Do you think a person's life is worth shit these days?

[MissHoneychurch]

Sometimes when I read or watch the news I get the feeling that a life isn't worth much these days. For example, in China hundreds, if not thousands, die in mines that are collapsing due to bad building and maintaining. To me it looks like the owner think "Oh well, there are so many poor people who need a job, if some die, what the heck, I can get more".
And it is not only the life itself but also the value of a live worth living.
Companies are closing branches even if they make profit and thousand of people are suddenly out of work. They don't care about the people, they just care about the money.

No matter where you look, a life doesn't seem worth much.

[malaise]

1. We're all dispensible to corporations

and even governments. They don't give a fugg about anything outside of self interest.

[MissHoneychurch]

2. But without the people

they can't make money or govern. So why?

[malaise]

3. Why?

Because they will destroy anything and anyone that stands in the way of their power/wealth. It's truly sad but it's true. If you don't believe me, just take a look at the environment or study genocide all over the globe.

[MissHoneychurch]

6. Oh I believe you

I guess I just don't see a sense in being powerful/wealthy without giving anything back to the people who helped with it. Guess I am not someone who has to have power to feel complete and self confident.

[malaise]

16. That's the key point

Those of us who don't want power or wealth will never understand those who do.

[w4rma]

44. Nah, they aren't that hard to understand.

Just imagine what you would do if you did not care to take into account the lives of other people when making your decisions. Imagine if you did not care if *anyone* lived or died and considered *everyone* as tools to be used to push your own ambitions.

Pretend your ambitions were to become wealthy/wealthier, have someone around willing to sleep with you and occasionally comfort you and help give you children who are the closest thing to immortality that we have, currently.

Just think of it as a mental game and wrap your head around that kind of thought process. You'll find that you understand the actions of many people much better, especially when you take into account that most people aren't that extreme, or even nearly that extreme, but there are definitely many who are.

Now, remember that understanding doesn't mean acceptance and force your self not to accept that ideology and do your best to fight the actions of those who do accept it.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

48. And those that care not to realize

the implications of what you say w4, are resigned to their fate based on fear. It is what has just transpired, in a very evident manner.
In fact, we still are inches away from the precipice.

[trotsky]

30. Let's qualify that...

Without enough people they can't make money or govern.

Right now, people are a resource that has "excess" supply. Corps don't have to pay a lot or value employees a lot because there's still more than enough people to take their place. Business needs to grow, or population needs to decline, for people to be a scarce resource and be given more $$$ and better treatment. Basic economics. Of course, I think that's a crock, since people aren't just a resource, they're PEOPLE for crying out loud, but that's how most corps view it.

[Greyhound]

43. People are a limitless, self-sustaining, self-replicating resource,

and therefore worthless.

[swimboy]

4. I know each person is valuable

even if it's not apparent. But I agree that too often people in power are concerned only with getting and keeping all they can. It is ugly and sad.

[MissHoneychurch]

9. It truly is

and it makes me sick. I am sure it was in past centuries the same but why can't it change? Why can't we learn from the mistakes in the past?

[Cerridwen]

5. Only if your boss has taken out "dead peasant" insurance

on you...beyond that, you're just some red numbers in the expense category.

'Dead peasants' insurance pays your employer a secret, tax-free windfall when you die. Insurers have sold millions of policies to companies such as Dow Chemical. link

[MissHoneychurch]

12. There is such a insurance????

that is sick. Just sick.

[Cerridwen]

19. Amazing, isn't it? Gives a whole new meaning to

"human resources".

[atommom]

14. Yuck. I can't say I'm surprised, but yuck.

:(

[Cerridwen]

20. Well, as the saying goes...

"it's just business".

:puke:

[CrispyQ]

7. Some life is worth more than others.

It's all a matter of where you are on the hierarchy.

Rich, white male = top
Rich, minorities = near the top
Poor, minorities = somewhere close to the bottom
Animals = the very bottom


It's all perspective. It's why their right to life argument has no validity. They only value right to some life, not all life.

