Wednesday, October 05, 2005None of it makes any sense, no point to even try - Self Defence
A recent e-mail conversation ended, me shaking my head. The topic - The cost of war, cost of Katrina, the cost of 9/11 vs. the US dollars generated. The conversation thought provoking and cordial enough. Clearly two different mindsets. I mean no offense. This has to be said. When he spoke of the "cost" I was thinking in lives, not dollars.
posted by Helen at 7:49 AM
12 Comments:
Very high in both terms. Those of us fortunate enough not to pay with our lives or the life of a loved one, will pay dearly in other ways.
I think a lot of people are doing that right now, probably because the media keeps throwing this huge numbers in the billions at us.
To bad they don't concentrate more on the human impact.
If it bleeds, it leads. Sadly, that's the media mantra. It's almost as though they'd prefer to see more death & destruction. For them, bad news is good news.
The media has gotten so much of it wrong, so I'm not likely to let the media do my thinking for me. I know better.
It's unfortunate, but that seems to be the way most of society gauges cost. Dollars seem to mean more to most than lives and personal well-being.
It never fails, day in day out, you hear how much a tragedy will cost the government. What about the cost of one's memories, feelings, hopes, dreams, fears...taken away, shattered or come to light.
May we all be blessed with never having to hear how our world falling apart is going to cost too much money.
I have always hated the media trend of putting everything in dollar terms. We "cost" companies millions of dollars every day just going to the bathroom or taking an extra minute to get to work, etc.
The person who works out a system to stop analyst firms calculating the "cost" in dollar terms of wars, and coming up with a better way to describe it, should be up for a medal or something.
I have to agree with cube! When the media reports any life lost events, they seem to be almost disappointed if the life loss is not as great or greater than anticipated! Sad!
But does that mean that many peope would not tune in if that were not the case. Faira
A friend and I were speaking about this today. It is amazing how neo-liberal economics tends to color our sense of reality and how reality becomes about dollars and not the human element. While trying to understand why, it is a concept lost to me, we examined the idea of specialization in this world and how issues of specialization has created a society of blind people living in separate universe, so to speak. Furthermore, our society in general focuses our sense of “success” on the good ol’ dollar. Things replace human relationships and commerce replaces community. And the news, of course, is nothing more than part of this big machine that keeps the status quo. I am continuously saddened by people who see “cost” in terms of money instead of in concern with the human element. All we can do, really, is what you did—open up the dialogue and ask someone to see from a different point of view. It does not come easy but sometimes it can work. Keep the faith! Rebecca
What there needs to be is more people like yourself to come out and speak up. It is time to turn the tide and realise that not only will nature strike back at us, but now with increasing force until we somehow get it and stop doing it to ourselves.
"The cost of war, cost of Katrina, the cost of 9/11 vs. the US dollars generated."
Here's some food for thought about lives and not dollars:
How many lives is the GLOBAL community willing to sacrifice before said community is willing to say "Islamic terrorism is no longer acceptable, anywhere"?
Probably not a welcome viewpoint, but a different one submitted respectfully and in earnest.
It would be nice to be able to give peace a chance.
awesome link
http://knockinonthegoldendoor.mu.nu/archives/125111.php#more
:o)>
Jeff voiced my thoughts. (Rebecca,too.) Utterly chilling the different mindsets, isn't it? I bet you felt visceral shudders reading that email. Terrific post!
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