{"id":99,"date":"2016-06-28T12:50:07","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T12:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=99"},"modified":"2016-06-28T12:50:07","modified_gmt":"2016-06-28T12:50:07","slug":"the-ublraid-tweets-an-exercise-in-grandstanding-glorification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=99","title":{"rendered":"The #UBLRaid Tweets: An Exercise in Grandstanding &#038; Glorification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span class=\"dropcap\">A<\/span>s I write this, the CIA is live-tweeting the operation on \u201cUsama Bin Ladin\u201d [<\/p><em>sic<\/em>]. Before this minute-by-minute (ish), blow-by-blow event on Twitter played out, I believed the CIA to be this imaginary entity, dreamt up entirely by Hollywood blockbuster film screenwriters, and inspired by our very own Bharat Mata Ki Jai CID. I thought they mostly fought aliens on behalf of the whole world. It was enlightening to know that it\u2019s a real organisation, with a blue tick and everything.\n\n\u201cTo mark the 5th anniversary of the Usama Bin Ladin operation in Abbottabad we will tweet the raid as if it were happening today #UBLRaid\u201d, went the first tweet. From there on the saga began. Names like POTUS, DCIA Panetta, and JSOC commander Admiral McRaven (has there ever been a more American name?) were thrown at us with approved execution times (<span data-term=\"goog_1662240573\">1.25 PM EDT<\/span>, in case you were wondering) and soldiers got ready for combat. Some did sock-shoe-sock-shoe; others did sock-sock-shoe-shoe. Then they got into their helicopters, all-American destruction machines with cheeseburgers, cheerleaders, and capitalism hanging off the sides.\n\nWhatsisname again? Usama, Asuma, Osimu? Who cares, brah? Let\u2019s kick some serious terrorist ass. They sang a Bruce Springsteen all-American anthem and decided to destroy them fuckers, even if it meant the accidental death of over 26,000 innocent civilians (you know, how the death of one Usama is bigger than the lives of hundreds of nameless children\u2026).\n\nForgive me if I\u2019m way off here, I truly feel sadness at the 9\/11 attacks. I\u2019m even somewhat glad that Usama was \u201csent off to Belize\u201d in the most badass way possible. After the attacks happened \u2014 my memory is a little hazy here \u2014 there were a bunch of what we refer to today as \u201cviral videos\u201d released by Usama\u2019s people, featuring the man himself, taking responsibility for the great loss, glorifying the act using flimsy excuses as justification. But surely there is something comically off when the CIA, a State-sanctioned organisation, whose Twitter description proudly states it\u2019s the <em>\u201cNation\u2019s first line of defense<\/em>\u201d, thumps its chest much like Usama did?\n\nThe excuses may not be as flimsy here, no doubt, but at what point do we decide what\u2019s good glorification and what\u2019s bad glorification? Will there be live-Tweeting of all the drone mishaps next?\n\nAssassination, murder, execution, justice, call it what you will. It may incite debate, but I\u2019m strictly and principally against capital punishment, or this very Indian fetish for \u201cencounter killings\u201d; and this celebration of a killing \u2014 a digital version of gleefully chucking tomatoes at his severed head showcased on a wall in the White House (presumably) \u2014 leaves a sour taste. It feels like something that would happen in an imaginary dystopian society.\n\n<blockquote class=\"quote--center\"><p>Surely there is something comically off when the CIA, a State-sanctioned organisation, whose Twitter description proudly states it\u2019s the \u201cNation\u2019s first line of defense\u201d, thumps its chest much like Usama did?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nWhy re-open old wounds? Why beat chests made of all-American steel and Ambuja cement? Wouldn\u2019t a simple, well-framed, victorious, respectful (of the victims of terror) announcement about the achievement be more than enough? Is #UBLRaid, painting its protagonists \u2014 like Admiral Badass McRaven \u2014 as farcical characters straight out of Kubrick\u2019s <em>Dr. Strangelove<\/em>, really necessary?\n\nHaving not experienced the same personal loss as thousands of others did, I realise I don\u2019t have a reasonable say in any of this. Not being a citizen of the country at the receiving end of the attacks makes me even more of a distant observer; and I\u2019m not trying to come off as an apologist. But it\u2019s merely a point of view, and an open question. Is this an attempt to provide catharsis to sufferers \u2014 and does it work? Does closure have an expiry date, after which you need to bring those same difficult questions up again and re-close? Or is it just grandstanding and an assertion of dominance? You know, just to remind people about certain events in an election year. Or maybe it\u2019s just a prank? Are we all living inside the solipsistic brain of a young author trying to write dystopian fiction?\n\nIt could be some grand reminder to us all that Big Brother still rules the roost; that you don\u2019t mess with them because this is what they\u2019re capable of. Or, you know, it could just as well be a couple of old veterans with a bottle of Wild Turkey and access to the CIA Twitter account, reminiscing the good old times. Either way, I guess we\u2019d better get used to the chest thumping. It\u2019s all part of making America great again.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The CIA\u2019s celebration of Usama\u2019s killing is like a digital version of chucking tomatoes at his severed head. Wouldn\u2019t a simple, respectful announcement be enough?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[62,63,64,65,66,67,108,109,110,111,112,71,72],"class_list":["post-99","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pov","tag-arre","tag-arre-digital-platform","tag-arre-originals","tag-arre-reads","tag-arre-text-articles","tag-arre-website","tag-cia","tag-live-tweet","tag-osama","tag-twitter","tag-us","tag-web-series","tag-web-shows"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The #UBLRaid Tweets: An Exercise in Grandstanding &amp; Glorification<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The CIA\u2019s celebration of Usama\u2019s killing is like a digital version of chucking tomatoes at his severed head. 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