On the Alleged “Preciousness of Life”—An Analysis

By Lawrence Davidson

Part I—How Precious Can Human Life Really Be?

June 19, 2019 "Information Clearing House" -  There is a popular myth that all life is precious, particularly, of course, human life. The idea is popular enough to warrant college- level essays for sale on this topic. More seriously, the notion is promoted by Christians regardless of denomination, most loudly by those who concern themselves with the life of the unborn. Alas, such Christians often have very little to say about the quality of life of the born. The preciousness of life is also promoted by those who are Jewish, even as their Zionist brethren rob and kill Palestinians. Muslims, who are called upon by their God and Prophet to value all life, often hate each other (Sunni versus Shia) to the point of war. And this is just the hypocrisy of the religious. With the exception of some quite remarkable social-democratic states, the behavior of the secular governments can be just as bad if not worse.   

Clearly, the assertion that life is precious is one of those idealized maxims that everyone is expected to agree with. However, in practice, it is just as obvious that the notion is largely ignored. In truth, life, including human life, is very often treated with callous disregard. 

In the United States, if one only stops to think about it, this contradiction is glaring. For instance, is human life’s alleged precious worth even relevant to the behavior of the “Defense” Department, which until 18 September 1947, was more accurately named the War Department? American military operations in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq—almost always sanctioned by sanctimonious leaders citing firsthand knowledge of God’s will—have killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in the post-9/11period, and of course, that is on top of previous episodes of 20th century mass slaughter in Southeast Asia and Central America. The assumption that all this bloodletting was and is carried on in defense of the USA is so far-fetched as to be beyond credence. Today the United States aids in the killing of civilians in Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and Palestine. Based on practice, Washington’s denial of life’s preciousness seems without end. 

I was about to add that this disregard for human life is expressed most readily when the victims are innocents of other nationalities. However, upon consideration, this simply is not the case. The U.S. has laws and a powerful lobby that insist on the American citizen’s right to possess the means to slaughter its own innocent population. The lobby we are speaking of here is the National Rifle Association (NRA).