Tuesday
May
03
2011
Inside the Party at Bin Laden's Farewell Sing-a-Long at Ground Zero


In his weekly email blasts to promo
Sweet
,
ruminates about current events and whatever else is going on in the world. This week, Seth shared a first hand account of the ticker tape parade at Ground Zero held in honor of Osama Bin Laden's body getting riddled with bullets and dumped in the ocean. He writes:
Well, we did it, America. We killed Osama Bin Laden (But let’s be honest, his career has been dead for years). No more, "We can blah, blah, blah but we can’t find Osama" jokes. Judging from the reaction, it feels like America really needed this win. I live across the street from Ground Zero, so I’m reminded everyday of what happened. And when I heard that people were gathering down there. I decided to go downstairs and see the emotion for myself. Immediately you felt that rare NY vibe, where strangers are just coming up to you and introducing themselves, hugging you and saying, "It’s a good night" and "Finally" in proud yet somber tones. Once I got to the "ground zero of celebrating" which was at Ground Zero, everyone was excitedly staring at each other, and no one knew what to do. Like when a city wins a championship: There’s all this energy and no one knows where to direct it. So that’s when cars get turned over and businesses get burned. In this case, they sang. Boy did they sing. Anything that was remotely patriotic was sung, "The Star Spangled Banner," "God Bless America," "My Country Tis of Thee," and then when there was nothing else: the Pledge of Allegiance. No joke. And it happened more than once. People were climbing up the poles, waving flags, and yes, spewing champagne on the crowd like a rap video. Then as the crowd grew, so did the “attention seekers,” the kind that show up outside MJ trials or OJ hearings. There was a guy in a Captain America costume (ok, appropriate) and then a dude with an accordion and a Donald Duck costume (Um. Sure. I guess both Disney and Osama hated Jews, so that’s something). But once guys starting yelling at women, who were up on people’s shoulders, to "Show your tits" it was time for me to leave (only because I don’t think any tits were going to be shown). Its weird to cheer for someone’s death, it made me think this is what it must have felt like to be at the Roman Coliseum. Sometimes I think we’re sore winners.
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