One Death is a Tragedy; One Million is a Statistic - Joe Paterno and the American Ostrich

As a media frenzy surrounds the death of embattled Penn state coach Joe Paterno, I wonder how many innocent lives have been taken by Western forces in Iraq in the past 24 hours, or Afghanistan, or Pakistan, or Yemen, or perhaps Libya, because from what I hear people are still dying there, too.

It’s possible that hundreds of people were murdered in the past 24 hours by the military-industrial complex. Aren’t their lives worth something?

Doesn’t this lack of priority and compassion show how out of touch this country is about the value of human life?

Why does the natural death of one old man, who has done relatively little for society, overshadow the countless number of innocent lives that are lost in war each and every day? Why is there no sympathy or public outcry for the souls of these innocent people who have been taken from this earth well before their time? Do the suffering children of the Third World need to get involved in televised sports for people in the West to show some sympathy for the abhorrent conditions that they are forced to endure on a daily basis?

Today’s public outcry surrounding the death of Joe Paterno shows just how disconnected from reality Americans really are. The corporate media in this country is sensationalizing this death; meanwhile, it has been reported that the US is deploying 12,000 more troops to Libya, and the EU has announced that they will be imposing unprecedented sanctions on Iran, which have the potential to kill millions of children and disrupt the lives of an entire country.

Even if we forget about the recent shame that has been cast upon Joe Paterno and the rest of the Penn State staff, it is still a great injustice that his life holds more value in the hearts of Americans than the millions of people overseas who had their lives cut short.

There is a very sick idea in this country that American lives are somehow worth more than the lives of those who are living outside of our geographical area. We can see this in how our media and education systems talk about war and how a subhuman image is projected on those who happen to live somewhere else in the world. Even worse, we place people who have money and status on a pedestal, while at the same time completely debasing everyone else on the planet.

No single life is worth more than another, regardless of how much money one has or what geographical area on the earth they happen to call home. With that said, I feel that people in this country really need to get their priorities together and understand that when a defenseless child dies overseas, their life is worth just as much as the president of the United States . . . or even Joe Paterno.

J.G. Vibes – is an author, and artist — with an established record label. In addition to featuring a wide variety of activist information, his company — Good Vibes Promotions promotes for electronic dance music events. You can keep up with him and his forthcoming book Alchemy Of The Modern Renaissance, at his Facebook page. AOTMR will be released this spring, thanks to Leilah Publications. This project features nearly 100 different essays, just like this one, that cover a wide variety of topics. These essays give historical and philosophical insight into the many important issues that our generation faces. From banking cartels and alternative currency to eugenics and the drug war, AOTMR offers a complete and comprehensive breakdown of the counter culture’s struggle.