DING DONG! THE WITCH IS DEAD…
Who doesn’t know that song and lyric made famous by Judy Garland and the Munchkins in the classic (and my single favorite movie ever) The Wizard of Oz.
WHICH OLD WITCH?
THE WICKED WITCH!
DING DONG! THE WICKED WITCH IS DEAD…
In thinking about the death of Osama Bin Laden – all week – and watching the spontaneous celebrations that sprang up celebrating his demise, I must admit that this lyric kept running through my mind as I cheered alongside.
When I Binged the song, looking for the original clip (audio tracks disabled for copyright issues), I wasn’t surprised to see that the tune and its general meaning had already been co-opted into popular parody around Osama – Ding Dong Osama’s Dead…
I also watched the gatherings protesting the raid or celebrating his “martyrdom” and must admit the tune intensified in my mind.
However, to be truthful – I was uncomfortable with my own reactions. Didn’t I look like the crowds we watched way back when “celebrating” the fall of the Twin Towers on 9/11 and joyously rejoicing for the deaths?
I started thinking of my friend Andrew (read his story here), who could have saved himself in the Tower but ran back and died saving lives, and I felt hollow. Not sad, not elated that revenge had finally come…just hollow.
An Op-Ed piece in The New York Times (read here) caught my eye that suggested that the celebrations were actually OK – a natural outpouring – maybe even an important part of our human DNA – but I was still uncomfortable…although I got the revenge part.
And I was comforted by the respectful decision not to show any pictures. – “We don’t trot out this stuff as trophies.”
In trying to better articulate my feelings, I looked to Elie Wiesel – Holocaust survivor, Nobel Laureate, called by the Norwegian Nobel Committee a “Messenger to Mankind,” to see what he might have said that could guide me.
Listen:
“Only fanatics — in religion as well as in politics — can find a meaning in someone else’s death.”
Elie Wiesel
And there you have it.
The lesson – the meaning – it seems to me is not in his death, but rather in what we do as Human Beings to eradicate Wicked Witches wherever they may be.
I again turned to Elie. Listen:
“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
Elie Wiesel
I am only human – I’m still humming that tune as I write this – but I don’t want to mistake the feel good of revenge for the power of speaking out – for taking sides like Andrew did….
One last word from Elie, quoting from Ecclesiastes that, in my mind, sums up the human spontaneity and need for emotional outlet with his deeper and more difficult to achieve thinking on the long term state of Humankind (read his article here):
“There is a time to mourn and a time to rejoice…let us rejoice and hope that this will be a time of rededication to the ideals of peace, cooperation, and mutual response among all nations, all concepts that bin Laden sought vainly to destroy.”
Elie Wiesel
What do you think?
Y&R Brazil:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBIX9-PwMGI
‘Hollow’. That’s a good word. Me? I’ve been feeling sad. Not because I mourne the passing of this particular individual. But because I mourne the passing of all that is good and right about being a human being in the world we’ve created since someone first asked “What’s the right thing to do?” When we say goodbye to such ancient rules as “Thou shalt not kill” or even to more modern rules like “Innocent until proven guilty”, all we do we leave ourselves exposed to becoming all that we rail against. Worse even. Because we’re supposed to know better. So, in my view, the passing of Osama Bin Laden represents nothing but a loss. Not to the fundamentalist world. Not to the terrorist world. Not to any one particular group, in fact. It was a loss to humanity. And any such loss is one too many for me to stomach.
I agree with this quote: “Only fanatics — in religion as well as in politics — can find a meaning in someone else’s death.”
I would never enjoy anyone’s death by the hand of another human being. I prefer fair trials and punishment.
Kind regards, Liliana
Although I admit there is a certani relief associated with the defeat of the most wanted terrorist in the world, I do not find it worth a celebration or even worth a sigh of relief. Although Osama Bin Laden was the supposed mastermind behind many terrorist attacks, and most importantly the 9/11 attacks, he wasn’t the only one. There is no “one man” terrorist operation. In fact, there are plently of successors waiting to take his place, in which we as well will wish to hunt down and wipe out. Killing the leader of a large clan, though it may be a small victory, does not eliminate, kill or put out the fire that keeps that clan alive. The people, the thousands of people (although I don’t think they are qualified to be called people, because how human can you be to sacrifice innocents in the name of God?), will still live on with the words of Osama Bin Laden and their corrupt mission to cause suffering in the name of their diseased religion.
Osama Bin Laden was a terrible creature, he was a product of pure evil, but he was just a spokes person for an entire small civilization of people who live to kill in the name of religion. Killing Osama Bin Laden is not a win, the United States has NOT won anything, we have only compelted a mission that was going to be completed in a matter of time. Al Qaeda and the Taliban could foresee this coming, as could every American. It happened, we ‘got’ him according to lack there of evidence. Did we end suffering? Did we end Al Qaeda? Did the Taliban surrender? Or are we now living in more fear than before? We take baby steps towards defeating terrorism. But defeating terrorism is like defeating evil. Evil is a part of life, terrorists will always exist as long as we are build to have the right to choose between good and evil, and terrorists will always exists as long as their are religious extremists. We can eliminate some of Al Qaeda, but we can’t kill terrorism in my opinion.
As far as celebration goes, I celebrate no mans death. I only have relief that it is one less thing for us to waste time and money on so we can move forward to a goal of keeping our country safe. But, for how long?
”I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that”
In all wars everyone looses. No one wins. In a global world, negotiation, tolerance, understanding, empathy, sharing, should be basic concepts and skills to educate next generations in a culture of peace. To kill is never a solution but a new seed to more violence, fear and new revanges.