[bryant69]

8. Life has never been worth much

Just that we usually prefer not to believe that.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[reichstag911]

10. You nailed it:

"shit" is exactly what some lives are worth (think Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, etc.--group photo follows).

[porphyrian]

11. I don't think shit is worth shit nowadays. I don't know so much about life. - n/t

[tiptoe]

13. "Freedom of speech is a privilege" -- Korporate Katie (answer your question?) nt

[Der Blaue Engel]

22. Did she actually say that???

:wow:

[tiptoe]

35. From the media horse's mouth (YouTube, and a few links with comments):

source: 2006.09.05　CBS - Evening News with Katie Couric #1 - Part. 3 (Introduction)

"We're trying a few new things here on the Evening News.

One is something we're calling 'freeSpeech'.

Expressing your opinion is very American, one of the many privileges of living in this country.

We want to encourage more civil discourse. So we're giving people a forum to express themselves, unfiltered and uninterrupted.

And the lack of civil discourse is precisely what our first freeSpeech is all about.

Morgan Spurlock is the author of Super Size Me, and, tonight, he's got a beef about going to extremes."

source: What is a Right? (The Rabid Quill)

On Katie Couric’s first CBS Evening News broadcast, she introduced the FreeSpeech segment by referring to the freedom of speech as a “privilege” we “enjoy” here in the most wonderful country in the free world, the U.S. of A. ...

source: According to Maher, CBS' "Free Speech" is a misnomer (Media Matters for America, video)

MAHER: And they said, we -- ex -- that's my point. They said, "We'll send over a list of acceptable topics," for our segment on free speech. And, Katie said, at the -- she introduced this on her first broadcast by saying, "Expressing your opinion is one of the privileges of living in this country." Well, sorry again, but I thought it was a right, and not a privilege. I thought -- and, again, I only bring this up because they're treating it as a privilege. And, if CBS News doesn't get the difference between a privilege and a right, we're in a lot of trouble in this country...

source: Katie Couric's sign-off contest

"Remember, freedom of speech is a privilege" (11+ / 0-)

Recommended by:OLinda, HighSticking, The Gryffin, Ranting Roland, John DE, LithiumCola, mariva, alwaysquestion, FakeNews, myrealname, Dave the Rave, Cronesense

by kismet on Tue Sep 05, 2006 at 03:55:40 PM PST

=====
ouch (3+ / 0-)
Recommended by:mariva, alwaysquestion, Cronesense

she will never hear the end of that.

CO-04: Say no to bigots in Congress like Marilyn Musgrave.

by OLinda on Tue Sep 05, 2006 at 05:11:24 PM PST

[leftofthedial]

15. nothing is worth a shit these days

except some rich guy's money

[MissHoneychurch]

18. But isn't that stupid thinking?

to have so much money you never can spend it all?????

[The2ndWheel]

21. When has power

ever stopped voluntarily because it had too much? That's not how a centralizing and consolidating force works. Take a Black Hole as a perfect example.

[MissHoneychurch]

23. Who already has, gets more

and the rest of the world is there to serve. Wonderful. :sarcasm:

[The2ndWheel]

24. That's the reality we've built

for ourselves over the last few thousand years. That's the price we pay for attempting to control and manipulate nature for our benefit. It's the same mindset.

[MissHoneychurch]

27. How is the saying in the Bible?

I can't say it in English at the moment but it is about to subject the earth, that the earth belongs to the mankind to do wahtever he wants to do with it.

In that I like the Native American way of life or the Buddism a lot more. To cherish Mother Earth, or to believe that everything on Earth is life and that you can be a tree or fish in your next life. Way healthier to the Earth.

[The2ndWheel]

28. That's where science and religion work well together

Religion gives us the idea that we're created and favored by God, and science gives us the ability to act on those thoughts.

