“And apparently we killed Saddam’s kids today! Well, they won’t be bothering……..Mrs. Hussein anymore.”
-Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, I hope sharing my brain-crushing ambivalence at this news
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THANK you. Ambivalence. That’s the word I’ve been looking for.
Is it supposed to help the case for war? What’s our reaction supposed to be? It’s not like it they found a nuke pointing at America or Britain or France or wherever with an address and a postage stamp on it.
Actually, my thoughts on the whole justification of war was-it-right/was-it-wrong are a little fuzzier than that. I’m not sure if the addressed bomb would have been a good case for war either. Maybe.
I’ve thought about it some more, and actually I’m not ambivalent at all about this. As my hero Jon Stewart said tonight, when people laughed and applauded a graphic of the sons, “We applaud your brutal death, sir!”
Glee about the deaths of these men, or as Bush put it, “the end of their careers,” is similar to the whoops of pleasure you hear when a famous murderer like Ted Bundy is put to death in this country. It does nothing more than make some of us feel better; it doesn’t change the past or improve the future. Iraq is still a mess that we made, and have little idea how to clean up. The deaths of Saddam’s sons do nothing to change that difficult fact.
Bloodthirstiness is bloodthirstiness. The law was designed to protect the innocent and the guilty from the bloodlust of the mob. Without law, the biggest gun wins. That’s our animal selves talking, not our rational selves.
From your favorite blogger: “Don’t they even deserve the sneering sendoff that Strom Thurmond got?”
What do you guys have to say about this? I’m right there with you; I don’t think these deaths were something to celebrate, yet I was glad when Strom kicked it. Is this hypocritical?
I’m thinking natural causes vs. violent death is the distinction quietly being glossed over.
Rumsfeld at the beginning of that article sounds like the first kid on the playground to have gotten his hands on pornography. “I’ve got the pictures… I’ll show them to you… later… I don’t know… give me your lunch money.”
I too watched TDS last night and, for the first time ever, actually watched Jon Stewart get pissed at his guest – Dick Morris.
I just have one thing to say to Dick Morris – Dick, in case it has slipped your attention, Bill Clinton is not president any more. He hasn’t been for some time, including 9/11. It’s not his fault.
Stewart was great with Dick Morris. He was trying to keep his irritation under control, but it was difficult. He had so many great low-key zingers. One of Stewart’s best interviews, if you ask me.
Dick Morris: To Bill Clinton, I said: Your place in history lies in wellfare reform, a balanced budget, and fighting terrorism.
Stewart: How prescient of you!
Pure gold. I rarely hang out in the tv room of my co-op, but I’m glad I caught the Dick Morris interview. I would’ve loved to see it continue for much longer than it did.