2009/01/06

The value of life

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The news media keeps irritating me when it reports about (para)military conflicts. They report about the killing in a highly disturbing manner.

The news people imply a kind of hierarchy in the value of human life:

1st children
2nd women and elderly
3rd civilians in general
4th 'unintentionally' killed civilians in general
5th noncombatant security forces
6th female combatants (maybe 5th)
7th male combatants
8th "bad side" combatants in general
9th terrorists

OK, I understand that the life of terrorists isn't highly valued in news, but what's about the other hierarchy levels?

Why is a soldier's death less terrible than a woman's death?

Just an example:
Case A)
A conscript in uniform serves during the last day of his basic military service term and gets killed by an artillery rocket.
Case B)
The same person gets killed by an artillery rocket, but the next day when he's a civilian.

Seriously, I see no difference.

Soldiers are neither magically more guilty of something than civilians nor are they magically much more capable of defending their life and health. I mean - they usually wouldn't have died if they could have saved their lives, right?

There's also the problem of conscription. Many soldiers don't want to serve and don't want war while many civilian idiots and extremists want war. Why the hell should we consider the death of a soldier as a lesser tragedy than the death of a civilian?

Why is the death of a 70 year old man (with an average remaining life expectation of usually less than 15 years) a greater tragedy than the death of a 18 year old soldier?

Why is the death of a man less of a tragedy than the death of a woman? We've got women in military service, even as combat personnel. It's about time to grant equal rights and duties - also if that means to remove advantages of women. A man's life is no less valuable than a woman's life!

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (10 December 1948 at Palais de Chaillot, Paris):
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3
Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person.
[...]

Many perceptions and rules about what's OK and what's not acceptable in warfare deserve to be changed - the human rights tell us that humans are equal. Why not in warfare?

2 comments:

  1. Heaven treats people like straw dogs. : Lao Tzu

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  2. YT, Good point on bring up Heaven. The Ultimate Judge on individual innocence doesn't like any human deaths.

    Human response to deaths among humans might be conditioned, but in many ways the innate curiousity is created--not made.

    Now back here on earth, there's certain real estate in which the women and elderly are armed to the teeth--namely, Israel (I've seen it myself, enjoyed seeing it, and I thought how funny gun metal black matches anything a woman may wear).

    Now back to the Heavenly Creator and the absolutism of All Good. The most innocent does least offense to All Good. Thus, the human child is the least offensive and most pleasant in the view of Absolute Good. I prefer looking upon a naked woman, but I'm not "All Good."

    Down to earth, every human soul has equal value. The old and terminally ill criminal whose foul deeds stink to high Heaven is a soul in EQUAL VALUE as the newborn infant child. Each soul is deserving of access to life not by our estimation, but by the All Good Creator's declaration. We feel this in our heart though the thoughts of our physical brains wrestle with it. Animals cleave the sick and weak from their numbers, but human's far removed from animal behavior recoil at eugenics when the human soul reaches for the Divine.

    So, we return to what we might think is God's gaze upon mortal souls and perhaps why He desires more the rotten soul who deserve Him least. It's simply because He's ALL GOOD; and though the rotten soul deserve Him least, it's the criminal need Him most.

    Thus, we might come to understand why a good girl chases after a bad boy. And, when the bad boy finally understands the goodness of the good girl who loves him unconditionally, is all the more appreciative of her undeserved love.

    And yes, the death of a soldier is as devestating as the death of a child when the equality of souls are weighed--even if that soldier is a criminal soldier or "terrorist". The great paradox is that the conversion of the criminal's soul is the greater prize in Heaven.

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