[MissHoneychurch]

29. I don't believe that I was created and favored by God

and I don't believe science should be able to do everything. I wonder where the self control went. Or if we ever had it in us.

[The2ndWheel]

36. I doubt any species has that control

Nature has a balance. As soon as a species goes too far this way or that, nature balances things out. The viruses and diseases which have come with large populations living so close together, along with caged domesticated animals, happen for a reason. That's nature's way of attempting to bring balance back. I can't sit here and say don't try and cure those diseases, but they are they for a purpose. Same with the aging process.

Agriculture has given our species something no other species has, and that's an almost endless supply of energy. As long as we have more food than we know what to do with, we'll keep adding more people(and we'll all be worth less). With more people will come more wants and desires, which will make us consume more. That will make us exploit non-human life at a greater pace. We won't stop that volunatrily. We'll just make it more efficient.

Globalization/civilization/progress, whatever one wants to call it, is on it's own at this point. To stop it now would be murder on a giant scale. The only thing we can do is grow, and that means more people, more exploitation, more control, more manipulation. Well, I shouldn't say this whole thing is on it's own. We can stop it, if we stopped pumping more and more energy into it. But we won't, we will do everything we can to keep it going.

We're too successful as a species. Take everything we've done for thousands of years to its logical conclusion, and we will end up wanting to cure death. Would that make life worth something, or worth even less?

[DarkmoonIkonoklast]

58. The sick thing is that the passage as commonly rendered is incomplete...

   ... the REST of it commands man to "REPLENISH the earth!
   Not doing too well with that stewardship thing, are we?

[leftofthedial]

25. it's not thinking at all

it's lust and greed that has taken over

[The2ndWheel]

17. No

No life is worth much, human or especially non-human. Don't even start with non-humans. The things we do there, if done to humans, is some sort of tragedy that must find justice. But hey, throwing baby chickens around on long metal production lines figuring out which one will breed and which one will be food isn't that bad. What the hell does a chicken have to live for?

Oh yeah, and testing on them for our progression, that's alright too. I mean, come on, it's progress.

Institutions are more important than any individual life. Governments, corporations, those types of institutions. The scale of civilization necessitates that type of construct.

[Jim Warren]

26. Exactly equal

to that of the common garden slug.

[Marrah_G]

31. I don't think this is a new phenomenon

Life has never held a great amount of value except to those whose lives that person effects.

It isn't that companies "don't care about people" because a company doesn't have feelings. Instead it is that ceos and vps make it a point not to get to know workers so they will not be personally effected by decisions they make concerning those people.

When you have businesses that are still owned by the person who created it from the bottom up then you see a better treatment of the workers (generally). Most large corporations are not owned by the original creator and the people running them have no reason to get to know the employees.

The same is true in the military. Soldiers (in any war) need to see the enemy as "bad, less then human, deserve to die" types so they can pull the trigger/swing the sword.

~ Hunger is just a vague concept until its your stomach that has been empty for days.

~ Homelessness is just a concept until you are hiding in a doorway trying not to die on a cold dark rainy night.

~ Body counts are just a number, until it's your loved one being lowered into the ground.

~ Disabled Vets are just some vague concept, trotted out for photo shoots, until its your 22 year old husband/wife/son/daughter/father/mother who you are bathing, feeding and changing a colostomy bag for while they struggle to remember who the hell they were before that IED went off under the feet of their best buddy.

Etc. etc. etc. etc.

[MissHoneychurch]

32. No it isn't new

and the harder it will be to get rid of it. Socialism tried exactly that. But it didn't work because people were greedy and power hungry. Guess the human nature is like that. At least from the ones who seek the power and wealth.

Edit: I can talk about socialism because I grew up in the German Democratic Republic.

[CrispyQ]

38. A CEO once told me,

"I leave a company once it gets larger than 250 people. When a company gets that size, I can no longer walk the building & know everyone's name. Over the years I've found a correlation to that & a change in company values & it's never been for the better."

