Osama Bin Laden as a Middle Eastern Hero

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Representation and Construction of Heroes

Heroes are often described as a person who against the opposing forces fights for their rights and freedoms. Osama bin Laden is the pin up boy for terrorism. The monster and the mastermind, But is he really the villain western media makes him out to be?

Osama bin Laden, to millions, with his face regularly plastered on television and across the magazine covers and front pages of newspapers, is immediately associated with evil. To most he is guilty of mass murder, although he hasn't been found or tried, and there has been no publicly released evidence connecting him with the said crimes.

He is beloved by millions for his holy war against America and by those of the Islamic world who also hold a strong hatred towards America for what in their society is regarded as a debauched culture and imperialist government.

"We declared jihad against the US government, because the US government is unjust, criminal and tyrannical. It has committed acts that are extremely unjust, hideous and criminal whether directly or through its support of the Israeli occupation." - Osama bin Laden - to CNN in March 1997.

He is the hero who gave up an easy life to take on the arguably biggest, strongest and most allied country on the globe. He has self-funded a global terrorist network and justified killings with mysterious interpretations of the Koran, labelling them as a mission for Allah.

The Muslim culture holds a high amount of pride for their ability even through the passing years and changing phases of the outside world, to keep their culture almost unchanged since around 600 AD. A fair amount of resentment has built up over the years from the interference of western culture with the seemingly untarnished of the Middle East. From the perspective of the Muslims the western and specifically American culture is offensive and filthy. A lot of the malice shown towards America can be derived from this, in their opinion depraved cultures penetration of theirs.

Although they have been active since the late 1970's, Osama Bin Laden to most was an unknown person before September 11, 2001, when his worldwide terrorist network, Al-Qaeda took to the world trade centres with two aircraft, 157 onboard civilians and hearts set on vengeance. Osama has been criticized for not being personally involved in previous attacks and to this he answered:

" . . . For the American forces to expect anything from me personally reflects a very narrow perception.

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