Hey, Headscratcher, I think I understood your point from the outset.
We have different ways of measuing value. We're fortunate to live in a society that, by and large, places a basic importance--a "value"-- on the individual, on ALL individuals. Some say this right is God-given, some say that it is a trait inherent to free, thinking humans, something that we have a basic right to. The origin of this value (god-given, granted by government, inherent in our being, seized by force and protected by action) can be debated, but that's not the point. The value placed on humans differs in the details between the U.S. the U.K., Australia, Denmark, Germany, etc. etc. but we all have institutions set in place by ourselves and our predecessors to protect this value. Though imperfectly enforced, this value is equal among millionaires and beggars, presidents and coal miners; it's the value of humans before the law, and in enjoying what we believe are the basic freedoms or our existence.
There is another type of value--or MANY other types of value--that can be applied to humans. Their net worth, their political power, the sexual attractiveness, the size of the army they command, or their talent at exploiting loopholes in the law.
I think Headscratcher way wryly pointing out that in some societies, the first form of value I mentioned is, at best, merely given lip service. This first value is intentionally mixed in with one or more of the other values, diluting it, often to the point that thousands or millions of people can have their lives snuffed out and their leaders feel nothing more than they'd feel if they lost some pocket change in a hand of poker.
The typical North Korean has less value than I do financially or politically, but that's largely a result of the brutal system in which they live. I also believe their lives have an equal value to my own in the much-harder-to-quantify realm of personal freedoms and redress to justice; however, those who hold true power over their lives don't see it that way. They're pocket change.
This isn't just two different definitions of "value," it's using the word in two entirely different senses.
