I’m skeptical about whether bin Laden is actually dead. TPM guest poster DK says something that strikes me as funny, though: “I will say that typhoid is not exactly my idea of a deserved death for the man.” I don’t know. I hate Osama plenty, and I think dying of typhoid would be absolutely horrible, and much worse than getting shot or blown up. Fatal bacterial infections are world-renowned awful ways to die, so if typhoid has carried him off, I think my lust for vengeance will be perfectly slaked. That said, I’m skeptical. But then, I am partly skeptical because I think he died some time ago; I find it impossible to believe that he would be able to resist taunting everyone with pictures of himself holding a recent paper after some terrorist attack. I just don’t know.
{ 20 comments }
Henry (not the famous one) 09.24.06 at 5:40 am
I was going to blame DK’s dissatisfaction on Hollywood–the cliched ending in which the villain is blown up (“The Professional”) or brought down in a hail of bullets (too many to name). But it’s more than that: we want to see the evil one die by our hand. That’s why the British insisted on shooting Connolly, even though they had to strap him to a chair to shoot him.
Causation is probably a little too indirect in the case of death from typhoid for those who want to see justice done in some dramatic fashion; it seems too much like one of the ordinary risks of life, even if it might have been averted if he had not been a fugitive. Of course, if it were not for modern medicine, we could blame this on divine vengeance.
dearieme 09.24.06 at 7:06 am
Maybe he’ll be like Glendower and no-one will ever know. Well, almost no-one.
Henry Larinsky 09.24.06 at 7:53 am
Bin Laden would be the least of my worries after watching this:
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-6708190071483512003&q=911+mysteries
John Emerson 09.24.06 at 8:54 am
They’re seeing Osama in McDonalds everywhere, and yet you stubbornly claim he’s not dead. He’s as dead as King Arthur. Get used to it.
FL 09.24.06 at 11:35 am
Did you see the instant pundit sniff “[dying of typhoid] doesn’t sound very heroic to me”? It’s comforting that he can be a complete fool on any subject.
Meshuggah 09.24.06 at 12:31 pm
It will probably boil down to an epic end-game in which osama is on the empire state building top floor, getting chased by some heroic black action actor (like burce willis or something). In the end he will have a bomb, then a hostage, then he will cleverly be outsmarted by the hero, who can arrest him, thus humiliating his cause.
I hope he will get arrested within the next 5 years (or his body is found), because his ghost appears to be even more terrorising than his attacks.
Jim Harrison 09.24.06 at 1:07 pm
Is it possible that the rumor of Osama’s death has been floated by some security organization to provoke a response? Surely, every new communication from Osama risks giving his enemies a clue to his location.
Rasselas 09.24.06 at 1:24 pm
I’ve occasionally thought that the detonation or defenestration of the villain that concludes so many action movies is intended to spare the audience the uncomfortable sight of hero and villain in intimate proximity at the moment of death, which could be interpreted as a counterpart to sexual intimacy or, perhaps even more damningly, acknowledgment of the hero’s own mortality. And, by extension, the mortality of those who identify with him. Which is not what many people want to pay $11.50 for. Or vote for.
Contrast the death of Kikuchiyo (Mifune) in Seven Samurai, in the rain, having poured out what the DVD commentator calls “the last full measure” to kill the bandit chieftain.
I have no idea what this could be extended to say about George Wyatt Earp Bush, but I hope it’s nothing good.
John 09.24.06 at 1:54 pm
Dude, don’t slander Wyatt Earp by associating him with Bush. Earp was, you know, enforcing the law, not avoiding or making it up.
John
Adam Kotsko 09.24.06 at 2:11 pm
I was hoping that bin Laden and (since I was “hoping”) President Kerry would face up in a duel “to the pain.”
(Presumably a President Kerry would be better at fencing than a President Bush — something that not enough voters factored in.)
Matt Weiner 09.24.06 at 3:27 pm
I’ve occasionally thought that the detonation or defenestration of the villain that concludes so many action movies is intended to spare the audience the uncomfortable sight of hero and villain in intimate proximity at the moment of death, which could be interpreted as a counterpart to sexual intimacy or, perhaps even more damningly, acknowledgment of the hero’s own mortality.
I’m not sure I buy this. I don’t watch a whole lot of action movies, but I immediately thought of two (Mission Impossible: 3, which I saw on an airplane (twice!) with the sound off, and Speed) in which the chief villain is lying on top of the hero as they wrestle, when some piece of transportation zooms over them, taking the villain’s head off. No lack of sexual intimacy there.
Jon H 09.24.06 at 3:42 pm
Well, Republicans have been crapping themselves in fear for five years. It’d be fitting, I guess, if Osama crapped himself to death.
Quo Vadis 09.24.06 at 4:20 pm
Frankly I can’t imagine a worse scenario than this for the writers of Bin Laden’s eulogy. If true, it could be said that Bin Laden died at the hand of the infidels but was denied any claim of martyrdom having been forced so deeply into hiding that resources readily available elsewhere were unobtainable when he needed them.
tps12 09.24.06 at 5:46 pm
10, spoiler warning please next time!
luci 09.24.06 at 6:50 pm
impossible to believe that he would be able to resist taunting everyone with pictures of himself holding a recent paper
That’s what I’ve been thinking too. It means his audio announcements have been faked for quite some time.
Brian S. 09.24.06 at 8:44 pm
FWIW, I had typhoid many years ago that went untreated almost until the end of its natural course. The headaches were terrible, worse than migraines that I occasionally got. The 104.5 degree F fever was bad too. I never experienced the intestinal hemorrhage that kills typhoid victims though. I imagine it can range from quick and relatively painless, to slowly causing peritonitis.
(And no, I’m not a carrier.)
Adam Kotsko 09.24.06 at 9:52 pm
Has anyone else noticed that comment numbers are useless, because subject to change?
Belle Waring 09.25.06 at 8:49 am
oh, sure, brian; you say that just because you want to get a job in the CT canteen. adam: although they are not actually moderated, comments do get held up sometimes, and then when freed from the queue they go to the position they would have held if posted instantly (i.e., the one corresponding to the time stamp) and then kick everything else down the line. I agree it’s sub-optimal, but I’m much to lazy to try and do anything about it. bother davies; he’s a likely-looking young up-and-comer. always quick to run out for coffee and that sort of thing, and definitely the one to call on when the CT xerox machine runs out of toner.
Matt Weiner 09.25.06 at 9:02 am
I thought about spoiler warnings, but did anyone seriously think that the villain didn’t die at the end of those movies?
John I 09.25.06 at 10:01 am
Spoiler alert: Stewie prefers to off Osama with a rubber chicken to the head, and then defenestrates himself:
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