Value of a human life

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Kloofvreter

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I just read this article on IOL. Now what I'm posting here has nothing to do with what the article is about. I just want to know, am I the only person who thinks in this way?

She referred to the fact that Odendaal was killed in her own home for a few meagre items, including a tube of lip ice.

"Was her life worth a tube of lip ice?" she asked.
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What happened here is terrible, make no mistake, but she was not killed for the lip ice. I'm 100% sure the criminals didn't think "Hey, she's got lip ice, lets kill her and take it." The same with a journalist reporting a guy being "killed for R5". Any thoughts on this?:confused:
 
To a criminal the value of life is irrelevant. Because the value (whatever it may be) was not his to begin with, so how can he/she appreciate it. All that matters to a would-be-criminal is what can be his/her's.
 
Perhaps it's not about stealing then? Rather about killing someone for the fukc of it and then taking whatever they have? Because even the stupidest thief would not kill someone if they know they are only going to get R5 or a tube of lip ice?
 
South African common law says that if someone is killed in the commission of a crime, even if the criminal did not intend it, they can still be charged for murder.

I don't know if that has changed since 1994, but that was how it used to be.

The problem is not that the criminal has no regard for human life, and someone ends up dying in the process of the crime. The problem is that the criminal does not value the human life in order to preserve it even despite the process of a crime. That is what he is being charged with murder for.
 
I think here in SA it is more a fact of we kill and maybe we are lucky and get something of worth. If not, well too bad for the victim we'll go and look for somebody else to kill as to get something better. I mean what does it matter to kill, seeing that we get away with it most of the times. And if we do get caught we go to prison for a while where we can bribe wardens to look after us and even let us go should we want to.:mad:

This is why criminals have no respect for life and will keep on killing for nothing!:mad:
 
Garyvdh said:
The problem is not that the criminal has no regard for human life, and someone ends up dying in the process of the crime. The problem is that the criminal does not value the human life in order to preserve it even despite the process of a crime. That is what he is being charged with murder for.
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I agree with what you write, but what I said is that in this case (and many others), it is not accurate to say she was killed for a tube of lip ice. That would mean the thief walks up to her with the intention of killing her in order to take the lip ice. This is how the media makes the killing sound more redicilous than it already is. Hope it makes sense?
 
Slootvreter said:
I just read this article on IOL. Now what I'm posting here has nothing to do with what the article is about. I just want to know, am I the only person who thinks in this way?



What happened here is terrible, make no mistake, but she was not killed for the lip ice. I'm 100% sure the criminals didn't think "Hey, she's got lip ice, lets kill her and take it." The same with a journalist reporting a guy being "killed for R5". Any thoughts on this?:confused:
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I agree with you that criminals don't kill for R5, a life to a criminal is worth NOTHING.
 
Referring to Wilson Mapadahanya, 52, who was shot dead by Matlala in Lynnwood Road, Van Basten said "he is just another statistic".

Mapadahanya was a gardener who was shot near the house where he worked.

She also referred to the fact that Mapadahanya's killers walked away laughing after shooting him.
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The guy also shot a gardener shortly before. What was he going to take from him? His spade?
Van Basten said Matlala, who was this week convicted on 10 charges following a three-day crime rampage last October, clearly planned to continue his violent rampage.

He concentrated on one spot in Lynnwood Manor and all his targets were within 1.5km of each other.
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It seems that robbery was an afterthought.
 
Nod said:
The guy also shot a gardener shortly before. What was he going to take from him? His spade?

It seems that robbery was an afterthought.
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You sound like you understand what I am trying to say? I'm not talking about the actual crime here (which is horrific by the way), but the way the media puts it.
 
Slootvreter said:
I agree with what you write, but what I said is that in this case (and many others), it is not accurate to say she was killed for a tube of lip ice. That would mean the thief walks up to her with the intention of killing her in order to take the lip ice. This is how the media makes the killing sound more redicilous than it already is. Hope it makes sense?
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Ja, I understand what you are saying. But I don't think the journalists are wrong for pointing it out. As others have already said... a person's life means nothing to these guys... so the media is not over-playing it.
 
Garyvdh said:
Ja, I understand what you are saying. But I don't think the journalists are wrong for pointing it out. As others have already said... a person's life means nothing to these guys... so the media is not over-playing it.
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So you don't agree with me :D If a guy happens to carry $10,000,000 is his pocket and gets rubbed out for that, the media probably wouldn't make it sound so ridiculous (as if trying to comfort the family or the victim), because the killing appears to be more 'profitable' for the thief. Example, 'Woman's life worth a tube of lip ice' versus 'Business man killed and robbed'. ;)
 
Slootvreter said:
So you don't agree with me :D If a guy happens to carry $10,000,000 is his pocket and gets rubbed out for that, the media probably wouldn't make it sound so ridiculous (as if trying to comfort the family or the victim), because the killing appears to be more 'profitable' for the thief. Example, 'Woman's life worth a tube of lip ice' versus 'Business man killed and robbed'. ;)
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no, not at all. Just like I condemn people who rashly chase after thieves abd confront them to get their car back. Your life is always worth far more than that. It does not matter the size or the value of the objects. All that matters is that a human life is precious. And I don't think the media are wrong for playing on that. Whatever they can do to show the value of life is a good thing.

If the article read "man's life worth only $10,000,000" it would still be too little in my eyes. A human life is worth far more than that.
 
Already I see difficulty in trying to explain what I mean. Regardless of the fact that someone was killed and what was taken from them, the media has a way of 'sensationalizing' things like this, which is what I disagree with.
 
Slootvreter said:
Already I see difficulty in trying to explain what I mean. Regardless of the fact that someone was killed and what was taken from them, the media has a way of 'sensationalizing' things like this, which is what I disagree with.
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Murder deserves to be sensationalised! Anything that will draw attention to it and help bring it to an end.

But I do understand what you are saying. They should do it across the board. Not just highlight those stories where the motive appears to have been for something of little value. Point taken.
 
While I certainly agree that criminals who kill their victims have little or no regard for human life, I find it laughable that people seem to think this would all stop if the penalties were harsher.

By that logic, someone who rapes only goes through with the act because he feels that the act itself is worth spending a few years in jail for if he gets caught, and someone who kills feels that spending a few years in jail is not so bad. At least he got that tube of lip-ice right?

If we want to stop things like this from happening, we need to stop breeding people who have no regard for other people's suffering. Catching someone after they have comitted a murder does not bring back the person who suffered at their hands. It certainly cannot quell the sense of loss that their families and loved ones must feel.
 
The actual crimes committed are not what I am trying to talk about here, but the way the media labels it. Looks like a difficult concept to convey...
 
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