"It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak"

The "he" is Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall, via his Twitter account.

Quote :

“What kind of person celebrates death? It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side…”

And lest you think this was an isolated brain fart or an account hack, here are quotes from subsequent tweets.

Quote :

“We’ll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style.”

“I believe in God. I believe we’re ALL his children. And I believe HE is the ONE and ONLY judge.”

“Those who judge others, will also be judged themselves.”

“For those of you who said you want to see Bin Laden burn … I ask how would God feel about your heart?”

“There is not an ignorant bone in my body. I just encourage you to think.”

Oh to be young and think being ignorantly contrarian makes you "deep" and "thoughtful."

I don't have a problem with him saying that.

Doesn't bother me, either.

Freezer wrote:

The "he" is Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall, via his Twitter account.

Quote :

“What kind of person celebrates death? It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side…”

And lest you think this was an isolated brain fart or an account hack, here are quotes from subsequent tweets.

Quote :

“We’ll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style.”

“I believe in God. I believe we’re ALL his children. And I believe HE is the ONE and ONLY judge.”

“Those who judge others, will also be judged themselves.”

“For those of you who said you want to see Bin Laden burn … I ask how would God feel about your heart?”

“There is not an ignorant bone in my body. I just encourage you to think.”

Oh to be young and think being ignorantly contrarian makes you "deep" and "thoughtful."

I personally think Mendenhall's taken one too many hard tackles on the field. No wonder the NFL's so jumpy about concussions.

I think I can wrap my head around what he's trying to say. Now, I've watched bin Laden's videos. And I hated him. I hated him for what he ordered, what he thought was justified, what he thought was his god's work. I hate that he thought that three thousand people deserved to die for no other reason then because they existed. I hated that he mocked them and celebrated mass murder. And yes, I believe his execution was justified. I am an atheist. I don't believe there's a place for him to be punished in the after life. Mass murder deserves execution. I can't move past that in my mind, I don't think I ever will.

But this guy appears to follow some sort of god, and I understand that religious people believe that people can't judge other people. And as much as I hated him, for what he did, for what he represented, I can understand why that depth of hatred can be distasteful to someone who believes in a forgiving god.

But I don't believe in a god. And I did hate bin Laden, because when I was twelve, I watched the destruction he ordered, and I was afraid. The base (Ft. Bragg) locked down, there were armed soldiers on every street, walking up and down with their guns, searching every vehicle. They searched our school bus with guns. My family cried, because we were afraid. My school had soldiers positioned there every day, in our hallways, with weapons. I watched my neighbors grow serious and start talking about war. Then they all disappeared, one by one, as dads and moms went to war. I watched all the older kids join, barely 18. We were all so afraid.

That fear is still in me, and I think I will carry it until the day I die. I will never stop waiting for the next attack, and I will never stop mourning the people I've already lost. My neighbor, Jason died, going back for someone injured. They said he died a hero, made this big deal about it, but what does it matter, he was still dead in some fucking desert and he wasn't even 30. My best friend, her mom used to invite the young soldiers over for parties, cook them dinner, be their mom-away-from-home. They went to war. A lot of them never came home. One of them had this ankh tattooed on his forearm. He had a cat, named "Cat", had to leave it with her family went he was sent.

I will never forgive him and his followers for what they did. I will never feel sorry for him. He killed people, so many people, and that wasn't right. I'm sorry if that makes me seem hateful and unreasonable. I'm sorry if it makes people like this man disgusted with me, and judgmental of me. But I just can't.

I think I may have expressed things badly. The stupid isn't the first part. As others have stated, not being down with metaphorically dancing on someone's grave is perfectly understandable. It's the implication that we didn't know Bin Laden's side of the story. Like there might be an explanation and/or mitigating factors if we just dug a bit deeper. As if we'd never heard from Bin Laden before or since the 9/11 attacks.

The subsequent tweets were simply dumb-flavored icing on the cake.

HTH.

Lapin wrote:

I think I can wrap my head around what he's trying to say. Now, I've watched bin Laden's videos. And I hated him. I hated him for what he ordered, what he thought was justified, what he thought was his god's work. [cut for length]

I get that; I hated him too, but I wouldn't say that I'm glad he's dead.

I can understand why others hated him...but what people don't get is that the feeling they had for Bin Laden (and it is justified) was the same feeling that a lot of British people, and particularly Protestant Northern Irish people, had for the IRA and by extension those who paid for them. They killed our soldiers, our police, and killed civilians who just happened to be on the wrong street corner or in the wrong pub, to the tune of some 3000 people over 25 years. That's 25 years of constant vigilance on the part of every person in the UK. Imagine living like that for years and years on end.

Being, as I am, on the Left of British politics, I tended to feel they had a point in what they were fighting for - but not one which justified the deaths of even one civilian.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think Bin Laden and his fellows are justified in their actions, but I can understand (dimly) their point of view, that level of desperation. And I don't take pleasure in his death. It was necessary and let that be enough. Outpourings of joy are misplaced and will be misunderstood.

