When a terrorist dies, is it OK to gloat?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

When a terrorist dies, is it OK to gloat?

It's okay, but it's catastrophically stupid.

Plenty of young Arabs will have got rabbit in their blood at the sight.

Meh, they danced in the street on 9/11. Our turn.

Down to their level. Congratulations.

Merely being human. I know in the olympian atmosphere of a highly cerebral forum like this that can be lost or overlooked.

[Seabass]

When a terrorist dies, is it OK to gloat?

It's okay, but it's catastrophically stupid.

Plenty of young Arabs will have got rabbit in their blood at the sight.

Meh, they danced in the street on 9/11. Our turn.

Down to their level. Congratulations.

Except that cheering the deaths of 3000 innocent people isn't on the same level as cheering the death of the leader of the terrorist organization that killed those people.

[Magicziggy]

http://www.theage.com.au/world/bali-bom ... -5ko7.html

I don't recall any gloating in Australia or Indonesia when the Bali bombers were executed.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Except that cheering the deaths of 3000 innocent people isn't on the same level as cheering the death of the leader of the terrorist organization that killed those people.

Oh, come on! Moral Calculus demands:

Everything A does = 1
Everything B does = 1
1 = 1
Therefore A is a bad as B.

See? No thinking required, just plug in the numbers, get the generalization out the other end, and move on.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

http://www.theage.com.au/world/bali-bom ... -5ko7.html

I don't recall any gloating in Australia or Indonesia when the Bali bombers were executed.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Did you celebrate the end of WWII?

[charlou]

I see hyperboley like calling a 3-0 loss at football a massacre

I was going to make a similar comment, not the analogy, but that the hyperbole bothers me ... and include phrases like "war on terror" .... but then I thought about it ... this isn't some trifling thing we're talking about, terrorism is a huge issue and to think otherwise is trivialising the point. That said, I think people's (understandable) emotional responses are too easily manipulated, even by language, and that's a concern.

[Azathoth]

Meh, call that a street party? Wait until Thatcher finally carks it. Then you will see some public jubilation

[Feck]

Meh, call that a street party? Wait until Thatcher finally carks it. Then you will see some public jubilation

Are you reading my mind ? ?

[charlou]

http://www.theage.com.au/world/bali-bom ... -5ko7.html

I don't recall any gloating in Australia or Indonesia when the Bali bombers were executed.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Not on any large public scale, anyway. The media didn't make much of a deal of it, either.

[Hermit]

When a terrorist dies, is it OK to gloat?

It's okay, but it's catastrophically stupid.

Plenty of young Arabs will have got rabbit in their blood at the sight.

Meh, they danced in the street on 9/11. Our turn.

Down to their level. Congratulations.

Merely being human. I know in the olympian atmosphere of a highly cerebral forum like this that can be lost or overlooked.

What? That we are no different to them? How depressing.

When two tribes go to war...

[Horwood Beer-Master]

Some of the scenes in NY and elsewhere after the news broke reminded me of nothing so much as scenes we see in the so called 'Arab Street' of mobs burning flags or cheering after some victory or other of one of their Jihaddi heroes. Both are equally repugnant.

On the other hand they are both equally understandable.

Equally?

[charlou]

Some of the scenes in NY and elsewhere after the news broke reminded me of nothing so much as scenes we see in the so called 'Arab Street' of mobs burning flags or cheering after some victory or other of one of their Jihaddi heroes. Both are equally repugnant.

On the other hand they are both equally understandable.

Equally?

If you take into account the completely differing cultural paradigms and all extenuating circumstances, yes.


Understandable =/= agreeable or tolerable.

[JimC]

http://www.theage.com.au/world/bali-bom ... -5ko7.html

I don't recall any gloating in Australia or Indonesia when the Bali bombers were executed.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Not on any large public scale, anyway. The media didn't make much of a deal of it, either.

Some family members of victims expressed a rather savage satisfaction, but I would not presume to criticise them...

[charlou]

http://www.theage.com.au/world/bali-bom ... -5ko7.html

I don't recall any gloating in Australia or Indonesia when the Bali bombers were executed.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Not on any large public scale, anyway. The media didn't make much of a deal of it, either.

Some family members of victims expressed a rather savage satisfaction, but I would not presume to criticise them...

Likewise.


I wouldn't presume to gloat or act in any other way on their behalf, either.

[Magicziggy]

http://www.theage.com.au/world/bali-bom ... -5ko7.html

I don't recall any gloating in Australia or Indonesia when the Bali bombers were executed.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Did you celebrate the end of WWII?

The end of a war IS a victory for someone.

Winners can take a moment to gloat. And then get on with building the peace.
The death of one man, no matter how evil, does not mark any victory in this battle as yet.

If "you" refers to Australia, then I'm sure they did.
And when the War on Terror is over, I'll join the party.
What will the end of this war look like though?