" New Yorkers' mixed reactions to Osama's death"

[sabrina 1]

Contrary to the impression given by the media, this article actually demonstrates what I believe to be the truth, most Americans reacted to the news of OBL's death in a more thoughtful and dignified manner, even some of those who lost loved ones on 9/11:


Some who took part in the candlelight vigil said they did not know how they felt about news of Osama's death


New Yorkers' mixed reactions to Osama's death

New York -- Eileen Zott is one of thousands of New Yorkers who lost family because of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but the news of his death brought little satisfaction for her.

Zott and her husband attended a candlelight vigil on Long Island on Monday night to pay tribute to her cousin, Louis Modafferi, a New York firefighter who was killed on September 11. Both seemed unsure about how to respond to bin Laden’s death 24 hours earlier during a US raid in Pakistan.

"I don't know how I feel about this," she said. "I'm a Christian, and killing isn't part of my beliefs. It doesn't bring anyone back."

She represents the reaction of most of the people I know in NY and elsewhere. The article goes on to say that many people, rather than go to Times Square where some chose to party after hearing the news, chose instead to go the peaceful memorial in East Meadow, LI, a town which lost 344 residents that day to quietly remember those whose lives were lost:

More than 100 people attended the vigil there on Monday night. They stood in small groups with family, some of them weeping, others laying flowers and hanging signs in honour of their loved ones. A Marine colour guard stood at attention while the crowd sang "God Bless America".

Most of their comments were thoughtful and dignified, some stating that killing Bin Laden would not solve the underlying problems which need to be addressed. Few seemed concerned about retaliatory attacks.

I am glad to see NYers were not represented only by those who chose to celebrate and thankful that Al Jazeera covered this story fully, giving the world a chance to see that not all Americans are bloodthirsty revenge seekers, but share with others around the world a desire to find solutions other than violence to resolve the issues that caused 9/11 and its aftermath, in the first place.

I am proud to be a NYer, then and now. We were never afraid, never fell for the fear-mongering as you can see from some of the comments in the article, and only wanted answers as to why it all happened and how to prevent it in the future.



Martin Luther King Jr: Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

[dennis4868]

1. PEOPLE MOURN AND REFLECT....

differently....

[sabrina 1]

2. Yes, but the impression given in the media was that

Americans, not SOME Americans, chose to clebrate and party when there were so many others who preferred other ways of absorbing the news.

[dennis4868]

3. Agree to disagree....

I did not get that feeling from watching the media these past few days.....I guess people see things differently....

[sabrina 1]

4. Well, you may be right, I don't watch much television

normally and may have just tuned in when the footage of people celebrating was on the air. Regardless, yes, people have a right to react in the way that they feel. I just felt that from everyone I know, most did not feel like celebrating, even though they are glad he is gone and hoped the rest of the world did not think that those who did choose to celebrate represented all Americans.

[EFerrari]

5. Yes. And all over the Middle East, OpEds are being written in response

to those media images.

It'll pass.

[sabrina 1]

11. True and that is why I am glad that Al Jazeera which is widely

read and watched in the ME posted this article. While many excuse the party atmosphere here as people just expressing themselves as they have a right to do, they cannot imagine how we are viewed in the rest of the world, especially if that became the accepted American reaction to the news.

[FrenchieCat]

19. I think New Yorkers were rejoicing NOT in Bin Laden's death,

but in the fact that he was no longer a threat....

I think the celebrations would have happened nevertheless had
Bin Laden been captured alive.

I dislike the way people are trying to cram down the throats
of others that it is DEATH that these Young Americans were
celebrating, so that they can then jump right in criticizing them
based on that convenient simplified speculative conclusion.

[sabrina 1]

20. You haven't spent much time on rightwing forums, or around

Bush supporters over the past number of years if you think there are no Americans, young or otherwise, who would not celebrate death, and torture and whatever other barbaric methods we might have thought, no that THEY thought up, to satisfy our need for revenge.

Granted these are not the kind of people any sane person would want to have represent this country, but having witnessed their rantings many times, I know they exist and would prefer that the world doesn't think they represent all Americans. Even here on this board, I have been pretty shocked by some of the comments I've seen over the past few days. But that's how all societies are, so long as they do not become the norm I suppose it's to be expected in a society that has put out the kind of propaganda this country has for the past ten years or so.

[Paradoxical]

15. That doesn't make them all right.

You don't get a pass because you are a victim. Especially on something as important as life and death.

[Wednesdays]

6. Poor choice of words in the headline

"Mixed reactions" gives a connotation there were negative reactions as well as positive ones.

[sabrina 1]

8. I think it was meant to show that people's reactions were

different. That many Americans were more introspective than the initial reports implied.

[girl gone mad]

7. ZOMG, those horrible librul do-gooder debbie downers!!1!

Ruining everything for the awesome uberAmericans.

[sabrina 1]

13. Yes, they should be out partying, showing how 'civilized'

we are ~ :-)

[Luminous Animal]

9. 9/11 widow, Kristen Breitwieser, "Today Is Not a Day of Celebration for Me"

"Ten years later, now fully awake in the bright sunlight of the day, when I contemplate the definition of victory for our country when it comes to the death of Osama bin Laden, I can only think about the damage that has been done.

I think about the thousands of lives lost -- American, Afghani, Iraqi. I know firsthand the sorrow those families have felt. I ponder how the billions -- maybe trillions -- of dollars could have been better spent. I remain alarmed about the continued expansion of absolute Executive power in the name of fighting this seemingly ongoing and never-ending "war on terror." I worry about the further erosion of our constitutional rights. I wonder when our troops will ever be called home. I know all too well, that thousands of young American men and women soldiers will never have the opportunity to return home. And of course, I fear reprisal.

But more than anything, I cannot seem to remove the optics of the giddy, gleeful throngs of Americans who took to the streets celebrating in the early morning hours.

Forgive me, but I don't want to watch uncorked champagne spill onto hallowed ground where thousands were murdered in cold blood."

http://www.itrevino.com/2011/05/02/kristen-breitweiser-today-is-not-a-day-of-celebration-for-me/

[sabrina 1]

10. She is always so intelligent and thoughful in her commentary

on this issue.

Forgive me, but I don't want to watch uncorked champagne spill onto hallowed ground where thousands were murdered in cold blood."

I am sure she speaks for many people.

Thanks for posting this link. It really should be an OP. And I wish people like her, without whom we wouldn't even have had the sham of an investigation we finally got, would run for office. Congress rolled over completely when Bush declared that there 'would be no investigation' of the biggest crime ever committed on US soil.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

12. +1000!

[EFerrari]

14. Oh look, a sane person.

[sabrina 1]

16. I think she is probably under the bus now. Sanity is not very

popular these days.

[EFerrari]

17. I never could figure out how people took the family to picnic

at public executions. Do now.

[sabrina 1]

18. I've learned a lot these past few days,

I can't believe how naive I was to think we lived in civilized society and that those photos, of people taking their families to watch executions, or torture, or any of the bad stuff we learned about growing up, were all history. That the world had evolved beyond that kind of barbarism.

So yes, now I understand those picnics :cry: