What's up?：OBL's Death & MLK's Quote

放大圖片

　■黑人民權領袖馬丁路德金曾表示，仇恨不能驅除仇恨，只有愛可以做到。 資料圖片

Osama bin Laden(now often shortened as OBL), founder of al垼aeda(which literally means 'the base' or 'the foundation'), and mastermind(= an intelligent person that plans and directs a difficult activity or project) behind the September 11 terror attacks against the United States in 2001, was shot dead in Pakistan on May 2 during a helicopter raid(= a short surprise attack) by US commandos(= ハroups of? soldiers who are specially trained to make quick, difficult and dangerous attacks in enemy areas).

Rejoice?

How do you feel about this event? And how should we feel? More specifically, should we rejoice(= express great happiness) in the death of a person? This has become a heated debate throughout the internet since bin Laden's death ?and involved a misquote(= an incorrect quote of somebody's words) of Martin Luther King, Jr(often abbreviated as MLK ゲr?, the charismatic(= having powerful personal quality) and iconic(= having the status as a symbol of a worthy idea or way of life) leader in the States, who became the youngest recipient(= a person who receives an award) of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, at the age of 35, for his non-violent pursuit(= the attempt to achieve something) of black civil rights.

After knowing that bin Laden had died, thousands of Americans took to the streets in New York and Washington, DC(= capital city of the US), to celebrate, cheering, chanting(= repeatedly singing or shouting the same words), honking horns(= making noises with the car horns) and waving US flags.

Frown?

Some people, especially non-Americans, frowned upon(= did not approve of) such spontaneous(= done suddenly and not planned) reactions. Within hours, a quote attributed to MLK went wildly viral(= spread very quickly like a virus) on the net: "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid(= completely lacking) of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

But the original person who posted it on Facebook, Jessica Dovey, actually put the open quotation marks after 'enemy.' - but subsequent(= coming after this) quotes, for reasons we can't possibly trace now, placed that the punctuation at the very beginning, thus putting the first sentence into MLK's mouth, who never said that.

Reflect!

The original quote was from MLK's book Strength to Love, published in 1963. In the same chapter, with the title 'Loving Your Enemies', he continued with this dire(= very serious) warning: "The chain reaction(= series of events) of evil ?hate begetting(= causing) hate, wars producing more wars ?must be broken, or we shall be plunged(= fallen) into the dark abyss(a very deep and seemingly bottomless space) of annihilation(= complete destruction).

　Therefore, rather than rejoice or revenge, let us treasure this opportunity to reflect and repair.

Questions

1. How do we pronounce 'Osama bin Laden'?

2. In fact, 'laden' itself is an English word. What does it mean? And how do we pronounce it?

3. What are the two common pronunciations of 'al-Qaeda'?

Answers

1. Pronounced 'oh-SAH-ma bin LA-dun'.

2. Heavily loaded with something, full of something; pronounced 'LAY-dun'.

3. 'ael-KAI-da' or 'ael-KAY-da'. 　■MT Ness