The class thing to do would have been to scrape him off our shoes with quiet dignity, look straight into the camera lens and say “who's next”
Instead we have kids playing in the streets.
Most of them WERE kids when the towers were hit, so OBL was always a childhood monster- I have no idea what that feels like, so maybe I am seeing it wrong.
Sort of like FDR or LBJ for previous generations.<\
We are in 100% agreement. I said the same thing, nearly identical, in some other places. Likewise, I noticed that a lot of those celebrating in DC were college kids. At 1st, I was thinking that they were just looking for an excuse to party. But then, like your realization, I though about the fact that OBL was truly a scary monster, as they were 8-11 years old when the WTC was destroyed. And they saw it in full color on every station for a week straight.
Realistically, people simply react in different ways.
Which is exactly what George Bush would have done IMO (and which is why he's not attending the Ground Zero thing).
I agree...this reaction is now all cheap emotion and I can see why the Europeans are a bit disdainful.