So this bad dude got killed and I am experiencing some real moral ambiguity

Last night around 10:30 it became very clear to the world that the President of the United States was going to make a big announcement and that that announcement was that THE enemy number one, Osama bin Laden, had been killed.

I had a lot of feelings about this, and so did many of my friends, and also those people that I follow on twitter who are not really my friends.

I’m not a huge fan of killing anybody, an ethic that is embodied in my vegetarianism and my feminist vegetarian ethic that I use to assess other major moral dilemmas like war, murder, abortion, carnivorism, and the death penalty. What my ethic tells me is this: killing, (and harming more generally) is sometimes, although rarely, necessary or acceptable, and that a culture of killing, especially one that moralizes such an act, is dangerous. I believe we become increasingly desensitized to violence in all forms when certain forms are legally or morally condoned.

That said, as I mentioned, it is from time-to-time, a necessary evil. I do believe in an ethic of Just War, and I do believe that a certain amount of death – proportionally – sometimes, is necessary. So I do not dismiss, criticize, or judge the killing of Osama bin Laden, but I am very suspicious of a celebration.

To a friend last night, I quoted Mark Twain: ‎”I have never wished a man dead, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.” I thought that was pretty smart, and summed up about how I felt. Except, not really. I can’t even say that I took much pleasure in this.

I am that person who understands the anger and who is horrified by the atrocities of mass-murderers but still cannot bring myself to condone their death. I was shocked by the killing of Saddam Hussein. It seemed un-human, and un-modern of us, I suppose. I am that person who at the end of a CSI episode still feels pity and some sadness about the criminal who gets caught. Perhaps I am in the wrong there, but it’s a feeling. We all have those.

I had a lot of feelings last night. My feelings ranged from: “I don’t normally celebrate someone’s death, but if there was an appropriate time….” to “The guy on ctv can’t seem to get his obamas and osamas straight” and then to “Also, unrelated, but how does Lady Gaga get 22,500 likes on her status in less than 3 minutes? Also, unrelated, I apologize in advance for using Facebook like Twitter.” Finally, I was just outraged that people were partying in the streets.

It was the continued dialogue and Facebook and Twitter from friends that has had me thinking more about the moral repercussions of celebrating the killing of this admittedly pretty evil person.

I, along with everyone else, waited with abated breath, the speech from President Barack Obama. He spoke with strength and authority and took responsibility for having found and killed bin Laden.