Was looking at cnn.com around 10:15p EDT when the banner popped up saying BO was going to make a statement at 10:30 so it was clearly something serious. I thought it may be OBL-related as just one possibility, or maybe that something happened to the VP. Turned on the TV to CNN and they were saying it was national security related. Had there been a terrorist attack, it would have already been reported. Maybe they had discovered a major plot and BO was going to warn us? Wolf Blitzer & staff seemed to strongly suspect what it was but declined to speculate at first. The time kept getting pushed back and finally John King made the announcement, based on ‘sources’. BO’s announcement ended up being somewhat anticlimactic but it was still great to hear that a special ops mission had been carried out so successfully after some of the botched ones in the past.
I was genuinely surprised that people seem to care as much as they do. There are still people who are under the impression that killing Bin Laden would make any difference at all with regards to terrorism? Bin Laden lost his power a long time ago. He’s been effectively dead ever since people started making jokes about him living in a cave. I don’t even remember what I was doing when I first heard–probably just on the internet or something–it matters so little.
But..I thought rejoicing in someone else’s death was wrong?
I was watching the NBA game Sunday night, but must have fallen asleep right before the announcement. I woke up and heard ESPN’s Mike and Mike mention it. I think that the media made it more of a big deal than it was (in terms of the perceived national jubilation). Obviously, everyone in the US was happy about it, but I didn’t see any celebrations anywhere on Monday, and I’m in NY. I guess college kids, like those who were on Geraldo, don’t need much of a reason to party and celebrate. But no one during my Monday morning commute, or in my office building in Times Square even mentioned it once. I do think that if it had happened on any other day, there would have been some conversation about it, but most people are pretty anti-social on Mondays. I work closely with 6 others in a Finance/Investment department. Everyone in my department checks Bloomberg every morning during his/her commute so we all knew that everyone knew what happened. No point in talking about it. I think in today’s world, if it didn’t happen within the last 5 minutes, it’s old news!
Coffee Lady: So what’s news?
Me: Uh, It’s a beautiful day out.
CL: What else’s?
Me: Um, it’s Monday?
CL: What else’s?
Me: I’m wearing an awesome tie?
CL: No no no. Made a finger gun and “shot” me bin Laden is dead.
Me: :eek:
As I went to bed early on Sunday (I spent the weekend working and was tired) I didn’t hear about it until I woke up on Monday morning and checked my usual message boards. Went to the various new sites to confirm he was most sincerely dead.
Oh snap!
I had mixed feelings. I know people who traffic in death often get it for themselves. He was a terrible person ,but his time may have been past. I doubt he was a big factor in terror anymore.
Our sneaking into another country to kill someone in the night does not make me feel good. A trial would have been much better.
For me, it started with the thread on the SDMB that Obama was holding a late-night press conference. This is unusual, I thought, so I turned on CNN, without much thought to what the news might be about. Within a few minutes, they spilled the beans, and I got quickly annoyed by CNN’s coverage, so I switched to a NBC coverage, which was a little more subdued. My reaction was fairly sober. I thought, good riddance, but also whether this really makes much difference in the grand scheme of things. I was a little unsettled at all the frat-party-like revelry in front of the White House–I prefer more stoic expressions of approval for these sorts of things–but I can understand human nature being what it is.
I was in bed and my brother/co-worker texted me to say “Bin Laden is dead. And [web service] is down.” I texted him back and said “Ok, let me see what I can do about the latter.”
My brother’s a big news hound so I don’t have to ever find news, he brings it to me.
I also don’t feel any sort of excitement about this. I mean I’m not sad that he’s dead but I’m not wanting to chant “USA! USA!” If anything, I am glad that my favorite president had a hand in it and I hope it helps him win a second term. But otherwise…??
Monday morning, when I did my daily check of FiveThirtyEight, where Nate Silver was discussing the implications of his death on Obama’s re-election. Although he just said “died”, not “shot by US forces”, so I wasn’t sure why there’d be any effect at all. Learned the more full story when I came here.
