http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chiu/2011/05/xenophobia-and-generational-reactions-the-death-of-osama-bin-laden.htmlAs I scrolled through the long list of tweets about the news, I was shocked at the differing viewpoints people were expressing. And
I began to notice a pattern: younger generations (college students and young adults) expressed a more somber mood. Many quotes about the nature of death and war went up in facebook statuses, a favorite being Jessica Dovey's sentiment (which has now widely been wrongly attributed to Martin Luther King Jr.), "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy."
Older, more conservative generations however were posting more joyous reactions, excited at the new of Osama's death.I began to think about what this meant, how this defines our generation versus the generations that came before us. I began to think about these differing opinions in terms of xenophobia, and its effect on society - because ultimately, I think that is what's happening inside of the older generations that causes such an excitement at the death of a human being. If Osama bin Laden had been a white, Christian American (just go along with me, for the sake of hypothesizing) I don't think the reaction from older generations would have been nearly as strong or happy.
As younger generations begin to have more of a voice and power in the media and society, the level of prejudice and fear toward people of other races and cultures begins to diminish. I think this has in part to do with the fact that we are hyper-informed due to our constant access to the internet. We are able to gather a lot of information very quickly and make educated decisions about the world. I also think many of us tend to ruminate more, in general, and trust our instincts rather than blindly agreeing with dominating ideas.
Whereas people who don't participate as much in technology or aren't as informed tend to adopt the more conservative viewpoints of their parents and grandparents, people who came from a time when Communism seemed terrifying and the breach of American borders by people of other nationalities and races was the worst thing that could possibly happen. For the xenophobic, it likely just seems easier to rejoice in the death of a brown face with a turban than it is to rejoice in the death of a white, "wholesome", American. Someone who looks like them. It is easy to simply call Osama bin Laden a foreign terrorist murderer and be done with it, to dismiss his humanity entirely.
Ultimately, I think that the knee-jerk impulse to be overjoyed about the death of a man whose leadership helped kill thousands is purely human. But what makes us different as a younger generation with unlimited access to information and a greater ability to educate ourselves, is that we are able to overcome that impulse and see the event for what it really is, at a basic level. The death of a human being. Maybe a necessary death at this time, but a death nonetheless.
Our generation's ability to break the stereotype of a highly xenophobic American society astounds and gladdens me. I hope this is a sign that we will, in the future, be able to create an America where we can focus on achieving peace without bringing death to our enemies.http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chiu/2011/05/xenophobia-and-generational-reactions-the-death-of-osama-bin-laden.htmlWhile younger generations certainly are growing up with greater access to information and in a "smaller world", this seems to exaggerate the differences in reactions to the death of OBL on a generational basis. Older generations did grow up in a "US vs. USSR" national obsession (and China was perceived by many as a political threat, certainly not an economic one). Younger ones probably do have a lower level of "prejudice and fear toward people of other races and cultures" but it varies widely within this generation.
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