Taken (gently) to task for celebrating the death of Bin Laden.

[icarus]

Sigh. I hate when I'm wrong. Especially when I should know better.

Jetsunma took us (gently) to task for ignoring that Bin Laden was "deep sixed". I'm somewhat more guilty because I actually celebrated. Here.

I guess the Venezuelan Vice President has the most thoughtful comments on the matter:

Elias Jaua - Venezuelan vice president

It is surprising to see how normal crime and killing has become and how it is celebrated by imperial governments, although they maintain respect.

Now, the death of any individual independent of what they are accused of - not only Osama bin Laden - but the president and the family of presidents are openly celebrated by the heads of the governments that bomb them.

I believe that in the first place it is an ethical question from the human point of view to celebrate death as an instrument of resolution of a problem.

Sigh. Back to the drawing board.

Comments

[enname]

I am not at all sure what exactly 'deep sixed' means in any way meaningful outside of knowing what happened in terms of him being killed. Presumably they are in some way connected?

Then again I dislike conspiracy theories even more because they equally presume some level of intelligence on behalf of organised governmental bodies.... and well, that is always foolish. I find his death disturbing the more I hear about it, because whilst I am aware that it is not unusual for governments to go around terminating various people (No matter what the Venezualan Vice President expresses shock at), it is not usual for them to go around announcing it and think about offering photos. No I didn't like nor agree with the man, yes I am shocked at the centrality of the location (for a variety of reasons), but I cannot bring myself to go 'ooo yay.' It makes me recoil somewhat in horror. In particular because the seriousness of the issues he spoke for (and he did, no matter how much some want to label him a nutter) are still there and festering.

I maketh no sense, am going to go mark some essays.

[icarus]

It's more simple than that. It's self-absorption. And the people who make money off of that are more than happy to encourage it.

It's up to us to be awake and to care and act accordingly.

I personally am not comfortable with the culture of consumerism and feel like I've backslid in recent months.

There's a personal aside in there. This weekend was a web-a-thon to raise money to pay for the land in Arizona. I was asked to help out on Saturday, via someone who asked me to replace someone else on another task so she could help host the web-a-thon.

I said, well, "There's a 10-20% chance" I could help out, but that I usually go out to eat with a friend (the boyfriend) after work Saturdays.

In fact, I ignored the Saturday event altogether and did my usual plans.

Both of these people are close to Jetsunma, and one couldn't participate because I didn't come through. The oblique (but specific mention) of "Will we go out for lunch, brunch, and dinner? Sure, why not, right? We are entitled to enjoy, right?" -- was wince worthy and touche.

I think of the French word "manger" for my dining out activities of late. It has the right sound of mindlessly eating, like cattle grazing.

This evening, thinking it over, I could barely even remember where I'd gone Saturday. The boyfriend's buying, but I've felt uncomfortable with it myself. It's a ridiculous expense, going out to restaurants two, three times a week. Especially when the time spent doing this is taking away from other things (my gardening, for one, time with family, and I've had to win free fandom and time for the temple).

This may be an area where S. and I don't share the same values. It's fine with me to treat oneself once in a while, but this has felt excessive to me. Has for some time.