Is one Israeli life worth more than one Arab life?

[kentuck]

Is the life of one small Israeli girl more valuable than the life of one small Lebanese boy? We all are familiar with the history of Israel since WWII. Does that make their lives more valuable than the lives of the Arabs - many of whom hate them? "Of course not!", everyone says. Does everyone truly believe it?

[guinivere]

1. I do. One life isn't worth more than the next.

An Israeli child's life is the same as a Lebanese child's life.

[cali]

3. Really?

I man know that intellectually, but emotionally, my childrens' lives are worth more than yours. Sorry, if that sounds horrible, but that is the reality of human nature. And all of this is terribly emotional stuff.

[guinivere]

8. Sorry. Your kids aren't worth any more than mine.

I don't understand why people gloss over the average joe Iraqi people that have died in this war. Are Iraqi civilian casualties kept under wraps to try to boost support for the war? Or are we truly not supposed to give a crap about them?

[liberalhistorian]

17. Thank you, you said it much better

than I did!

[cali]

2. I'm sorry

but this is a silly post. To the Lebanese, Lebanese children and citizens lives are worth more than Israeli lives, and visa versa. I mean, look at how Americans value the lives of American soldiers in Iraq and gloss over the lives of Iraqis. Tribalism is alive and well.

[liberalhistorian]

4. So, it's silly to say that all lives

are worthy and the lives of some children aren't worth more than others simply based on race and geography?

Why am I not surprised you would say that. :eyes:

[cali]

10. And why am I not surprised

that you don't understand something this basic? The worth of a life, on an emotional basis, is subjective. To me, my children have a value that they have to no one else, except their dad. Intellectually we can recognize that no life has anymore intrinsic worth than another. Emotionally, it's a different story, and that's how people relate: Those they love have a more profound value to them, than people they've never met.

[guinivere]

18. I dunno. I feel bad every time I hear that yet one more soldier

has died in Iraq. I have wondered why we don't hear more about all those Iraqi lives ruined and torn by this war. I feel bad when I hear of someone's illness or other misfortune. I feel bad for the Katrina victims.

And sorry, your kids aren't worth any more than mine or anybody else's.

[cali]

20. Why is it so hard for you to grasp

that it works on two different levels? Intellectually, I know that your children have every bit as much value as mine, emotionally, my children are worth more to me than yours. And frankly, anyone who's a parent who doesn't follow this, is either a terrible parent or lying.

[guinivere]

25. It isn't hard for me to grasp. All I am saying is that if you take

a step back, and imagine yourself in another person's situation, you can actually care about them and their woes.

Of course, to me, my kids are priceless.

[magellan]

21. cali, you make a good point

It's honest and, I think, explains the detachment we see.

Human nature being what it is, there probably isn't a way to teach people to value others as much as they value their own.

[cali]

22. Well,

probably not, but if we understand it, we can grapple with it. Deluding ourselves that we care equally for everybody is not a good start. We can't love people we don't know, as E.M. Forester said, the best we can do is tolerate them, a most underrated virtue. And we can apply our intellect. I care more for civilians in Iraq than American soldiers, because the soldiers signed up for it. That's an intellectual formula, not an emotional one.

[blonndee]

11. I don't value the lives of American soldiers

more than lives of Iraqis, and I find it sad that others do.

[cali]

23. As I said in another post

I value the lives of Iraqi civilians more than the lives of American soldiers, with one important caveat: I know two young men over there, friends of my son, and I do care about them, emotionally, more than anyone else.

[blonndee]

24. I know what you mean

about caring more emotionally--one of my oldest friends is in Afghanistan and of course when I hear of deaths there I naturally think first of him.

[liberalhistorian]

5. I would really like to think that we would all believe that,

that one life is not worth more than another simply due to an accident of birth in regards to race, geography, etc.

[porphyrian]

6. I guess that depends on who's buying it. - n/t

[Jara sang]

7. A human life isn't worth anything.

I believe that life isn't something that can be qualified. If intelligent life is indeed unique in the universe then human life would be a resource you wouldn't be able to qualify as there is nothing to compare it too. If you compare human life to other life forms on the planet then it is a most destructive force that will inevitably destroy all other life in the pursuit off it's own survival. Historically human life is not worth that much as it is applied to other humans. If you use the qualifier of "how readily one human is willing to take the life of another" and "apathy toward the death of other humans" then human life is all but worthless.

[Warren DeMontague]

9. Absolutely not! That's why all the nations in the area should immediately

sign peace treaties with all the other nations in the area- normalizing relations, accepting fully each other's complete and unequivocal right to exist, guaranteeing their right to be free from attacks or terrorism, and pledging that terrorists within their territory will be dealt with like the criminals they are. Ending the de facto state of war that has existed for the past 60 years.

PEACE! NOW!

[Emit]

12. The message I get from my teevee is that

the lives of the Israelis are more important than those of the Arabs because Israel is a democracy.

[Missy M]

13. No it is not!!!!

[cynatnite]

14. If every life was treated as equal to another...

we'd probably have a hell of a lot less killing on the planet.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

15. No. Unfortunately states and groups driven by nationalist fervor

will agree that one of they is worth 1000 of the other.

In the wake of 9/11 many of the more reactionary Americans would have certainly argued that one American death is worth more than a 1,000 or a million of the 'Ay-rabs.' Violent groups driven by the motive of the destruction of Israel would likely feel Israeli (Jewish in particular) lives aren't worth a fraction of what they consider to be their own. In the same light, the more right-wing of the Israeli leaders would feel the way about Palestinians and Lebanese.

It's a process of dehumanisation and it is the consequence of war.

[genie_weenie]

16. Here's the problem with this question.

Of course every life has value. But to me, the life of my family members is priceless. And to someone else their family members lives are priceless.

And that is the worst part. Every death is an infinite loss to mankind... Something never to be seen again.

But you can never *know* someone else's loss like your own and it doesn't take an extremely polished demagogue to take advantage of your pain.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

19. Life is life is life

I understand cali's posts as showing the emotional nature of things-that those near and dear to you would, in your mind, have more value. I'm sure that if I was in a ship that was sinking, I'd look to save my family first. But that wouldn't mean that I felt the other lives were less, and if I found my dear ones already drown, or telling me to save others, you can bet your bottom dollar I would be saving others as best I could. Life is life. All things are part of the Sacred, and all should be respected. To me, the greatest thing would be to have the ability to save a complete stranger-because it would show that I truly understand the concepts I espouse.