Obama Got Osama

THIS IS THE END OF THE BEGINNING

I like this; always have, hope I always will:

"Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.."

Martin Luther King, Jr. said that.

And my Facebook friend Jill Garrafa posted something like it today in reference to events following the destruction of Osama bin Laden. And as I said, I “liked” it.

Here are some other thoughts on this moment in history:

● We live in a digital age #1: The first news of the bin Laden raid was Tweeted before any official announcement.

● We live in a digital age #2: It turns out, there may have been an app for that -- an app maker for the military may have supplied an iPhone app they used to plot and share coordinates just before the raid.

● The digital age is on hold #1: Even at the late east coast hour of the original announcement, people went outside to be with other people … in Times Square, at so-called Ground Zero, outside the White House.

● Free enterprise triumphs: Where many of the folks gathered “Obama Got Osama” T-shirts were on sale almost immediately, as well as other instant-manufacture merchandise such as buttons.

● The digital age is on hold #2: The story, preserved in print, wins the day:

100,000 extra copies of the NY Post jingoistic "Got Him: Vengeance at last! US nails the bastard" were printed and, presumably, sold.  

The New York Times doubled or tripled the number of newsstand copies it printed for several markets, including New York, Washington, Boston and San Francisco. The Washington Post said it printed an additional 70,000 copies, which is about double its normal print run, excluding home subscribers. USA Today added roughly 200,000. The Los Angeles Times printed 100,000 extra copies and kept printing plates in place "if we need to run more," said a spokesperson. 

● The confluence of “new” and “old” media: So many people (reportedly as many as 2,800 per second) wanted to print copies of newspaper front pages, the website for the Newseum, which presents the front pages for over 800 newspapers, crashed.

● After the buffalo have gone: Apparently the code name for bin Laden was “Geronimo.” Apt at one level, I guess. Still, the Native Peoples can’t seem to catch a break anywhere.

● Great communicator? The Obama announcement has been labeled “pitch perfect” and I pretty much agree. But don’t you think an evolving draft had been around for quite a while? And since the “Go” decision was made on Friday, don’t you think there were alternative announcements drafted for alternative outcomes? Reminds me that there was a Nixon speech ( first line: "Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.”) in the can in case the first moon landing went awry.

● Illuminati/NWO/JFK “theorists:” Speaking of 9/11 and moon landings: Skeptical is one thing; coming across as obsessive is another. Pick your moments and messages more precisely and perhaps you’ll be more convincing.

● Speaking of what’s important: The Royal Wedding? Donald who? Charlie who?

● About the 24-hour news cycle: See above. And consider how quickly memories fade as news -- and “noise” -- streams in.

● In the 21st Century, we are the media: As consumers we drive what the “professional” media brings us. Most of us are virtually always connected and ready to receive. And with the mobile digital technology we carry and the instant outlet of networks at our disposal, we can break news as well as consume it. But the bin Laden compound had neither phone lines nor an internet connection. Why? In part because "connected" flows both ways and that reality has consequences.

Q: Can you do more than take a picture with your cell phone? Be prepared. Keep your eyes and ears open.  Master your electronics, don’t just carry them around.  Everyone has the potential to be a Zapruder in 2011.

● When the cheering dies down: Yes, some have said “We’re not cheering death, we’re cheering closure.”  Others have rightly observed that “Cheering a monster’s death is not the same as patriotism.” The closing credits of the 1950’s black-and-white sci-fi classic Destination Moon” comes to my mind. “This is the End” appears over a shot of stars against the earth in the blackness of space and slowly the line appears “… of the beginning.”

And that brings me full circle, for now.

Keep watching the skies. Fight against “a deeper darkness devoid of stars.”

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

tgimguy@gmail.com