links for 2011-05-06

• A Brief History of the U-S-A Chant, From Reagan to Osama – Daniel Fromson – Life – The Atlantic
  Osama bin Laden is dead, but the U-S-A chant lives on. One of the strangest things about the Al-Qaeda leader's death has been the patriotic and at least a little absurd celebrations that have taken place from last night's Phillies-Mets game at Citizens Bank Park to the campus of Iowa State University and beyond, and especially at the White House, where my colleague Alexis Madrigal captured an atmosphere of "aimless celebrating" in which Washington Capitals hockey fans formed a mob alongside college kids and other onlookers. And perhaps stranger still is that all of these scenes gave rise to cheers of "U-S-A! U-S-A!".
  (tags: USA chant usachant patriotism osamabinladen obama binladen)
• Sports, Osama, and the new normal – Opinion – Al Jazeera English
  In the immediate aftermath of his death Tillman became a caricature, used to promote and encourage war.

  But the Pat Tillman his family has fought to be known is the actual, thinking, opinionated human being. This Pat Tillman believed that 9/11 had been manipulated to justify an illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.

  As his biographer Jon Krakauer said, "He thought the war was illegal. He thought it was a mistake. He thought it was going to be a disaster. And in the Army, you're not supposed to talk about that. You're not supposed to talk politics. And Pat didn't shut up. He told everyone he encountered, 'This war is illegal as hell'."

  (tags: PatTillman sports nfl godblessamerica protest USA journalism Davidzirin)