Why am I supposed to care more about the death/injury of a police officer/child more than anyone else's death/injury?

I think the argument is, and I’m not necessarily giving my opinion, that people who kill cops and/or children are generally more dangerous to society because of the lack of morals and fear of authority.

funny i think the same thing everytime I look at the news. Why should we care so much about these chump when there are plenty of other chumps out there with the same damn problem.

You’re not. You should however care more if the person is white, and especially American, as opposed to some Serb or, even worse, an Arab. And of course Africans don’t count. The analogy is about 1000 black Africans to 100 Arabs to 10 black Americans to 1 white American. And you have to multiply the value by 3.14 if the victim is a child. So 30 black children are actually worth almost as much as 10 white adults. Or 300 Palestinian kids. Learn to do the maths!

The news makes a big deal of it because people will sympathize more with the death of a cop or child than the death of a random person. Sympathy equals eyeballs viewing it, which is pretty much the only goal (ior in the top 5 goals) of any major news organization, because they make most of their money via advertisements and advertisers want eyes.

Children, I believe, are valued for their innocence and generally protected by society, so it is a more egregious crime to hurt one of them

Policemen put themselves in danger every day. So while it is not unexpected that they get injured, it is worthwhile because they are supposed to be our protectors. In the same way that we care when those in the military get injured.

It’s not a matter of importance of the life lost, instead the seriousness of the killer.

Police officers usually die protecting the community. I think it’s important for the community to know that someone gave his life for them.
Children are innocent beings. No one wants to hear about a child dying, when it happens it’s sensational journalism IMO.
No one’s death is more imporantant than others, but this is just how society works. I personally don’t like reading about any death. I do wonder why that Casey Anthony is all over the news, and not other children who have had far worse things happen to them.

I’m with casheroo on the cop thing. When cops are killed on the job, they have been killed because they put their lives on the line for your safety. They walked into a situation knowing that death was a possible outcome in order to protect their neighbors. The least we can do is give them a few more lines on the local newscast.

@AstroChuck
I think you hit it right on the head from a societal standard…meanwhile I hope I don’t die from this cold..

The cop could be a total asshole; maybe he/she beats suspects or plants evidence. Just because a person has a badge does not mean they are an asset to society. Likewise, a 12 year old kid could be a total psycho; he/she could be an animal abuser or in a gang. I just can’t buy the generalities.

@tinyfaery – there are also the cases where cops aren’t prosecuted when they’ve committed crimes, unless it’s been captured on video, such as with the recent BART shooting and the police officer who bodychecked a bike rider at Critical Mass. And then there are the cases like poor Ryan Frederick who accidentally killed a cop in self-defense when a no-knock drug raid was being done on his house, who is of course being prosecuted for murder now.

@dynamicduo I know. Remember Rodney King?

I basically agree with you that all deaths diminish us equally. I have wondered a corollary. Whay is much more made of deaths that occur in public tragedies (like plane crashes) than those that occur privately?

Earlier posters have made the point about police deaths.

With children, I would add that beyond their innocence, they represent the future of the species. In addition, there is a poignancy about the loss of a life’s potential unfulfilled.

@Marina- Good point. I can’t think of a greater tragedy than the loss of someone’s child.

What is that child grows up to be a complete monster?

@tinyfaery That is possible, but unlikely. We just don’t have numerically speaking that many monsters compared to good, regular people.

I’m not so sure about that.

It’s still your child. I can’t imagine losing one of mine, regardless of how they could’ve turned out.

They represent innocence and justice more blatantly then your average joe. When either of those is taken from us it’s a sad day indeed.

I asked this question when everyone was making such a big deal about Princess Diana’s death, while Mother Theresa’s death a few days later barely got noticed. When my son’s father died, it barely made the Obits page, and they got several facts wrong.

I understand the point that the Police Officers are putting themselves in harms way to protect us… but by that reasoning, then the death of every US soldier in combat should make the front page — so just how does the media pick and choose what is “newsworthy”?

…as with everything else, supply and demand.

Most WWII soldiers didn’t even get a tombstone. As for the Jews, they were lucky if they got dumped in a mass grave together with their whole family and not just left to rot. Half a century later, thousands of people are buying tickets to MJ’s memorial service.

What hearcat said.