Americans United by Bin Laden’s Death
As soon as the announcement that Osama bin Laden died was made, thousands of people rushed in front of the White House and at Ground Zero in order to celebrate the country’s victory against terrorism.
The sociologists and the psychologists have stated that this is a rare and unique moment in the history of the United States of America. Peter Ditto, a psychologist at the University of California, Irvine said that this was one event which brought the Americans together, which proved that the people from the United States of America are still united. However, he said that this unity and the celebration will most likely stop very soon. The Americans have been accused and blamed in the media for the way in which they celebrated the death of the most wanted man in the world. People cheered and waved their flags, and many have stated that the gesture was improper. In fact, they associated these celebrations with the ones held by Arabs when the twin towers collapsed. Obama made the news on Sunday, but prior to the official announcement, news began to circulate on Twitter and on other news websites.
Soon after the official announcement was made, people started to gather in front of the White House, and at Ground Zero, the place where the World Trade Center used to be located. People took American flags and waved them in celebration of the victory. People said that the night is extremely important, especially for the ones who lost someone dear to them in the 9/11 attacks. They saw Osama’s death both as a personal and national victory. America managed to stop the head of terrorism. People waited this moment for a very long period of time. The streets resembled a sports celebration, as if their favorite team has won the national championship. People started singing and chanting various lines. They climbed trees and they were in extasy.
Francesco Duina, a sociologist at Bates College in Maine and the author of “Winning: Reflections on an American Obsession”, said that the way in which people celebrated, singing various sport chants is not unusual. It is a known fact that the United States of America is very competitive in everything they do, and according to her, the chants of the people prove it. Duina said that the Americans are the most competitive people in the world. She said that people saw Osama’s death as a testimony that the United States of America is superior to terrorism. There are some who do not agree, as they believe that the country did not prove that they managed to conquer terrorism. The 9/11 attacks caused the deaths of thousands of people, and yet they celebrated that they killed one person. Terrorism will not stop with the death of Osama bin Laden.
Jeremy Straughn, a sociologist at Purdue University, said that Osama’s death brought everyone together. For a very long time now, it did not matter the fact that the people from the country are of different races, genders, or religions. Everyone was an American, and everyone was pleased by feat. Politics were not important anymore, as the ones who constantly criticized Obama, now congratulated him for the way in which he handled the situation and for the fact that he managed to kill Osama. Straughn says that this is the first moment when Obama was considered to be a unifying figure, the person everyone was waiting for. Ditto said that the political groups had a different opinion regarding the way in which people celebrated Obama’s triumph. Ditto said that the liberals and conservatives have different views regarding the conceptions about right or wrong. The conservatives put lots of emphasis on the in-group loyalty relationships, and that means that they feel patriot pride much quicker than the liberals who are more concerned about being kind.
Both of the groups celebrated the death of Osama, but the liberals considered that the way in which the Americans celebrated is improper. They said that the celebrations were disrespectful for the entire world. Ditto said that the liberals did not want to celebrated the death of a person, regarding the amount of damage that person has caused. The majority of the people who gathered in the street were of college age. In New York, there were older people, but at the White House the majority of them were teenagers. Ditto said that this is another reason why the people from the streets reacted in this manner, as they did not consider it to be unusual. If they were older, then they might have celebrated in a different manner. He said that the teenagers have a different opinion and conception about the terrorist attacks from September 11, 2001, than the older people.
He said that by the time these teenagers started thinking about politics, the event was already interpreted and analyzed on numerous occasions. The teenagers were not required to analyze the events and to try to figure out why did things evolved in the way in which they did. They were told what happened, and it is very likely that they did not try to think about the situation too much. The teenagers were told about the events which took place, who did them, and who they were supposed to hate. The event was pretty important in their life, as not too many generations of children of teenagers get to experience such events. The death of Osama bin Lade was a very important event for them as well, even though they weren’t very informed about the situation.11
