Osama and Explicit Photos

I know that this topic doesn't really have anything to do with movies, but I just have to get it off of my chest. Unless you have been living under a rock the past few days, or are extremely unpatriotic, or just dumb (which I'm sure none of you are because I can tell you are all pretty smart if you are reading this blog), then you know that Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, was killed by American troops in Pakistan on Wednesday. I am posting about this because it relates to entertainment. On Sunday night, at least where I live, eyes were glued to the TV for hours watching CNN and other news outlets. The world anticipated the President's speech as cheering crowds gathered outside of the white house. Where I live, people were running around the streets chanting "USA, USA" and were driving down the streets honking and singing "God Bless America." While this act was extrememly patriotic, and I may or may not have gone out and celebrated with my friends Sunday night at the local bar, donning red, white and blue, and singing country music all night, I'm not sure if this was the correct way to respond.

Don't get me wrong, I know that Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans and was in charge of the greatest attack on American soil in our history, but is celebrating the death of a man OK? I know he was a horrible man that did many horrible things and killed many people and planned many attacks on innocent civilians, but is shouting in the streets and dancing around to country songs and drinking "Osama Gin Ladens" right? I'm not really sure.

I know this was a great victory for our country and an even greater victory for President Obama. Many families can finally get closure on the deaths of their loved ones from September 11th, but doesnt an eye for an eye leave the whole world blind. The death, or the murder for that matter, doesn't mean that Al Qaeda is going to stop attacking innocent people, or retaliate against the United States for killing Osama.

Furthermore, I was shocked when I woke up yesterday morning and saw bloody pictures splashed across the Wall Street Journal's front cover. After reading further and investigating, I learned that the bloody scene was the bedroom where Osama was murdered. There were blood spattered pillows and comforters, right there on the front page of the newspaper for everyone to see. It got me thinking: is all of the overexposure we have to violence making us crave pictures of an actual murder scene? Must we really have pictorial evidence of the murder of our country's greatest enemy to make it real? Why can't we just take our government's word for what happened and accept that the single-most terrifying man in the United States is finally dead.

After the image of this bedroom scene, which I refuse to post because I think it is absolutely disgusting and unneccessary, more pictures were released of his corpse and his burial at sea. The American people can no longer trust the government and the information that is given to them by the government; they need to have unsubstantiated evidence for themselves to believe that Osama is finally dead.

These pictures beg the question: if this were 40 years ago, would these bloody pictures have been released? I'm not sure, but I'm leaning towards no. We have become overexposed to violence and depictions of death that it no longer phases us anymore. Our entertainment has to offer us the next biggest, bloodiest, boldest thing in order to keep our attention nowadays.

My question is: if it is this bad now, what is going to happen in 20 years when the images get worse and worse and more graphic by the year? Just think about that for a little bit.

Until next time, go hug your family; they might not be around forever.