My reaction? Something along the lines of “OK, I guess that’s newsworthy”. Really, I would have preferred it if he had died of natural causes (word was that he wasn’t doing very well anyway), since that way, there’d be no risk of him being made out to be a martyr. What I am actually excited about is all the computer materials that they also seized during the raid: That has at least the potential of delivering us the entire organization of Al Qaeda (not all of Al Qaeda, since most of it’s disorganized, but getting the hierarchy would still help a lot).
My reaction was (and still is) very mixed. Am I glad he’s dead? It was pretty much inevitable once he was identified as the force behind the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks. Another death added to the thousands already killed doesn’t even the score.
I’m also concerned that the American celebrations of bin Laden’s death seem to (once again) completely overlook America’s role in causing terrorists to want to fly planes into their buildings. Another famous quote; those who refuse to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. It seems like Americans think bin Laden’s death means this is over; I think that bin Laden’s death means it’s time for Act Two.
I heard it by reading this message board. I remember reading a title of a thread, about Obama having a news conference at 10:30pm. I didn’t read the thread, but I came back to the computer at about 2am and said, “I wonder what Mr Obama had talked about?”
But I couldn’t find the title of that thread, it had been changed.
I didn’t react much to it, except to think, “I bet the Pakistanis knew.”
When the news first broke I’d been asleep for over an hour, so by the time I actually found out about it the story was several hours old. I found about it in a FB post by a friend, praising Obama for finding him. I immediately checked the news sources to confirm it was true.
I was wasting me time watching Trump and Celebrity Apprentice. About 10:25 et, a scroll came through saying that Obama had an announcement. I went to news channels to try to see what it was. Wolff Blitzer said he had an idea but would not speculate on air. Channel surfing. NBC finally switched off C.A. about 10:40
Finally the announcement came at 10:45 pm. Still no Obama. Finally Obama made the announcement at about 11:35 pm. A full hour + after the first announcement I saw from NBC.
My reaction? Happy, w/o a doubt. But really all I could think about was the countless lives lost in the last 10 yrs. And wondered how many more lives would be lost. Would there be a retaliation?
It was the middle of the night here and I was online, and the twittersphere went a bit bananas.
It’s not so much about his accomplishments as about his presentation of them. He’s done a lot in the last two years - why hasn’t he been talking it all up? Why does he only verbally take on people like Donald Trump rather than his opponents in Congress? Does he think they won’t like him if he doesn’t kowtow to them? Step up, man!
We were watching a DVRed Law & Order rerun, and when it ended just after 11, the TV reverted to CBS. It sounds like we missed about half an hour of ‘Breaking News: Something Happened!’ coverage and by the point we tuned in, there were banners on the screen saying bin Laden had been killed. I think my exact response was “Holy shit, bin Laden’s dead?!” CBS’s sound was out for some reason, so we watched NBC for the rest of the night. For the most part I was just shocked - there were no indications this was coming at all, and that continued for the rest of the night. I’d long since stopped expecting anybody to catch him. I figured we’d just hear at some point far in the future that he was dead, or maybe that he’d died months or years earlier. So to hear that he’d been found, killed, and (a few hours later) dumped in the ocean was very surprising. I think that took about 24 hours to sink in.
I’m not sure how to describe my reaction other than to say I was shocked. “Satisfied” comes to mind. I wish it had been possible to bring him to trial in front of the world, the Justice League, the United Federation of Planets, or whoever- but I probably gave up on the idea that he was going to be found in 2002 or 2003. And even with that aside, you can’t do anything more than attempt to capture him alive. I’m not at all sorry he’s gone but it’s not something I rejoice in either - not because I begrudge people their emotional reactions (although some of it has been over the top) but because that’s just not what I’m feeling.
I was on another message board. The participants there are, shall we say, less than truthful. Ok, lets be honest, they are lying motherfuckers, mostly. I rarely post there, but I like to read. Anyway, I saw one thread about it and rolled my eyes, thinking they were bullshitting again. And then I saw another thread, and another, and decided to go check Reuters…just in case. And there it was.
Oh, as to my reaction? I hardly feel anything. I guess I am supposed to, but it just doesn’t seem that important. I certainly wasn’t elated or grieved. My SO read all of the articles after I told him, and talked to me about them, but I really had nothing to add. So he’s dead. Ok. Maybe ten years ago I would have felt different.
Random chants of “USA! USA!” during Mets-Phils on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, followed by an explanation from the commentators.