The Cycle of Sacrifice

[feotakahari]

 I give a lot of reasons for why I’m a Utilitarian. To be honest, only one of them really matters. I flip out easily at the concept of acceptable loss of human life.

Don’t get me wrong. I recognize that you don’t always have the power, resources, knowledge, or opportunity to save everyone. Sometimes all you can do is help a few people, because you don’t have any better ideas for how to help more. I don’t begrudge anyone for doing the best they can with what they can.

But when loss of life is accepted, it’s so often planned into perpetuity. When a serpent handler dies from snakebite, newspapers interview his or her congregation. They always take it in stride, because God must have wanted him or her to die then, and they continue these practices in full knowledge that more people will die from them in the future. Avoidable death becomes just another part of the cycle, and they lose track of the idea that living has value.

Or compare the proud patriot who thinks American soldiers must constantly fight to stop terrorists. Wars aren’t to be questioned, because saying they were unnecessary denigrates the soldiers who died for them. War becomes an ongoing background, something that will never end and should never be expected to end, and flag-draped coffins are a part of the cycle.

People die all the time, and rarely for the right reasons. People died to dig the Panama Canal, and people are dying to build soccer stadiums in Qatar. People die because they had no food, or water, or shelter, or simply because no one cared enough to help them. Then the people who lived come up with reasons why others dying was actually okay, and why the systems that killed them should be kept in place. But at the very least, we can plan for fewer deaths this time than last time. We can look at how and why people died, and we can decide what to do differently to reduce the toll. 

That’s why I’m a Utilitarian, because we strive for the greatest good, not just the same amount of good we’ve always had. Sometimes we screw up, and sometimes we run out of options. But if we have any wisdom at all, we don’t say this is just the way things are.