Althouse: Revelry at Ground Zero.

May 2, 2011

Revelry at Ground Zero.

Excellent photographs here.

My first reaction: It's not right to party at Ground Zero, where so many people died. You don't dance on their grave.

Second reaction: Where are you going to go? It's New York City, and people want to go out on the street and celebrate. Even if most people regard Ground Zero as a solemn, sacred place, some people are going to think it's... the place.

Third reaction: Even though dancing on the mass grave of the victims is a nontraditional way to celebrate the death of their murderer, it makes sense. If we believe or imagine that the dead are spiritually or symbolically there and that they could know what has happened and respond, then this is the place of celebration, and it's fine to congregate with them for the revelry.

22 comments:

vet66 said...: Even spirits dance with the living. Like a funeral in New Orleans, you start with a slow dirge ending with an exuberant celebration of life after death to the tune of "When The Saints Go Marchin' In." You can feel it in the air every time.; 5/2/11, 8:53 AM
tim maguire said...: I'm going with your third reaction, the celebrants were trying to share the moment with those who died. They were absolutely not, in the metaphorical sense in which "dancing on a person's grave" is used, dancing on the victims' grave.; 5/2/11, 8:54 AM
Anonymous said...: If a proper memorial had been built then I suspect you might not be experiencing these concerns. Certainly people would still be celebrating nearby, but with such boundaries drawn, there would not be the question of them dancing on anyone's grave.

The failure to build a proper memorial is an embarassment.; 5/2/11, 8:55 AM
rhhardin said...: It's overdone in any case. Bin Laden is just one more of a thousand leaders to decapitate, in order to keep the bad guys disorganized enough so that they can't get anything really serious going.

Keep them watching their backs instead.; 5/2/11, 8:58 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Personally I think they should have cremated Osama bin Laden and then mixed his ashes in the new concrete at Ground Zero so we could have danced on him, but dumping his body in the sea for the crabs and sea leaches works fine too.

Ground Zero is an appropriate place to celebrate.; 5/2/11, 9:02 AM
jimbino said...: It's amazing how worked up folks can get over proper funeral and cemetery protocol.

Funerals, "respect" for the dead, weddings and moments of silence, like prayers and saying the rosary, are religious exercises, and there are a growing number of us out here who wish it would all go away.; 5/2/11, 9:05 AM
MadisonMan said...: The victory over Jihadi-ism will be one very small step at a time, so there will never be an opportunity for dancing, or for kissing nurses in the street. One morning people will wake and realize that All Cultures have moved out of the middle ages.

I would feel differently if 9/11 had happened in Madison and I knew people who had perished. Then I might have spent some time last night celebrating, or at least raising a toast to absent friends.; 5/2/11, 9:08 AM
Fprawl said...: As a former Paramedic, I know every spot I saw a body. You can't consecrate all of them.
3000 deaths are collectively worse for survivors, but for the deceased, each one stands alone. Each relative will have their own thoughts.
I would think Americans celebrated the end of the war in sight of the hulk of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.; 5/2/11, 9:09 AM
Big Mike said...: People died at the Pentagon, too. But the Dept. of Defense rebuilt the structure just as it had been, except stronger. This is the right and proper thing to do. New York should have rebuilt the two towers right on top of their old foundations, except stronger and better able to resist an aircraft crashing into them, accidentally or not.; 5/2/11, 9:11 AM
Clyde said...: I don't have any doubts about the legitimacy of the celebrations other than the original one outside the White House, which seems to soon after Obama's announcement for a crowd to get flags together and gather to celebrate. I'm still calling bullshit on the spontaneity of that one.; 5/2/11, 9:11 AM
Peano said...: Never in the whole of my life have I seen such a mindless over-reaction to any event. It's good that they finally killed bin Laden. But dancing and shouting in the streets in the middle of the night, chanting "USA! USA!" as though your team just won the Superbowl?; 5/2/11, 9:12 AM
kathleen said...: agree peano. It's unseemly to celebrate period, regardless of where it happens. It's also stupid.; 5/2/11, 9:21 AM
TWM said...: How the hell is it unseemly to celebrate the death - at our hands - of the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks? That's like saying it was unseemly to celebrate the death of Hitler and the fall of Germany during WWII.

