Buzzfeed, Onion, College Students Respond to Bin Laden’s Death

Those of you somehow not yet sick of hearing about Obama Osama Bin Laden’s death—yes, all three of you, look, quick—may enjoy Buzzfeed’s roundup of 40 Incredibly Stupid Facebook Reactions to Osama Bin Laden’s Death,” which is a little funny and a little sad and a little inevitable and a little we-go-to-Wesleyan-this-isn’t-the-real-world-this-isn’t-real-life-but-what-do-you-expect-it’s-2011-at-least-the-internet-didn’t-break-this-time. Consider it an early Procrastination Destination: no, it’s not directly related to Wes; yes, it’s tangentially related to You and Me and The Internet and Everything.

Also, see The Onion‘s slideshow roundup of classic previous bin Laden coverage: Osama Bin Laden: Death of a Mother Fucker.

But speaking of college-relevant reactions to bin Laden’s death…

• The ACB is a filthy mess of ugly provocation and five-page Bin Laden-related flame wars, but what else is new? This thread is the only thread worth linking to, but it’s very much worth linking to, so here, I’m linking to it.
• Wednesday’s “WE GOT HIM!!!!” Bar Night pregame, which popped up within an hour or so of early breaking news reports, now has 50 attending, 100 waiting for reply. Why the tempered enthusiasm? And why no impromptu rallies at Wesleyan, no “USA! USA!” chants?  This isn’t New York,  and quite a few Wes students—on- and offline—have expressed general discomfort with celebrating any individual’s death (or regarding it as some new post-terror age of freedom), no matter how many innocent Americans died at the hand of that individual’s terrorism.
• But The Onion dissents. Here’s a headline so fabulous, it doesn’t need an article.
• So does Columbia University. Hundreds of Columbia students (including about 30 members of CU Democrats) traveled to Ground Zero and Times Square last night to witness mass celebrations (flag-hoistings, “USA!” chants, the works)  following news of bin Laden’s death. Columbia Spectator provides in-depth photo timeline coverage here.

• Mads Vassar rounds up online student reactions to the news. If you go to Wesleyan and use Facebook, chances are your newsfeed looks (almost) exactly the same.
• Cornell students celebrated the news with particular enthusiasm—“storming College Avenue with American flags, blasting patriotic music out of their windows and setting fireworks off on the Arts Quad and West Campus.” Cornell Daily Sun has comprehensive coverage.

Any notable Wesleyan student responses? Anecdotes, images, Facebook screenshots? Comment here.