Lexin wrote:

Outpourings of joy are misplaced and will be misunderstood.

I don't know how "misunderstood" things would be. How many ways can you really take the dancing?

Freezer wrote:

Lexin wrote:

Outpourings of joy are misplaced and will be misunderstood.

I don't know how "misunderstood" things would be. How many ways can you really take the dancing?

I think it will be understood in some quarters, or misrepresented in some quarters, as hatred of Muslims.

Lexin wrote:

Freezer wrote:

Lexin wrote:

Outpourings of joy are misplaced and will be misunderstood.

I don't know how "misunderstood" things would be. How many ways can you really take the dancing?

I think it will be understood in some quarters, or misrepresented in some quarters, as hatred of Muslims.

Those who point to the celebrations as proof that American hates Islam would point to the lack of any such reaction as equal proof ("See how cold they are? They have killed one they claimed as a great enemy and they don't even care!"). I dare say they don't really count.

UPDATE: "What ha..ha...happened was..."

Quote :

"This controversial statement was something I said in response to the amount of joy I saw in the event of a murder. I don't believe that this is an issue of politics or American pride; but one of religion, morality, and human ethics," he wrote.

After quoting a bible verse, he wrote: "I wasn't questioning Bin Laden's evil acts. I believe that he will have to face God for what he has done. I was reflecting on our own hypocrisy. During 9/11 we watched in horror as parts of the world celebrated death on our soil. Earlier this week, parts of the world watched us in horror celebrating a man's death."

He apologized later in the posting and said he was just trying to "generate conversation."

Sounds to me like he's apologizing for telling people not to be happy Bin Laden is dead and not the part where he suggested Bin Laden was hated without the full story. Which to me, is half an apology, and the wrong half to boot.

Lexin wrote:

Lapin wrote:

I think I can wrap my head around what he's trying to say. Now, I've watched bin Laden's videos. And I hated him. I hated him for what he ordered, what he thought was justified, what he thought was his god's work. [cut for length]

I get that; I hated him too, but I wouldn't say that I'm glad he's dead.

I'm not even sure I'm happy so much as I feel....I don't know what this is. Relief? Sadness? It's like all my hatred was drained out of me and I have this cold hard feeling of something like relief and anger mixed together. I can't dredge up one ounce of pity for him. I don't like that I wanted him to die, I don't like feeling such strong emotions that I can't repress.

Quote :

I am just so happy. And I hope I am never again this happy over someone’s death.”–Stephen Colbert

What kind've gets me is the part about people having never heard him 'speak.' So I was hallucinating all those videos he kept releasing in which he took credit for 9/11 and attacks on US and other embassies in foreign countries? Basically, the man freely admitted to killing thousands who, from his POV, deserved to die because they were infidels and unbelievers.

And Lapin, I know what you mean. I not overjoyed by his death, but it was something that had to be done. The man had already killed thousands of innocent people, and had made it clear that he would go on killing if given the chance. You can't reason with that sort of irrational hatred. Mostly, I just feel kind've numb.

I do hope this will give the families who lost family members to the bombings and in the war some measure of closure. I'm also aware that this isn't likely to stop terrorism, though it may slow things down for a while.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; celebrating the death of someone you didn't like makes you an asshole.

Addendum: Yes, even if the person who died was also an asshole.

This is why running backs shouldn't think. Leave that to the smart (relatively speaking) positions, like QB and the defensive backs. RBs need to focus on HOLDING ONTO THE GOD DAMN BALL ONE MORE FUMBLE BECAUSE YOU'RE DANGLING THE BALL A FOOT AWAY FROM YOUR CHEST AND I WILL PUT MY FOOT SO FAR UP YOUR CLUELESS ASS EVERY TIME YOU TRY TO VERBALIZE ANOTHER VAPID THOUGHT IT WILL HAVE TO WEAVE THROUGH MY SHOELACES!

But I'm not angry.

Anyway, most of what he said is at least halfway defensible. Everything up until the implication that 9/11 was anything other than a bunch of pissed off Muslims flying planes into shit was tolerable.

Now, me, I dance on people's graves. I was polishing my dancing shoes when Ryan Clark hit Willis McGahee so hard all of Baltimore suffered a concussion, but the rat bastard had to go and ruin it by surviving.

TheHermit wrote:

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; celebrating the death of someone you didn't like makes you an asshole.

Addendum: Yes, even if the person who died was also an asshole.

In all cases?

So...celebrating the death of a dictator who is responsible for your family being killed makes you an asshole? That's a little unfair, I think.

TheHermit wrote:

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; celebrating the death of someone you didn't like makes you an asshole.

Addendum: Yes, even if the person who died was also an asshole.

Dicks also fuck assholes.

