The killing of Osama bin Laden has stirred up painful memories of 9/11 and spurred President Obama to place a wreath at New York's World Trade Center site to honor victims of the attacks. Yet within hours of the raid that killed bin Laden, jokes about the al Qaeda leader's demise erupted on the internet and late-night TV. (David Letterman: "At least bin Laden lived to see the royal wedding.") Is it cathartic to laugh about something as deadly serious as the shooting of a terrorist blamed for killing thousands of innocent people? (Watch Jimmy Kimmel's bin Laden Real Housewives spoof.)
With bin Laden, it is not too soon: There's usually a waiting period before it's safe to joke about death, says Carol Hartsell at The Huffington Post. But there was nothing "shocking or inappropriate" about the brutal mockery of bin Laden. "There's an obvious difference between jokes about a disaster that killed thousands of innocent men, women, and children and jokes about the most wanted man in the world being shot in the head by a Navy SEAL."
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