The Value Of Human Life

Picture living in a community where every minute of every day you were hungry, under-clothed, and afraid death because you are poor. A world in which child dies of hunger every 5 seconds. Now imagine waking up and your biggest problem was which sweater to wear with which jeans. Even though this seems hard to imagine, this life of poverty has been a reality for most people for ages. Before the1900s, few wealthy people would ever think about poverty. Two prominent authors were Garrett Hardin and Peter Singer, who wrote essays about human poverty. They questioned whether to confront the issue of poverty or to ignore it. The first essay is "Life Ethics: the Case Against Helping the Poor" from the

Therefore, to give up one’s luxuries so that less fortunate human beings can actually acquire necessities is a fair and simple request. Humans don’t need luxuries such as frivolous electronics and excessive clothes and accessories. However, humans do need food, shelter and other basic amenities. The fact that so many people have both necessities and luxuries while others have neither is a shocking reality that needs to be changed.

In this article Massingale highlights the lack of concern for the marginalized in America by comparing Hurricane Katrina to a similar hurricane in Cuba where different precautions were taken and no one died. Katrina on the other hand, killed at least 1,706 people most of which were poor, black, elderly, or otherwise disadvantaged in society. Massingale explains three factors that contribute to our country’s “cultured” indifference to the poor. The first is the idea that poverty is the fault of the poor. Since America is regarded as the “land of opportunity” those who do not thrive here are viewed as careless and lazy. The second factor is the value we place on material objects—the more you have the more you are worth. The third factor is how

Historically, “ideas of Black inferiority and White superiority have been embedded in multiple aspects of American culture, and many images and ideas in contemporary popular culture continue to devalue, marginalize, and subordinate non-White racial populations”. Racism has influenced decades of land use, housing patterns, and infrastructure development. With the creation of housing subdivisions, the white and wealthy moved to modern communities, while the non-white and poor were left to live in areas that were rundown. Today, we see that in some cases, zoning laws have fueled environmental, as well as residential, racism. In certain communities around the nation, “expulsive” zoning has pushed out residents, and allowed industries to move into communities, and pollute the land, air, and water. These zoning laws define land for residential, commercial, or industrial uses, and impose narrower land-use restrictions. In this case certain individuals are forced to leave their community, and give any property they have up to these “dirty” industries. Without more stringent enforcement mechanisms and penalties in place, this nation will continue to see this type of discrimination and environmental racism.

The assigned readings offered an engaging view of the new suburban life emerging in California during the postwar years of the 1940s and 1950s. During this time, California was becoming heavily populated and was experiencing an increased demand for housing. In Holy Land, D.J. Waldie discussed the rise of the suburbs in Southern California, the creation of tract housing and shopping centers, and the 1950s illusion that everyone could be middle class (Waldie, 4-85). As suburban areas were developing and emerging within Southern California, a neighborhood was challenging the conservative norm of the time by allowing racial diversity within the area. In What 's Good for Boyle Heights is Good for the Jews, George J. Sánchez 's tells the forgotten history of Boyle Heights, a suburb of Los Angeles, praised for being one of America 's first communities to embrace racial diversity. During a time of severe bigotry against African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Latino-Americas, Jewish residents of Boyle Heights were able to respect and accept minorities of color living within their community (Sánchez, 633-657). The postwar years in California demonstrated the extraordinary power the state had in developing suburbs and how a small district within the Los Angeles area was able to challenge the status quo on racial diversity.

Like Hundley, Deverell and Sitton emphasize the Progressive political impulse and its expression in Roosevelt’s New Deal, historically important with the largest water projects taking place during this period. Water and Los Angeles is more a collection of period documents highlighting the efforts to harness the Los Angeles, Owens and ultimately the Colorado Rivers than an interpretive effort. Conceptually, however, the book is important in highlighting a fundamental truth of California’s growth: man is ultimately the master of the environment and when man seeks to act decisively he can, through brute force, reshape the environment to meet his needs. In encasing the Los Angeles River and its tributaries in concrete, man resolved the issue of floods. In encasing the Owens River and forcing to flow into the San Fernando Valley, man resolved the issue (at least temporarily) of inadequate supply. In harnessing the Colorado and making it flow over mountains and in alternative channels, man made possible greater growth and the acquisition of greater wealth and power. Controlling these three rivers, however modest the Los Angeles was, demonstrated man’s ultimate