Let's see, Osama openly plotted to bleed the American economy into bankruptcy by so infuriating and terrifying us that we poured 3 trillion dollars into a 10 year search for him that exhausted and killed our soldiers, shredded our social fabric, delayed needed repairs to our national infrastructure, compromised our freedom with invasive security, impoverished our culture, corrupted our politics, crushed our middle class, and alienated our allies. And all the while he was doing it with little more than video tapes, it he was living in relative comfort in a large home surrounded by his wives and children, eating three meals and day and sleeping in a nice bed in one of the largest military towns of one of our allies. I don't know what he was thinking at that last moment, but I suspect he was smirking at his killers. Our hatred and fear of him has cost our poor nation so much.

Our best revenge is not to dance wildly on his non-existent grave, but to commit to rebuilding what we have lost. We have lost so much.

zootie wrote:

Let's see, Osama openly plotted to bleed the American economy into bankruptcy by so infuriating and terrifying us that we poured 3 trillion dollars into a 10 year search for him that exhausted and killed our soldiers, shredded our social fabric, delayed needed repairs to our national infrastructure, compromised our freedom with invasive security, impoverished our culture, corrupted our politics, crushed our middle class, and alienated our allies. And all the while he was doing it with little more than video tapes, it he was living in relative comfort in a large home surrounded by his wives and children, eating three meals and day and sleeping in a nice bed in one of the largest military towns of one of our allies. I don't know what he was thinking at that last moment, but I suspect he was smirking at his killers. Our hatred and fear of him has cost our poor nation so much.

Our best revenge is not to dance wildly on his non-existent grave, but to commit to rebuilding what we have lost. We have lost so much.

IAWTC.

zootie wrote:

Let's see, Osama openly plotted to bleed the American economy into bankruptcy by so infuriating and terrifying us that we poured 3 trillion dollars into a 10 year search for him that exhausted and killed our soldiers, shredded our social fabric, delayed needed repairs to our national infrastructure, compromised our freedom with invasive security, impoverished our culture, corrupted our politics, crushed our middle class, and alienated our allies. And all the while he was doing it with little more than video tapes, it he was living in relative comfort in a large home surrounded by his wives and children, eating three meals and day and sleeping in a nice bed in one of the largest military towns of one of our allies. I don't know what he was thinking at that last moment, but I suspect he was smirking at his killers. Our hatred and fear of him has cost our poor nation so much.

Our best revenge is not to dance wildly on his non-existent grave, but to commit to rebuilding what we have lost. We have lost so much.

Reading this, it's pretty clear the terrorists won back in 2003.

I'm gonna quote what one of my supervisors said at roll call the morning after Bin Laden's death was announced.

"Y'all know whats in the news. Bin Laden's dead. What does that mean for us? Not a goddamn thing. We're still at work, still at war, and we still have jobs to do."

Y'know something, he's right. So either way, I don't really give two shits. Am I happy he's dead. Yeah, it doesn't change things though. We're still in Iraq and Afghanistan and will be for some time to come.

I'm rather torn since I know personally what it feels like to have someone taken away by violence. I hated the man who killed my friend, so much so that I was kept from going to her killer's trial because I would have killed him. Did I feel relief when he was given life in prison? No. I felt he deserved death. I understand that people feel a sense of vengence for the loss of life.

On the other hand, I don't see how it changed much at all. And what is the purpose of celebration if no change, nothing better truly comes about? He became something for the American people to focus all of the hate on rather than focusing their attention to the hate that spawned his actions. Nothing will ever become better unless people become willing to coexist rather than believe their religion is the only way and makes those who do not believe in that religion to be evil and therefore worthy of death.

This is all my musing. I'm a pagan in the heart of the bible belt so I guess I might see the repercussions of religious hate differently than others.

Penguin wrote:

TheHermit wrote:

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; celebrating the death of someone you didn't like makes you an asshole.

Addendum: Yes, even if the person who died was also an asshole.

Dicks also fuck assholes.

C :

TheHermit wrote:

zootie wrote:

Let's see, Osama openly plotted to bleed the American economy into bankruptcy by so infuriating and terrifying us that we poured 3 trillion dollars into a 10 year search for him that exhausted and killed our soldiers, shredded our social fabric, delayed needed repairs to our national infrastructure, compromised our freedom with invasive security, impoverished our culture, corrupted our politics, crushed our middle class, and alienated our allies. And all the while he was doing it with little more than video tapes, it he was living in relative comfort in a large home surrounded by his wives and children, eating three meals and day and sleeping in a nice bed in one of the largest military towns of one of our allies. I don't know what he was thinking at that last moment, but I suspect he was smirking at his killers. Our hatred and fear of him has cost our poor nation so much.

Our best revenge is not to dance wildly on his non-existent grave, but to commit to rebuilding what we have lost. We have lost so much.

Reading this, it's pretty clear the terrorists won back in 2003.

If that was all really true, we'd be looking more like the terminal stages of the Weimar Republic than a society where the wry observation was made: "America is not at war. The Marines are at war. America is at the mall."