It's been 24 hours, and bin Laden is still dead

If the attack of conscience some are expressing is simply a theoretical exercise, an academic study removed from any sense of guilt, that's one thing. If Americans are upset about something hypocritically immoral being done in their name or on their behalf or by their country, well, stay under the covers and never get out of bed. Never go to a library. Never read history. Life will be too difficult otherwise.

Your country has committed greater sins. Your country looks the other way to allow worse, multiplied many times over, compounded daily and irreversibly permanent in many cases.

This one's not subtle. It gets harder when you follow the money and connect the dots for that TV show that made you laugh, or that snack you crave, or that diamond you bought, or that cheap pair of shoes, or the expensive one, or the meal you just ate. And don't stop to consider how much less certain borders mean every day.

This one's easy.

 

I don't feel like I need specific details. He's dead and that's good enough for me...

 

What is hypocritical? I don't think I've been able to come to a fully enough formed interpretation here to be able to even be called "hypocritical."

I mean, was it an act of war or a crime? There's a start right here.

I understand that in this day and age, the "hypocrite" accusation is always the first arrow removed from the weaponry. But the fact is that there are distinctions to be made between situations that are legitimate. Executing Osama bin Laden in the theater of war is different than executing an indigent U.S. citizen in a lethal injection chamber. Nothing "hypocritical" about that.

 

I'm not calling you out on the matter of OBL's death. I'm calling you out on your support for it.
You support one death - in the face of war - but not the other?
Again (and this is the last time I'll post it) I support how OBL was "executed" (your word not mine) .
But OBL was a mastermind... He had no direct hand in the killing of Americans, like Charles Manson and some of the Nazi higher ups. These guys never actually, physically killled anyone. No doubt they were ultimately responsible and deserving of death. Manson got a death sentence, which was later commuted when California abolished the death penalty.

OBL, while responsible for the death of thousands, is so much different from Ted Bundy, John W. Gacy and the hordes of other slime who actually, physically tortured and killed people.
OBL's believed he was fighting a war. Bundy and Gacy were just sadistic fucktards.
They all deserve(d) to die.

So yeah, your support of OBL's death seems to be a 180 degrees from your death penalty stance.

 

Bin Laden resisted arrest and the SEALs are not trained to use Tasers.

 

Does Marvin Gaye know about this?

 

There's a distinction to be made between wartime assassinations and death as a part of the justice system. You may find it to be a distinction without difference, but others' mileage may vary.

 

I'm going to go with a quote from one of the guys who lost his father in the WTC: "I've never felt so bad about feeling good."
There's a clear ambivalence here for me, and if that makes me a hypocrite, so be it. I support the death penalty, but that doesn't mean I throw a party every time they stick a needle in someone's arm.
My life today isn't much (if any) different than it was 3 days ago. But I still feel like the world is a better place now the OBL is no longer a part of it. And, no, I don't exactly pat myself on the back when I think about that.

 

Works for me.

 

Logic is always the second casualty.

Look, I enjoy seeing Dick put through his paces as much as the next guy, but the hypocrisy allegation is absurd.

Osama bin Laden declared war on the United States -- in word and deed. He was killed in the prosecution of that war. He was not assassinated, he was not executed, he was not murdered. The SEAL on the ground radioed back "Geronimo. EKIA." Enemy killed in action.

To believe that it's a good thing that someone who declared war on the United States lost that war has little to no bearing on one's belief regarding the death penalty as an instrument of domestic justice. It just doesn't. Maybe Dick is a pacifist, but he has not posted that. He might well believe the death penalty is a bad idea because it doesn't deter future crime, or because it's too expensive, or because the justice system isn't set up for that kind of decision or because it's been shown to be disproportionately used on poorer defendants and minority defendants. I can't speak for him, but all of those are valid criticisms of the death penalty.

This was a different thing entirely.

 

I don't throw a party either. I didn't celebrate when the announced OBL's death... But I don't give it much thought at all when these fuckers get to exit stage Earth by unnatural means for being lifeforms devoid of worth.