Human Worth Through Death?

Great Debates
1

I was in a hospital waiting room, and I was watching the news. Apparently, a benefit CD is being put together for Holly Jones and her family.

Holly Jones, for those outside of Toronto, was a 9-year-old, stabbed to death a few blocks from her home.

I then thought of all the other events that had gone on to support her family.

I’m not going to begrudge Holly’s family support, but it seems kind of disgusting to me that the sensationality of someone’s death is directly connected to how much they’re publicly grieved for.

I can’t speak for them, but I think that my aunt and uncle might be insulted that while Holly Jones is grieved for by millions, my cousin, who died of a sudden onset of a rare cancer that he could’ve done nothing to prevent recieved no attention. There was no outpour of support.

Well, some say, maybe a parent who’s child has been hacked to death feels worse than a parent who’s child has died in way.

Tell that to my aunt and uncle, who to this day can barely get through passover ceremonies (they only just started doing it again two years ago) because of their memories of my cousin.

I know that the media is blamed for all and sundry, but I feel that the blame for the whole “human worth” conundrum lies with them. A small child hacked to death sells. A child getting a rare form of cancer doesn’t. Hence, the child with the rare cancer doesn’t get any attention.

:mad: :frowning:

Again, I’m not saying that Holly’s death was a tragedy, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, the way that humans are almost judged or valued these days depending on the way in which they die.

Your thoughts?

Sidebar: This is my first “Great Debates” thread, so when you’re dismantling my arguments, please be gentle.

2

Personally, I’ve always thought that the value of a human being is most closely tied to the marinade used. Garnish helps, too.

3

Don’t think of it as if your cousin’s life was weighed against that of Holly Jones’ and she won out.
It might seem unfair but unfortunately, everything in life is subject to large degree of randomness, in birth, throughought life and in death. The fact that the press picked up on one heart wrenching story over another is no exception.

But in the end, no amount of cash will bring either of them back and I would wager the little girls parents would give it all back in a heartbeat.

4

I think part of the reason that people react the way they do over violent crime is because it’s an evil of our own making. Cancer, for all its horror, is simply something we cannot yet do anything about. Human misdeeds are another matter. Part of the reaction of sympathy and outrage that surrounds this and other similar cases is IMO a communal repudiation of the vile things that we do to one another, and to some degree a way to reassure one another that we are indeed different from the monsters that commit these types of acts.

5

Most tend to political correctness and say all human life has the same worth, of course in practice, in actual life that’s hog wash.

Fare don’t mean shit.

6

So Gadfly’s cousin didn’t deserve as much attention as Holly Jones because her life wasn’t worth as much? Or do you mean Holly Jones’s life meant less because her death was overpublicized? I’m totally confused by this post.

7

The meaning of a death is directly proportional to the quality of the wine served at it. I prefer white wine with just a hint of lemon.

8

TVAA: Now would be a good time to apologize for your two incredibly crass comments in this thread.

9

The media sensationalise that which will grab the attention of the consumer - we all remember Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, but there are hundreds of other children who are abducted and killed each year who’s passing goes unnoticed. Yet every one of those children are grieved by thier families…

Grim

10

Human life, and death, have exactly as much worth as we choose to give them. “Value” has meaning only in our perceptions; it’s not a property of the world at large.

So yes, when media-friendly children die tragic, “inspiring” deaths, it’s more important than when random people die of random things, because we make it more important. People pay attention to those stories on the news because they want to get something out of them, and people report those stories on the news because they’re in demand. Ethically, we might as well sell popcorn and white wine at the ringside attraction that death has become – our current treatment is no less crass.

Monty, climb back into the Pit and stay there.

11

Well… artists and painters are a good example too. Alive their work is less appreciated and once dead gains value (Van Gogh for example).

I thought there was some kind of tradition that you dont name streets and avenues for people that are still alive too. Somehow their death makes it appropiate. Maybe to avoid them doing something wrong and tarnishing the street’s new name.

As for the one child death compared to the other... its a question of morbid curiousity/shock of the macabre. In Chile also they consider that the place where a person died violently the spirit remains there... so they have little altars in the street full of candles and prayer requests. The more violent the "stronger" the spirit or something like that... pretty strange.
12

Actualy, TVAA, your first two jerkish comments in this thread in GQ is what prompted my advice. Your last jerkish comment applies only to you.

13

This is GD, not GQ.

14

Marley23 wrote:

“Worth” and "value” are what humans assign to things/events and people etc., so they have degrees depending on the individuals, society, etc.

The value my life has to others is in one sense something I have no control over(?) and yet it can change depending on my actions and how I treat/interact, respect and give value to other people, animals, plants, the environment etc. etc.

In terms of quantity, if few people know/knew I exist few people will know that I died, let alone what I did.

I think Gadfly’s cousin’s life was worth as much as Holly Jones life just not to as many people.

Consider the statement, “All human life has equal value and equal worth”.

To whom?

Does a serial killers life have equal value to society, to individuals, to you… as the lives of others?

Because of our selfishness, our wants, needs and desires, and the attempt to fulfil them we have imperfect compassion. Because of our fears our compassion of others is conditional.

The god Rama, as he was being tortured and stoned to death kept calling out, “I love you. I love you all”. They were beating her/him to death yet he called out “I Love you all, I love you all”.

15

I made a really long and thoughtful post, and then had a good cry. And then the hamsters refused to accept my post.

I think I need a cookie.

16

I agree with all that. I simply didn’t understand what you were going for in your post. If we’re to decide that human life has any value (just a hypothetical), I’d say they all have equal value. You implied you don’t think so and that the idea is a bunch of PC garbage. I didn’t get that, and I still don’t.

17

Okay, TVAA, it’s GD. The comment still stands with the appropriate spelling correction.

18

I don’t know what forums you’ve been hanging out in, but acidic sarcasm is an accepted rhetorical tool in GD.

Now, back to the OP:

The worth of a human life is not measured in how much money you have, or how many loved ones you have, but in how many people attend your funeral.

19

Yes, there is a “market” effect regarding human tragedy. We spend millions of dollars to rescue a little girl down a well, but balk at a public health system that might save the lives of ten thousand little girls just like her.

Our emotions – honed in times of prosperity – lead us to desire to reform or regulate that market. One form of regulation – social pressure – is visible in this thread, as one unwise character discovers that most of us do not admire it when tragedy is made a subject for mockery.

Trinopus

20

What other response would be appropriate when people begin to compare the significance of their tragedies?