Reading Journal- Reactions to Osama's Death

In the coverage of Osama Bin Laden's death that has been rampant in the last week, starting with Sunday night's television announcement by the President himself, one of the most interesting facets of the media's reporting on the subject has been coverage about American reactions.

Sunday night included raucous, alcohol-fueled celebrations, as participants, many college-aged rejoiced in the death of the enemy. This, of course, is not the only reaction that Bin Laden's death prompted, but it is a reaction that has been publicized. Americans, on the whole, seem to be loudly proclaiming their great happiness at this seemingly crucial move in the U.S.'s involvement in the Middle East.

The New York Daily News didn't even bother to conceal their own opinions on the matter with their "Rot in Hell" cover and headline, which got a lot of buzz. CNN covered that the public reaction to the "Rot in Hell" headline by conducting a poll that asked Americans whether or not they agreed with the sentiment. More specifically, the poll asked the question of whether or not people believe that Bin Laden is in Hell. They found that the majority of Americans, 61% does believe that Bin Laden is in Hell and only 10% thinks he is not. The remaining 29% were unsure. This is an interesting way to cover the public reaction because it shows the interaction between the media and the people, and how often one mirrors the other. What is more, it gets at the religious aspect of much of America's reaction to Bin Laden's death.

Another news coverage of the reaction to Bin Laden's death was the New York Times article today that discussed the sociological reasoning behind such an enthusiastic reaction by the American people. They acknowledged many people's criticism of the celebratory attitudes, and then went on to facilitate several expert opinions that said that while there may be moral doubts about these reactions, they are psychologically sound. According to these experts, revenge is a natural desire. According to these psychologists, it's perfectly normal to react positively and to celebrate with the reassurance that justice was served. The reporter further interpreted social psychology to posit that even those who would not have felt strongly enough to celebrate of their own accord, were swept up in the excitement.

Gawker also covered the American public's reaction, although mainly to mock it in extreme instances. One Gawker post shows a video made by a particularly enthused American who came up with a simplistic, highly ignorant song to celebrate and shared it on YouTube. This novelty is interesting, but mostly amusing and not all that informative. It reinforces a Gawker-type perspective that the world is full of idiots. Another Gawker post about online commenters who didn't know who Bin Laden was and asked other users on Twitter for the answer. This is almost more shocking than the other post, and in some sense telling. Almost more interesting than the knowledge that many young people don't know who Bin Laden is, there is the fact that they resorted to their internet to ask, and instead of using Google, they posed the question to other users.