Rosado's Recaps-Dancing With The Stars - The Culture of Pop
Thanks to my friend, Jeff Rosado, for allowing me the opportunity to talk Dancing with the Stars once again. What fun we had last night!
Who is your favorite to win the mirror ball? Listen here to find out why I think Team Kanenball is untouchable!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
On the death of the world's most famous terrorist
Let me start by saying that I do not question the thousands celebrating in the streets, particularly in DC and at Ground Zero. Under OBL's leadership, thousands lost loved ones and millions lost a piece of their sense of security. As I've often said about parents who lose a child...who am I to question ANY type of reaction? Who's to say what type reaction is appropriate? Certainly not me.
I do not mourn his death.
Yet, something about the collective reaction on social media sites and among my peers makes me a bit uneasy. Unless jihadists around the world start turning in their suicide vests, the threat from Al Qeada isn't one iota less than it was with OBL alive. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of young people have been indoctrinated. Their fate is in motion. Elimination of the figurehead doesn't stop that train.
If the sole objective of the war on terror was bin Laden, a handful of special forces units in Afghanistan would have sufficed. Hundreds of American soldiers could have been spared. Large scale troop presence in the region only forced Al Qaeda to be more discreet, to go further underground. Tonight, victory is ours on one (symbolically enormous!) objective. I like to think it is that victory we celebrate, not death, because even if the man deserved to die...vengeance is a slippery slope.
Bin Laden's death didn't bring anyone back. It didn't end war in Afghanistan, terrorism or anti-American sentiment. Celebrate justice for so many lost lives. Celebrate the tenacity of the US military and the patience of a heartbroken American people, but don't elevate the life or death of this evil man to occasion for celebration. He doesn't deserve it.
I do not mourn his death.
Yet, something about the collective reaction on social media sites and among my peers makes me a bit uneasy. Unless jihadists around the world start turning in their suicide vests, the threat from Al Qeada isn't one iota less than it was with OBL alive. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of young people have been indoctrinated. Their fate is in motion. Elimination of the figurehead doesn't stop that train.
If the sole objective of the war on terror was bin Laden, a handful of special forces units in Afghanistan would have sufficed. Hundreds of American soldiers could have been spared. Large scale troop presence in the region only forced Al Qaeda to be more discreet, to go further underground. Tonight, victory is ours on one (symbolically enormous!) objective. I like to think it is that victory we celebrate, not death, because even if the man deserved to die...vengeance is a slippery slope.
Bin Laden's death didn't bring anyone back. It didn't end war in Afghanistan, terrorism or anti-American sentiment. Celebrate justice for so many lost lives. Celebrate the tenacity of the US military and the patience of a heartbroken American people, but don't elevate the life or death of this evil man to occasion for celebration. He doesn't deserve it.
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