Osama bin Dead for Years

by Kendall O’Connor                                                                           

Osama bin Laden is dead.

But the news of bin Laden’s death did not stop there, each day details his of life are being unveiled to the public. 

And to everyone’s surprise, it wasn’t exactly what you would expect from the leader of a militant Islamist group.

Living in a mansion in an affluent Pakistani suburb with a collection of pornography is not what you would expect from a man who prides himself on his strict devotion to Islam.

Since bin Laden’s death it seems the groups he affiliated himself with have further distanced themselves from their oppressive beliefs.

The Taliban, which has strong ties with Al Qaeda, has also utilised Twitter, in order to spread propaganda and attract followers.

So far they have been tweeting not only in Pashto (used in Afghanistan and Pakistan) but also in English, which could suggest they are looking beyond the Middle East for support.

But this is highly hypocritical, as it comes from a group that once shunned technology due to their fundamentalist beliefs.

How can they gather more followers if they keeps ignoring their own core beliefs?

There is also the question of how relevant bin Laden was on the international scene before his death.

The occasional video decrying the actions of the West has lost its punch due to repetition and the fact that so few attacks have happened on Western soil.

Also, as seen in Tunisia and Egypt, people living under oppressive regimes need not turn to violent terrorist groups to initiate change, they have utilised the power of non-violent protests.

Bin Laden and his violent followers have no place in a world that is turning to social media to affect change- Peaceful Revolution? ‘Like.’