It never ceases to amaze me how impatience causes people to almost totally lose their minds. Today when I was reading an article about the airline crisis in Europe and the utter pandemonium caused by travel delays, the outrage over “industry losses” and the possibly unnecessary grounding of flights, I kept wondering where the value of human life factors in. Just as I was thinking, “boy, isn’t anyone considering how tragic it would be for the families if a plane went down?” I read this line:

“It would be much bigger a catastrophe for us in case of any passenger plane crash.

…and began to breath a sigh of relief, until I read the rest of it:

“That would have a fatal, long-term consequences for the industry,” Okamura said in Prague.

I mean, double-u tee eff. I suppose it’s old news that major industries consider human lives in economic terms, but how is it that people are so willing to accept this valuation of their lives? I get the big industry mogul who thinks of human lives or injuries as a cost benefit analysis of lawsuits versus safety reform. I totally understand this evil. The puzzling thing is the complete acquiescence, compliance and even support of the people being devalued. It’s the people who read that quote and think of the health of industry, the danger to the economy, rather than the invaluableness of even one human life that totally warp my brain.