Value in Human Life? Part I

Over the last week or so I have encountered several things that got me thinking about this topic.

Does life have value?

This past week I heard the quote, "Human life has no intrinsic value." I don't agree with it, but it got me thinking...does life have value, simply for being life, or does it only have value based on what it accomplishes?

I have been reading The Hunger Games, and am almost done with the last book. I, personally, really like the story, but at the same time, it is extremely disturbing. What makes it so disturbing is the total disregard for the value of human life exhibited by many of the characters, and the entertainment value that so many derive from watching people, kids, slaughter each other. In the books (just in case you know nothing about them) 24 teenagers are forced to fight in the "Hunger Games," which are a nationally televised fight to the death that serve as a way for the government (The Capitol) to control the people, but also as a huge source of entertainment for the citizens of The Capitol.

For lots of people in our world today, the concept of watching people kill each other for amusement and entertainment seems horrid, at least initially, but sadly. I don't think that people, in general, are nearly as horrified at the concept as they portray.


Human death for entertainment is not a new idea. The Romans perfected it, and really, the gladiator fights/arenas was one source of inspiration for Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games. During this time, general citizens would gather to watch as people brutally slaughtered on another, or were torn apart by wild animals. They cheered, laughed, cried, enjoyed snacks, and when it was over, they went about their day, as if nothing happened, because, to them, nothing had happened, it was simply a form of entertainment, like a movie or concert for us today.

Humanity has, thankfully, progressed past that...or have we? I am not aware of gladiator fights, mass executions for public amusement that occur in the world today, though I would not be surprised if they exist somewhere, but I don't think we have lost that mindset.

Let's look at American society today. For entertainment, people watch movies, harmless enough... However, how many of these movies are filled with death and murder, often violent, often brutal. We have movies about war, movies adapted from books, such as The Hunger Games, and movies based on the gladiator fights (Gladiator). We then have movies countless horror films in which people are savagely and brutally, not just killed, but maimed and mutilated, and all of these has throngs of people flocking to them, to pay $10 or more, to spend 2-3 hours of their life, to be entertained by watching people die, or kill.

It's not real though! It's different than watching someone in an arena really get killed...Is it? In some ways it is, sure. Even though the images are the same, you know that what is happening isn't really happening. It's all an illusion for the screen. Still, what if it wasn't, would we still watch it? Would we still enjoy it? The movie Untraceable explored this in the story of a killer who set up elaborate traps that would kill his victims only when people logged on to his website to watch them die. The more people who logged on to watch, the faster the victim died, and people logged on, because people are fascinated with watching death.

Still though, that was a movie. Let me ask, how many of you have ever viewed a YouTube video of someone dying? I'm sure that many of you have not, but I would bet that most Americans have. Not some camera trick or movie, but actual video footage of someone dying, usually by accident, but dying all the same. Those videos are out there because people watch them.

Now, let's look at something else. MMA, of any kind. This sport is ridiculously popular in our society, and people pay to watch it. What is it? At its core, this is watching people fight. Now, granted, it is not to the death (though there have been some cases of death resulting from MMA fights), but it does often result in injuries, blood, broken body parts, suffocation and loss of consciousness, and we enjoy this. We, as a society, are entertained by the pain, injuries, and even deaths of others.

I would argue, with our fascination with death and violence, and our love for reality TV, that it would not be too great of a stretch to imagine some sort of gladiator-like "sport" returning to society. I imagine it being something like the movie The Condemned, where death row inmates fight to the death, with the winner gaining freedom, or some other prize. Afterall, these people would already be sentenced to death, why not make their deaths into a sport, entertain people, charge to watch, which will help pay for the cost of prisons and production costs for the show, things of that nature. Or, we could simply televise executions on Pay-per-View. Whatever it is, I would not at all be surprised to see some sort of real televised deaths in our future.

All of this, however, forces us to ask the question again: Does human life have any intrinsic value, or is its value derived from what it does, what it offers? If we get such entertainment and satisfaction out of injury and death, it would seem that life does not have intrinsic value, and sometimes the loss of life may be more valuable because of what it offers in the form of entertainment to the masses. Then again, if human life truly had no intrinsic value, why would stories and actual occurrences of people being killed for sport/entertainment leave such a distasteful/disturbing taste in our mouths?

So which is it? Well, as I said before, I believe human life does have intrinsic value, but I will wait till the next post to go into why, because this one is already way too long.