Well, I guess I must have less humanity in me than the people who posted the opinions above. If there was ever a creature who deserved to die, it was Bin Laden. Has everyone forgotten that he murdered 3,000 Americans and an unknown number of people elsewhere in the world? Good riddance, I say. The world is a better place for his demise.
I’m with Obama on this one. Last night he said on 60 Minutes, \Anyone who thinks Osama Bin Laden didn’t deserve to die needs to have their head examined.\
Completely agree with Silvia that to kill is never a solution but a new seed to more violence, fear and new revenges.
I think we should be extremely careful not to only celebrate a mans death (regardless of his evilness) but to also express joy and happiness. The perception of one man’s evilness is based on another man’s opinion. Terrible events such as 11/9, Madrid, London and all the awful things that this brought: wars, more killings, more wars, more lost soldiers, more dead civilians, has been an awful. A waste of life and humanity.
No war justifies taking another human beings life. Correction it doesn’t give a human being or a nation the right to take another human beings life without evidence not justify this and on top of this celebrate. As you mentioned David the cheerings on the street looked like a image library shot of the crowd celebrating the fall of twin towers… and the difference? Only the colour of the flag.
“Only fanatics — in religion as well as in politics — can find a meaning in someone else’s death.”
Humanity and justice is the way forward. Not assassination.
Plato, apparently said many years ago: Only the dead have seen the end of war.
We are alive, and sadly, this is not the end.
Next week, I plan to travel with my family (from 3 year old child to 75 year old mother-in-law) on holiday. Call me paranoid, but I am stricken with fear on whether something terrible will happen to us: in an airport, on the tube, on the bus, in a mall – heck – in a touristy photo-oppy place.
Sure, for the past ten years, this has been our reality. But from this side of the world, I only see this as one more reason for any of the above to happen.
Bleurgh…. sorry for the bleakness
As David notes, the value of speaking up, of taking action, against wrong–the wicked witches–is beautifully put by Elie Wisel:
“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented”
…but when I was struggling with my own discomfort with how I was feeling about Osama Bin Laden’s death, I thought of another one of David’s favorite sources of quotes–Mark Twain–who wrote: “I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”
This excerpt from The Difficulty of Being Good: On the subtle art of dharma, by Gurcharan Das and some what answers the conflict we hv in our minds…
The Mahabharata is unique in engaging with the world of politics. India’s (i think it’s true for most) philosophicd traditions have tended to devalue the realm of human action, which deals with the world of ‘appearances’ not of reality. Choice between moral purity and human action is very dramatic – it rejects the idealistic, pacifist position of both good and the bad. Dhrama in its own position veers towards the pragmatic evolutionary principle of reciprocal altruism: adopt a friendly face to the world but does not allow to be exploited. Turning the other cheek often sends a wrong signal. An upright statesman must learn to be prudent and a follow a middle path. Politics is an arena of force, and a king must wield the danda, ‘rod of force’, when required.
I love that you quoted Elie Wiesel, someone who could very well have lived his life as a \victim\. Instead, he has emerged as one of our greatest champions of peace, mutual cooperation and respect among the people of this world we all share.
Thank you.
Mr Wiesel is a long way from walter Scott but I think he would agree that \Revenge is the sweetest morsel to the mouth, that ever was cooked in hell\.
Richard N. Tooker, Evil does not justify evil. How many civilians have been killed in wars looking for Osama? Of course the man has done evil deads however I think we should be careful in judging others and then acting in a similar manner.
That momentary celebration fuels the fire. Hate breathes hate.
Of course we shall never forget september 11, however acting in the same manner makes us less of the great men that we give out to be. We have not captured the head of evil, we just simply snipped of it’s pinky finger. Now imagine the rage the rest of the body feels?
Hate will always lead to hate. This assination if needed, could have been done smoother, more discreetly and surely not by advertising joy over a man’s death.
Thanks David for brining this matter up and keeping it humane and not political.
Dancing and celebrating the death of someone, no matter who he/she is and the acts they have done, is very Barbaric and distances us from any form of civilization.
Ironically, you cant go out preaching the world about democracy, freedom & equality and go yourself, by Hammurabi’s code, about assassinating people in broad daylight, again no matter who he/she is and the acts they have done.
Bragging about the matter is also a disgrace that will arouse more and more hatred and create 1000′s of new Ousamas, and they wonder why is it that they hate us???
And as Noam Chomsky says “Everybody’s worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there’s a really easy way: stop participating in it.”
So it was ought for the crowd who was dancing victory in NY to have supporting rallies whenever they see any kind of human suffering, similar to their suffering, across the globe since, and as Thomas Jefferson has said in the US Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal” and we should always remember that and put ourselves in the shoes of less fortunate people cause what is happening there today can happen here tomorrow.
And for Mr. Richard Tooker, and since he is very keen about revenging all the innocent lives, I’d propose you read “What we say goes” or “Hopes & prospects”, both for Noam Chomsky or Culture And Imperialism by Edward W Said and then let me know what you think of who should be punished for acts of violance & what would happen if everybody in this world would take matters in their own hands.
thankyou…
Yes, the witch is dead but also we are not in kansas anylonger. The world is not a safe place thinking about the followers he had created. Sadly, this is not the end.
Yes, the witch is dead but also \we are not in kansas anylonger\. The world is not a safe place thinking about the followers he had created. Sadly, this is not the end.
Bin Laden’s demise empowers us with a long awaited story of hope – Check out a this great NY Magazine article about how the power of storytelling — http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/osama-bin-laden-kurt-andersen-2011-5/
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Good ayisza! I had similar thoughts of celebration and even thought of the wicked witch too. Funny! But then, I felt a little ashamed for the way I felt. As much as he was a bad man, a rusha, we should not minimize death no matter what. He got what he deserved, but it is no cause for celebration.
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