A Fascinating Day

So I awoke this morning to the sound of a television reporter talking about a large crowd gathering on the streets. Since I am studying abroad in the Eastern Mediterranean during a period of time known as the Arab Spring in which brave Arabs continue to protest and demand reform I have grown pretty used to this kind of reporting. I rolled over and went back to sleep not knowing that the crowds were not in the Middle East, but outside the gates of the White House.

Coincidently (as I had gone back to sleep), I was running late when I entered the living room and said good morning (sabha al-khair) to my host grandpa as I do everyday. My host grandpa is a remarkable 83 year old man, who is chalk full of wisdom and sayings some of which his grandmother taught him when they lived in Jerusalem prior to leaving in 1948. Yet this morning he just calmly motioned to the TV behind me asked me if I had seen the news. I turned and saw my buddy Obama walk to the podium. He calmly informed me that the United States had killed Osama Bin Laden. I was taken aback... So, I did what any logical young man who has spent nearly half a lifetime expecting the death of Osama... I grabed some bread and heated up some rice and put a healthy bit of salt on both (A typical breakfast, but better when there is cheese and meat to be had). Then I returned to the living room and talked to my grandpa some more before going to school.

As I walked to school, I thought about growing up in the shadow of the World Trade Center towers. I can say with certainty that I would never have found myself on the streets of Jordan were it not for the actions of Bin Laden. The repercussions of that day have effected world events and our individual lives in innumerable ways. It was all very weird.

It was particularly strange to walk across the University of Jordan campus surrounded by thousands of Jordanians and know that none of those around me were experiencing the day in the same manner that I was. As I approached the Faculty of Foreign Languages to attend my arabic class, I passed an American peer of mine. For whatever reason (probably due to a self-centered desire to gloat over my possession of the latest news), I called out to her, "Did you hear the news?" She yelled back "Yes! I did" and smiled. That encounter perhaps encapsulated the day. Most Americans I saw today participated in a strange collective celebration. In that encounter I hollered "Did you hear the news" because even though I was speaking in English I didn't want all the Arabs around me to hear me say the name Osama Bin Laden. For they would all know what I was talking about. I wanted to be discreet, but also had a strange desire to celebrate.

Although, people and governments all around the world voiced approval for the death of Osama Bin Laden, Americans experienced the day differently. In DC and New York and thousand other places, people brought out their collections of outrageously large American flag, college students partied in the streets, and the uniquely uncompromising chant of "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" rang through the air. In Amman, Americans patted each other on the back, wished one another "Happy America Day", and some covertly drank hard alcohol. Despite the airs of moral confusion I hope to portray in this post, I went out for a burger. I celebrated the death of Osama with the refreshingly consistent taste of a McDonalds BigMac, Fries, and a Coke (the first time I have yielded to MickyD's in the 3 months I have been here).

It is difficult for me to process exactly what occurred today and, though I know plenty of Americans dissented from the celebrations I have just described, I believe that celebrating the death of Osama is a uniquely American reaction to a targeted assassination.

In the days that followed 9/11, Americans greatly simplified the conflict in which they were engaged. The American public generally demonized a few extremists without trying to understand the conditions that created them. Americans transformed Osama from a hateful, intolerant, and violent anti-imperialist into a symbol of evil itself. In short, we did a lot of flag waving and not very much self-reflection.

Yesterday, American power finally managed to kill that long-enduring symbol, and because our common imagination had transformed Osama into a signifier for all terrorism his death granted many Americans a great emotional catharsis.

Ultimately, I believe this emotional release is misplaced but as the Freedom Fries I ate today show I participated in the celebrations just like the majority of my peers.

Ultimately, I am glad that Osama is dead. I am glad that President Obama won some political points, but today was also pretty messed up... and here is why:

"You cannot cross an ocean with a cart"

Gandhi said that if you want to cross an ocean you cannot use a cart. You will need a boat, and if you want peace you cannot rely on violence (Try to stay with me, I know this post in nonlinear). According to Gandhi, the means one uses to enact an end determine the end product. If you shoot a robber breaking into your house you have a dead thief on your hands, and a continued cycle of violence. However, if you explain how being robbed hurts you while allowing zim to take your things you have a very confused robber who likely feels bad about stealing from you.

The point Gandhi was making is that if you confront problems with violence, you end up in a totally different place than if you choose nonviolence. Now, I am not saying that we should allow the United States to be attacked, (and I believe both my yelling "Did you hear the news?" and eating a BigMac were personally significant as they show my unintentional approval for violene), but the point remains that today was really weird.

No matter how many times I am patted on the back, we are never going to be able to shoot our way out of a conflict with terrorism because it is not a nation-state or a ideologue. Terrorism is a strategy favored by weak groups facing more powerful opponents, and no matter how prominent and hated the dead terrorist lying on the floor, we are never going to be able to drive our all-powerful, violent, often flagrantly unconstitutional, War on Terror-cart across the ocean to peace. If we really wanted peace the best thing we could do is fight and contain the supply of Islamist terrorists while reducing the demand by confronting the forces of economic and social injustices which create violent radicals in the first place.

Finally, I would like to briefly touch on Jordanians response to the news of Bin Laden's death. If anything I found their views more interesting than the forces which propelled triumphant Americans into the streets. The Jordanians I talked to stated one of three perspectives.

1) Osama's death doesn't matter.

It has been years since he has done anything anyway. One women told me, "we have not talked about hims in years."

2) Osama is not really dead.

I was told today that Osama Bin Laden was not really killed. If he has gone this long without being located than he couldn't possibly have been found so easily. According to her, he has look-alikes. The United States has been fooled.

However, the third response was the most common and most interesting to me.

3) I was told that Osama Bin Laden's death doesn't matter because he wasn't actually responsible for Sept. 11th anyway. It is actually quite common to hear Jordanians say, "Well, I don't actually believe in Osama Bin Laden". This might be shocking as it makes Bin Laden sound like the tooth fairy, but many many people here believe that 9/11 was planned in an elaborate conspiracy. The logic goes like this. One small group of people could never cause that much harm to the United States. The U.S. benefited from the attack because it was able to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, thus it must have been behind the attacks. Also, Osama Bin Laden was once paid by the CIA. When I pushed one Jordanian who doesn't believe Osama to be a real person today, he calmly told me that he believed Sept. 11th to have been the work of Zionists. A claim supposedly proven by the tangible benefits Israel has in fact gained from America's botched wars (I obviously reject all three of these responses, but I find them incredibly fascinating, especially in the context of my BigMac consumption).

Love you all,

Please remember that I am safe, happy, and learning a lot.

For more concise and better reflections on today's events consider looking at the following blogs entries of Americans I know in Amman.

http://betsyinjordan.blogspot.com/2011/05/osama.html#comments

http://midwestmeetsmiddleeast.blogspot.com/2011/05/returning-hate-for-hate-multiplies-hate.html