Peter Singer’s central idea focuses around how grim death and suffering from lack of food, shelter and medical care really is. He further argues that if we can prevent something this unfortunate from happening, without sacrificing anything morally significant, we ought to do it. In other words, as privileged citizens, we ought to prevent all of the death and suffering that we can from lack of food, shelter and medical care from happening by giving our money and resources to charity (Chao, 2016, in-class discussion). In the terms of this argument, death and suffering from poverty are preventable with the

Living a life in poverty is a game of “would you rather”. Would you rather eat dinner or pay rent? Would you rather pay rent or get your kids new shoes? Would you rather get your kids new shoes or take them to the doctor? “You eat fast-food, or the hot dogs and styrofoam cups of soup that can be microwaved in a convenience store. If you have no money for health insurance...you go without care...and pay the price” (98).

The lower region in Loma Linda in California is a bore, a drag, an uneventful livelihood, a calm, a home, a quiet night, an established community, an utter disappointment. Loma linda is the born and raised, wood and glass and flowers and warmth, cracked streets and leaf-coated driveways and dust-covered cars, churches and grocery stores and farmers markets and gas stations and pho restaurants. Its inhabitants are, as many would say, “Racists, poor people, students, and rich old white men.” by which they would mean everyone. Another person’s perspective may have been, “ Proud Americans, humble folks, geniuses, and hardworking retirees.” and they would have meant the same thing.

Singer in his book “The Life You Can Save” wrote that : “…when we spend our surplus on concerts or fashionable shoes, on fine dining and good wines, or on holidays in faraway lands, we are doing something wrong” (Singer, “The Life You Can Save” 18). He means that if we are spending our surplus on ourselves, on our pleasure and happiness, for us these luxuries are worth more than a child's life. Singer tries to persuade people that they should give up extra money that they have in order to help other people. He demands people to put interests of others before their own. His argument is too extreme, because it is an unrealistic that people will sacrifice their all luxuries, to which they are accustomed, to help to a

Peter Singer, a prominent moral philosopher and public intellectual, has written at length about many ethical issues. He subscribes to utilitarianism, which is the position that the best moral action is that which maximizes the well-being of conscious entities; this view is made apparent through his writings. In his essay What Should a Billionaire Give—and What Should You? Singer presents the idea that although the rich are capable of mitigating extreme poverty, there has been little improvement for the poorest 10 percent of the world’s population. He maintains that all life is equal and, therefore, saving the lives of the poor is a moral imperative for those who can afford to. “We are far from acting in accordance to that belief,”

Across the world, through many people do not have the basics for survival. It is a global issue that continues to get worse on a daily basis. Yet, what can we do about it? Does it affect us? Lenferne discusses this issue at length and compares a multitude of ethical viewpoints, the most prominent argument put forth is one that discusses the ability of those who are more fortunate to spend lavishly yet, it only takes is a few dollars to feed many of the needy. She points

Improvements in the quality of life as well as the increasingly growing economy have made modernday cities like Los Angeles, once again, attractive places to live in. Despite the popularity of urbanization, many problematic areas trouble urban planners. Among them, air pollution and affordable housing are two of the most worrisome problems. But when these two are compiled and affordable living units are placed in highly polluted places, the scale of the problem becomes even bigger. In spite of the undeniable health risks tied to living near freeways, the city of Los Angeles continues to approve permits to develop in these highly polluted places. On one hand, health experts, residents, and a small number of city officials oppose development

A common saying is that “money makes the world go round.” People in developed nations, specifically the United States, often strive to become rich and live a life filled with indulgences and luxuries. A topic of debate, however, is whether or not this way of living is selfish, and if we, as humans, have a responsibility to adopt alternate lifestyles that best fight poverty and promote the rise of adequate, healthy lifestyles. Both Dorothy Day in Loaves and Fishes and Peter Singer in “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” acknowledge the consequences of the desire for excessive amounts of money and, alternatively, advocate for a lifestyle of voluntary poverty.

Nowadays human dignity is everywhere, to the public place, to the political, economic, social or medical concept. Dignity is defined as a moral, legal, ethical or political term that means a being has an innate right to be treating equitability.