I've often wondered if there is a number that a human collective behaves & performs at it's best.

[MissHoneychurch]

40. I wish more CEO's would think that way n/t

[Blue_Tires]

33. mine's worth less than that!

:cry:

[MissHoneychurch]

34. I don't believe you are worth less than the rest of us

:hug:

[Xenotime]

37. If it's a company with a mine colapsing..

or a company putting people on the street, they should be held accountable. There are many that when they lose their jobs, don't go back to work.

[MissHoneychurch]

41. The should

but they won't. At least not companies that lay off people.

[CrispyQ]

39. We value things over people. -nt

[izzybeans]

42. I need to consult an actuary first.

They'll estimate their worth for me. Then I'll get back to you with the definitive answer. We can use it send out life insurance mailers.

;)

[Pachamama]

45. In their eyes, we are all just commas n/t

[Swamp Rat]

47. IMPEACH BUSH!

:hi:

[MissHoneychurch]

49. Hey Swamp Rat

:hi:

How are you doing??? Do you think NO will get some more help now that the Dems are the majority in the House and Senate again?

[Swamp Rat]

55. I certainly hope so because we need it.

We also need to impeach Bushler and his entire administration in order to end the ILLEGAL WAR OF AGGRESSION in Iraq. He vowed to keep our troops there until he leaves office, so the only way to bring them home now is to impeach the idiot king.

He drew the line in the sand.

We Americans have to choose: him or the troops.

I choose the troops, so let's impeach Bushler!

:hi:

[MissHoneychurch]

56. If they can try to impeach Clinton because of sex

then they definitely should try to impeach * & Co because of his lies to the American people and the Iraqis.

[AlienGirl]

46. The lives of the powerless have never been worth anything to the powerful.

[NMMNG]

50. That's what the neocons seem to believe

I was on a mixed board recently and one RW poster referred to the fact that "peasants" should have no say in the governing of the nation as they'd vote for redistribution of wealth and demand all sorts of handouts . Apparently anybody who isn't rich is considered a peasant and not worthy of the same rights as those lucky enough to have money. :eyes:

[MissHoneychurch]

51. Excuse me?????

Did we fall back into the last century where only rich white men were allowed to vote. I am amazed he didn't go any further and wants the voting right taken away from the women again as well. Since we decide emotionally instead of with our heart :sarcasm:

[NMMNG]

53. I was pretty cheesed too

Peasants indeed! The class war is deeply entrenched here I'm afraid.

[MissHoneychurch]

54. Not only in the U.S.

in Europe as well. Just look at France where young people who are from Northern Africa (but live in France their whole live) practically have no chance whatsoever.

[DarkmoonIkonoklast]

59. "Blessed are the rich, for GOD has favored their endeavours."

   ... or at least, so read the scriptures as written by this bunch I met in South Dakota back in 1972...
   Seriously! I encountered them in a little town just north of Rapid City right after Labor Day and those were the words in THEIR copy of the Beatitudes!

[NMMNG]

60. Funny how they'll rend their clothes over the abomination of homosexuality

But think nothing of mutliating their "sacred" scriptures. :eyes:

[shadowknows69]

52. They don't mean much to God

But that's always been the way. They mean plenty to those who have lost them from their lives. I feel where you're coming from though. Sometimes I think I care too much about other people. Then I remember that should never be possible.

[DarkmoonIkonoklast]

57. It's what I call the "Commodification" mentality...

   To some, everything that exists has value as a thing, an object, which can be used, bought and sold, but has no intrinsic worth. Crops, real estate, real property... people... all are valued solely for their usefulness, their utility, to the evaluator.
   Sadly, these are the very people who gravitate to the power-based economic and political structures which we currently serve... and service.
   How do we change it? My only answer to that question is to refuse the paradigm altogether... or, as was said in "War Games" (the movie): "The only way to win, is not to play."
   How do we opt out of he game? I'm still working on THAT one! ;)
   Any suggestions?