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Don't you hate it when someone steals your blog post? OK ... maybe "steal" is a strong word ... since Jay published it before I did, but it was in my head! I swear!!
In Jay's "Some Observations ..." , a post about the Tucson shootings, one of the things he touches on is how society artificially elevates the value of people.
As I mentioned in my comment on his post, I know that a Federal Judge, a 30-year old man who was recently engage and a 9-year old girl (born on 9/11/2001 and featured in a book about 9/11 babies) were killed in the gunfire. I know that Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford was shot in the head - a through-and-through wound contained to just one side of her brain.
I know NOTHING about the other three people killed nor the other 13 (I'm not even sure that number is accurate) who were wounded ... my guess is because they were just "normal" people. People like you and me. People who are a few rungs lower on the "human value" ladder.
That is what disturbs me most about the tragedy in Tucson.
Not that Jared Lee Loughner was able to legally purchase a gun.
Not that, after one Walmart denied him the purchase of ammunition, a second one allowed it.
Not that Sarah Palin used cross-hair targets on a map.
Not that the media, in their attempt to improve ratings, claimed Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford had died and then had to retract that statement.
No, what bothered me most is that we, as a society, place value on the loss of people, and that value is not equal.
Congresswomen are more valuable than corporate executives.
Federal Judges are a greater loss than fast-food workers.
Childrens' deaths are more tragic than those of construction workers.
We do it all of the time.
A homeless man is found frozen to death. We might have a moment of "Wow! That's too bad," and then we go about our day without another thought.
We hear about a gang-related shooting in [insert the name of the big city nearest you] and we think, "Stupid gang-bangers. Thank goodness there are a few less of them on the street."
We will never stop the irrational actions of individuals, but we can start valuing human life.
ALL human life.
Equally.
Don't you hate it when someone steals your blog post? OK ... maybe "steal" is a strong word ... since Jay published it before I did, but it was in my head! I swear!!In Jay's "Some Observations ..." , a post about the Tucson shootings, one of the things he touches on is how society artificially elevates the value of people.
As I mentioned in my comment on his post, I know that a Federal Judge, a 30-year old man who was recently engage and a 9-year old girl (born on 9/11/2001 and featured in a book about 9/11 babies) were killed in the gunfire. I know that Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford was shot in the head - a through-and-through wound contained to just one side of her brain.
I know NOTHING about the other three people killed nor the other 13 (I'm not even sure that number is accurate) who were wounded ... my guess is because they were just "normal" people. People like you and me. People who are a few rungs lower on the "human value" ladder.
That is what disturbs me most about the tragedy in Tucson.
Not that Jared Lee Loughner was able to legally purchase a gun.
Not that, after one Walmart denied him the purchase of ammunition, a second one allowed it.
Not that Sarah Palin used cross-hair targets on a map.
Not that the media, in their attempt to improve ratings, claimed Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford had died and then had to retract that statement.
No, what bothered me most is that we, as a society, place value on the loss of people, and that value is not equal.
Congresswomen are more valuable than corporate executives.
Federal Judges are a greater loss than fast-food workers.
Childrens' deaths are more tragic than those of construction workers.
We do it all of the time.
A homeless man is found frozen to death. We might have a moment of "Wow! That's too bad," and then we go about our day without another thought.
We hear about a gang-related shooting in [insert the name of the big city nearest you] and we think, "Stupid gang-bangers. Thank goodness there are a few less of them on the street."
We will never stop the irrational actions of individuals, but we can start valuing human life.
ALL human life.
Equally.
~*~*~
19 comments:
The other 3 people were a man who protected his wife, his high school sweetheart, and saved her life.
An elderly woman who was a snowbird, quilter and worked in her church.
A 30 year old man who worked for the Congresswoman.
An elderly woman, 76 whose husband survived but she did not.
All these people were mentioned on the broadcast news last evening and I've heard their stories several times. All human life is valuable. It is no less valuable because some don't see it that way.
There are many times where I am happy that no one notices me. I don't ever want people to see me coming.
All of a sudden they get to their destination and see me there way ahead of them. And they wonder how I got there.
But I agree with you Dana, we as a society do view some as more important than others. And heaven help you if you were born butt ugly. I remember a 20/20 show where they mocked two women breaking down on the highway. The good looking, sexy one got a lot more help than the old frumpy lady.
It's sad and sometimes I wonder if it is built into our genetic code.
Just tweeted this post. I'd never thought about it like that.
Good post.
It wasn't until I read the New Yorker article yesterday that I realized some of the other victims like the man who saved his high school sweetheart by giving his own life. I also hadn't heard about the people who were the true heroes of the day - the 61yr old woman who grabbed the clip he was trying to get to reload, etc.
It's kind of like the newscasters who are looking for a "reason she may have deserved it". Who deserves death in a situation like this? Valuing life is something that seems only good enough when we are talking about abortion or the death penalty.
Sadly.
I'll start by saying that I loved this post and I agree with you.