Osama is not just one of a thousand leaders to these people. He was a symbol. Others may take his place in terms of running things, but none can match his symbolism. In fact, it's the opposite - if we can get him even after all these years, we can get any of them.; 5/2/11, 10:03 AM
Phil 314 said...: I was struck by the youth of the crowds. My oldest son was a freshman in college with 9-11. I noted a deep, unsettling impact on him and his friends. This celebration marks a "cleansing" of that. Strangely I'm feeling very proud of my kids generation and I'm feeling better about the future in their hands.; 5/2/11, 10:08 AM
Scott M said...: Strangely I'm feeling very proud of my kids generation and I'm feeling better about the future in their hands.

My oldest is turning 20 in May. I've met a number of his close friends as they are trying colonize a chapter at his college and I'm somewhat involved. I'm impressed by the general level-headedness of both the guys and those they hang around with, in particular the girls.

I don't think PC has a hold of this age group like it did those of us that were browbeat to death with it as we grew up. To be sure, there will be some cultural smegma left over from PC that will take 100 years to rub out, but I do feel confident about the twenty-somethings I've had dealings with. Granted, for every ten decent kids, there's one with a chain from a tongue piercing to their nipple piercing, but...; 5/2/11, 10:15 AM
kathleen said...: It's unseemly because the war on terrorism is not a freaking sports event. Killing BL doesn't bring anyone back and, by liberal lights anyway, isn't this is going to just add to the America hatred? In addition, I simply don't believe that this was the first time in 10 years we were able to kill the jackass: however it is the first time in 10 years we have a President who's willing to kill the guy because he's in dire need of a political boost and is willing to inflame foreigners to get it. The disgusting coverage of this by the MSM, whose every angle on the story is how it will boost Obama, only reinforces my point.; 5/2/11, 10:15 AM
test said...: "My first reaction: It's not right to party at Ground Zero, where so many people died. You don't dance on their grave."

My first reaction: disappointment. We cheer in the streets when we crush Nazis and Communism. We're America. Bin Laden isn't even our ass-mole.; 5/2/11, 10:20 AM
edutcher said...: Agree with Peano.

Keep in mind, we're talking Gotham at 11pm. How many bars are near there?; 5/2/11, 10:28 AM
kathleen said...: It's like the idiot NFL players who dance in the end-zone. You're supposed to act like it's no big thing to be in the end zone -- because it's not if you're good at what you do.; 5/2/11, 10:29 AM
Ryan Brenizer said...: Thank you for the kind words, Ann!; 5/2/11, 11:24 AM
ken in tx said...: It is not that we treat war like a sporting event, but rather that we treat sporting events like war. People were dancing victory dances at the death of enemies long before now. It is a natural human trait. They tried to kill us all, but they didn't--celebrate.

Retired History Teacher; 5/2/11, 12:33 PM
TWM said...: "It's unseemly because the war on terrorism is not a freaking sports event."

Nor was the celebration anything like a celebration for a sports event. Except perhaps when the 1980 Olympic Hockey team kicked the Soviet Union's ass.

"isn't this is going to just add to the America hatred?"

Nope, not one bit. What you don't seem to understand, or are not willing to accept, is that they already hate us because we are are infidels in their eyes. They don't need excuses to hate us. Or to attack us. They don't want our friendship. Did electing Barry calm them any? Make them open their arms to us?

Nope.

The only thing that culture understands and respects is strength. We just proved to them that no matter how long it takes we will strike back.

That is a lesson they understand. It may not stop them totally but it sure as hell will give them pause to think.; 5/2/11, 1:55 PM