if we think in absolutes, or if we let it become about religion, whether it’s ours or theirs or both, the war will never end.