http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/03/25/value-of-an-afghani-life Comments On: Value of an Afghani Life? by Charles Mudede en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Sat, 18 May 2013 07:15:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
$860,000 is the kind of money the US government can lose under a mattress and hardly miss, of course, but for an Afghan family $50,000 is a hundred years' pay. Given the mismatch in the size, wealth and power of the parties to this dispute, it's hardly comparable to a family feud, but paying them money was the least we could do, so I'm glad we did.
Posted by I have always been... east coaster]]> Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:50:37 -0700 The Stranger
Bring the troops home today.
Posted by Will in Seattle]]> Mon, 26 Mar 2012 11:09:32 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Betaraybilly3]]> Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:19:00 -0700 The Stranger
Also, people get paid money when these kinds of things happen (also life insurance, for instance) not to make up for the loss of the person, but to ensure they can still live comfortably without the earnings that person contributed to the family. It may be the least we can do, but it is also the only thing we can do.

Suggesting this is simply the "value of an Afghani [sic] life" to an Amercian is just a way to troll/criticize America with no real basis.
Posted by Theodore Gorath]]> Mon, 26 Mar 2012 05:35:30 -0700 The Stranger Posted by sarah70]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:21:53 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Seattle14]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:36:16 -0700 The Stranger Afganis play polo with the heads of goats...you think they wouldn't be taking the 500 Gs and saying "if I knew this, I would have invited Aunt Josie for Sunday dinner".


Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 20:34:43 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Zebes]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 17:51:38 -0700 The Stranger If his community had had a registered neighborhood watch program then perhaps he would have been following the national rules: only patrolling in pairs, no getting out of your car except to aid the injured, no touching, no guns, etc.

Posted by dirge]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:45:22 -0700 The Stranger 48 years, so it sounds like the accountants did their due diligence.
Posted by Banna]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:36:36 -0700 The Stranger
We'll do anything not to offend a bunch of fucking savages. They'll be offended anyways, though; they're fucking savages.
Posted by Central Scrutinizer]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:32:16 -0700 The Stranger
oh look the first google hit on the subject http://www.lifehappens.org/human-life-va…

Posted by meanie]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:25:30 -0700 The Stranger Posted by madcap]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:22:31 -0700 The Stranger
As for the price of an Afghan life, it's a fallacy to conclude that because compensation was paid for the loss of a life, that that assigns a dollar to that life. It's compensation, nothing more. We can't raise the dead.

It's only when such figures are used in cost-benefit analyses that it takes on the perverse meaning implied by the headline.
Posted by madcap]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:20:44 -0700 The Stranger Posted by thatsnotright]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 16:11:38 -0700 The Stranger http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/11/ar…
Posted by dirge]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:54:09 -0700 The Stranger Posted by BLUE]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:51:41 -0700 The Stranger http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/re…
http://pvtgov.wordpress.com/

Bales had been part of a squad that had reportedly gone to threaten the villages earlier in the day. The Afghan government believes that the killings were premeditated and committed by Bales' entire squad as revenge for earlier attacks on U.S. soldiers. Compensation for wrongful deaths is a standard practice throughout much of the Muslim world. In the U.S. we instead have civil suits.
Posted by dirge]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:47:47 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Cato the Younger Younger]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:41:33 -0700 The Stranger Posted by seandr]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:30:20 -0700 The Stranger Posted by oscario]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:11:13 -0700 The Stranger But what about the families of the folks gunned down by Nidal Malik Hasan at Ft. Hood?
Posted by David Thompson]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 14:54:28 -0700 The Stranger Posted by xina]]> Sun, 25 Mar 2012 14:48:42 -0700 The Stranger