The Value of Life
Jul 27, 2006
Apparently Hezbollah miscalculated Israel’s response. It did not expect full-scale war; the group thought could exchange soldiers for its prisoners in Israel. Honestly, no normal person would have expected such a response; it only makes sense in the context of religious and ethnic supremacy where hundreds of Arab lives are seen equal to a Jewish one, if that.
It's strange to see such moral calculations. Just apply such "logic" to a different conflict, say the Pacific theatre of the Second World War. Approximately 2.6 million Japanese lost their lives versus approximately 100,000 Americans who were killed.
Ergo, 1 American is worth 26 Japanese. Not to mention, the cruel disproportionality of the whole thing. How dare the Americans kill more of the enemy including hundreds of thousands of civilians while calling themselves morally superior!
As though morality in war depends on mediocre lethality.
Update
Another example of bad moral arithmetic, though in a different context.
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