In this country (and the world) seems like value of person depends on thier money/power (FBI, regular)
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How important is a person life? How to determine the value a person has to rest of their society or even the world?
People whose life are important are given more attention in news. If they are in danger you will bodyguards, police or even military sent in to protect them. And of course every society gives them great respect and they power to influence the government. I do think in this world and even in the US, a wealthy and powerful person life is worth more than middle class or poorer persons life.
Let start by looking at who news gives more importance to. When celebrity or politician (both with power/money), the new reports will easily cover them. However, say college student sent in something to news it probably won't be covered at all.
2nd lets looks at how they protect in dangerous situations. Wealthy often have bodyguards and if get death threats you can bet the FBI will be watching them. And when finally die, like Steve Jobs, they might get huge news coverage talking about importance of their lives. Now, most middle class or poor people most like won't get bodyguards. In there are many people living in unsafe neighborhood and police aren't there in force to protect them! If one those poor homeless people die, you will probably won't hear peep out of newspapers.
Finally, let look power they have over people and the government. If some rich/powerful wants get people to do something they easily send info through news, TV ads, and flyers. If they want government to do something, they lobby them and even have in person meeting with the President. How many of middle class/lower class people will ever get chance to directly talk to President or be major influence in society? Probably not that many.
The simple equation here is more money and/or powerful you have more your life is value and celebrated in society.
The question is who is the judge and why do you give a flying dime about his opinion? For example, you don't pay attention to the opinions of asylum patients regarding your personality and worth, do you? Yet you are finely tuned to the outside opinions of more deserving folks who (supposedly) don't value you nearly enough. Let's just be honest here, do you want to be in the wealthy's shoes but you are not there (for whatever reason) and that's why you are so "sensitive" to the issue of value etc.?
BTW, Country, Society, World are abstractions they don't value anyone or anything.
A man’s worth was once measured by how much he owned, for in a world driven by material interests it was how much property you had that mattered. How times change, for now, in the topsy-turvy world of credit finance, it is not how much one owns, but how much one owes that counts. A man who owes little is of little consequence; whereas the man who owes millions is the bank’s best customer. (And if he’s insured, he’s worth more dead than alive!) A man’s true worth, however, is not measured by property or financial interests, but by the breath and depth of his character. Beyond this, little else matters.
We have a parasitic system model in my view. Regular Joe Bloe has to keep "earning" just to survive and try to keep up w/ "real" accelerating costs. So of course there is a focus on "money" for them. They need more of it all the time and it is getting harder to come by.
Then you have the Big Corp model, that values ever increasing "profit" above all else. This *is* how the success is measured.
Then you have Big Govt, that owns huge shares through investment funds nm all the taxes, lobbying, slush funds, control and so-called power. On top of that "money" has become debt (indebtedness i.e. enslavement). The belief that more "debt" is a good thing.
So for me there are no mysteries here. Just a flawed model.
It's all bs. If Brad Pitt or Michael Jordan were factory workers n needed a major operation it would go un noticed. But big time folks lives are unfortunately valued more than us peasants. In a sad sad world its all about $$$$$$$$$ . There are many everyday heroes, like my mom who worked n fought 15 against breast cancer but will only be famous to those who knew her. It's an unfair world we live in.
I think the value of people still comes down to supply and demand. Where it seems to skew is what is really in demand.
For instance, we love entertainment and demand high quality acting. Therefore, someone like Johnny Depp is worth $40 million a picture, because he is terrific at acting and more in demand than other potential actors.
In the business world, the demand is for business leaders with the skill and knowledge to earn big profits for their companies. Not many can do this, so those that can get more money due to huge demand, and little supply.
No matter how much we may want more for factory workers, there is far more supply of people who can operate the machinery in a factory than can run corporations, hit baseballs at a high percentage, etc. So they make less, struggle more.
You say the rich are more valued by the world society... But, that's because they bring more value to the world.
I think Checkered24 really hit a great deal of it on the head. But, consider personal responsibility, here. These people hold value because YOU (the individual) value them. Houston got a ton of press when she died because it is what the individuals that read the paper wanted to read. Did they want to read about the teacher that was able to influence an entire class to go to college? Maybe the teacher's contributions were worth more, but to less people. So, of course no one cares about the teacher. But, the individuals care about Whitney. The media knew this and so focused their reports on her and the individuals read it. The news agencies were right and the individuals confirmed it. If you acknowledged that she was just a singer, not much different from any other singer, and appreciated her work but cared little for the individual behind the music, the news agencies would not find a story there.
People of 'value' hold value because our society (the individuals that make up our society) have given them value. When people become unwilling to shell out millions of dollars for an artist's album (again, individuals within a society, no single individual pays millions to hear music), then you see the importance of these people diminish.
Who cares about the computer tech that can do the same thing as thousands of other computer techs? But, you get a tech that can set himself apart from the others (by, say, creating something important such as a new operating system or a web interface that everyone comes to use and love) then of course that person is going to hold higher value. They supplied something that no one else could (or at least did). Something that everyone wanted. But, when people quit wanting it, that value goes down (look at Blackberry).
Bottom line is... People are important because you make them so.
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