The celebration of justice only leads to more violence, revenge

Editor,

I find it troubling and saddening that so many are rejoicing and celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden.

I find it troubling and saddening enough that I posted about it twice in one day on my Facebook status. This may seem mundane and trivial, but I am not one for imposing my views on others. I am not one for revealing my views to others, and I am not one for serial and prolific Facebook updates.

That being said, my Facebook updates (as with anyone’s Facebook updates — with the exception of high profile “Facebookers”) reach only a certain portion of the population. In times like these, when we have the potential to influence and change, sometimes it comes down to a matter of reaching people and maybe even resonating with them on some level.

So I would like to share these words that we as a country, and as a human race, would do well to remember and put into practice.
It is hard not to think that some of the impulse to celebrate “justice being done” may also contain a certain pleasure in revenge — not just “closure” but “getting even.”

The world is not safer with bin Laden’s violent demise (threat levels are going up, not down), so no cause for celebration there. Evil has not been finally removed from the Earth, so no reason for jubilation on that count. The War on Terror goes on, so there is no closure in that regard.

“The truth is that ‘celebrating justice’ when one person is killed — as happens regularly in the gang wars of American cities — only incites further desire for revenge, which, from ‘the other side’s’ viewpoint, is usually called ‘justice,’” Dr. Pamela Gerloff said in “The Psychology of Revenge: Why We Should Stop Celebrating Osama bin Laden’s Death.”

“An eye for an eye only leads to more blindness,” Margaret Atwood said.

We have heard it called it justice. And on some level, it probably is. But no matter which way you look at it, it’s schadenfreude.

Desireé Quiñones-Soria
UNM Student