On my drive into work, though, the radio folks had a different twist on why the gunman is being so publicized and that is for awareness. I scoffed and almost changed the tuner, but they're right in that we have this greedy thirst for information: what did he look like, so I can determine if it'll happen here; was he in trouble much, cause my kid is and it could be a flag.
It continued this way my entire drive in. It gave me a bit of perspective... but still didn't change the fact that I think they're sometimes getting the attention they were after.
Charlene, I'd be hard-pressed to believe that most people think the way that you do.
Joker_SATX, built into our genetic code? No ... I think it's more built into our moral fiber, and that worries me.
Gina, *grins*
Yup. All life is precious and should be valued.
Can't wait til this dude who did this get's executed by the government!
Emmy, I watch a lot (too much) of news, and it just keeps nagging at me that their are families grieving their own loss who are never even acknowledged. Not that they demand validation, but that neglecting to mention them implies they aren't as important.
Anna, we often want to rationally explain irrational behavior. It cannot be done :)
Jay, *gigglesnort* You know, while writing this post I actually forced myself to rethink my position on the death penalty. *GASP* I know ... hard to believe ...
Great post and I agree with you. It's difficult, though, to wrap my head around valuing Loughner's life ... intellectually, if I value all life, I should value his, too... but my heart says, "fry the bastard."
I would respond to this but I'm gay and my opinion doesn't matter. HA HA !!
Applause!!
Very good points and valid. We discussing this last night at the ER while we watched the news waiting for my tests. We just shocked that they were focusing on 3 victims really and not mentioning the others except as a lump sum number. We did, however, on a different newscast see the station list each and every individual with a story behind them. It was touching and brought it closer. Kudos to that station unfortunately, I don't remember which one.
But, I think you are correct in summarizing that we as a society do value life of others differently. It depends upon who you are, what you do and how you were wounded or killed. It is disheartening to think that not all life has the same value but I like to hold out hope for humanity that they truly do not think this way.
I'm trying Dana, but I just cannot value the life of some truly horrible people equally with all others. Valuing ALL human life is a great statement to make and sounds good in theroy, I can picture it, all of the people in the world holding hands and singing Kum-By-Ya around the campfire..but you know that ain't gonna happen.
Here is my take...I believe that we are all here as a result of a crapshoot. It could have been another egg and sperm meeting up and then I wouldn't even be typing this. As far as I'm concered, I already won the life lottery. Now, that I AM here on this earth, should I be doing the best I can, for myself and my for fellow man? Yes, I should. But what if my fellow man (another crapshoot result) doesn't see things this way? What if my fellow man happens to be a Jeffery Dahmer, a Pol Pot, an Idi Amin or an Adolph Eichmann? Are you telling me that their lives are even remotely equal to Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King or Abraham Lincoln? I don't. I would value the latter lives much more than the former. Call me heartless, but yes, in many cases, lives of certain indivdiuals are worth more than others. *shrugs* Hell, I'll even say it, some lives are even worth more than mine.
That all being said, I do agree that the news media needed to give information on all the shooting victims in this tragedy, not just a select few.
hey...remember me?
I completely agree with what you said about equal value of human life.
And that all of the victims...wounded and killed should be remembered equally, and the coverage should be about all of them.
One of the reasons they are treated differently is that the congresswoman, the judge and the child make the crimes different.
Shooting a congresswoman is attempted assignation as opposed to attempted murder. The death of a federal judge makes it a federal crime, not just a state crime. And killing a child qualifies him for the death penalty...one of the qualifiers.
That being said...Gabe...the 30 year old...was a great kid. As an adult he was spending his life doing something meaningful...and he is greatly mourned by many here.
s/b assassination
lord I hate autocorrect
"Congresswomen are more valuable than corporate executives."
This is true. There's nothing lower than a CEO right now.
Just blogging around this afternoon and found your blog. Seems like there is a mixed bag of thoughts on this subject. I Personally believe we are all important for different reasons. If I wasn't so ordinary, then the congress women wouldn't have been so important. I contributed two lives to the next generationm, and we are the ones that put her in her office.
I remember when Ros Perot, was doing his debate when he was running for office. He said why do congressman get free hair cuts and special parking places. We don't get those. Who do they think pays their salries? When we make them special we forget they chose to be public servants, that is their job. He said, no parking spaces, freebees,and maybe then they will get it straight who works for who.
With that being said, how about the nine year old girl who will never get to live that life. How do you know what she would have accomplished. It's sad that any of this violence took place. For the congress lady and all the other, but one certainly was not more important then the other.
Susan
http://amazingcouponanddiscountdeals.blogspot.com
http://susan-livinghealthywithchallenges.blogspot.com
Not much to say that hasn't already been said. Great post but what I really appreciated was Susan's comment. (above mine)
I know about each person who died. Their stories have all over the news. Maybe not on the highlight or the crawl, but they have been discussed in the full news stories.
All life is precious, yes. And in this situation all each death was equally tragic. But in general I feel it is more tragic when someone dies young. Just this week my friend's 35 year old husband died and another friend's 92 year old grandpa died. Both situations are horrible loss, but, as an outsider, I think the loss of the young husband and father is more tragic than the loss of someone who has lived a full life.
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