Comments on: We’re Still Not Safe

By: Allen

Allen — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

i think you are right!i am in China.Tens of thousands chinese die in colliery accidents.have you been to China? because i’m a little technical personnel about lithography.so i very attention you websit.i want became excellent engineer ,but i fell i english very bad.i fell i need learn more.i can read some your paper.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Chirs, why do you hate Amerika so much?

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Dang. That would be Chris. (I need a new keyboard…)

By: Homer

Homer — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

So, I guess we’re not safe from keyboards either.

By: Ritergal

Ritergal — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Lithoguru tells us that 3000 Americans have died of terrorism. As of September 25, 2006, 2703 additional Americans (and counting) have died of terrorism at the rate of 2.4 per day. These particular Americans are called solidiers. They are never counted as terrorism fatalities, but how else could you accurately describe the reason for their violent demise?

Their fate is under the control of American politicians.

Our involvement in WW II lasted 1286 days. We've been in Iraq 38 days longer than that already, with no end in sight. How many more victims will terrorism claim? Sure enough though, even with these new numbers, it's still lower than car accidents though.

Just a thought.

By: C. Prince

C. Prince — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

As the disclaimer goes, past performance is no guarantee of future results. Comparing the numbers from a small number (one) of discrete terrorist incidents to a very large number of near-continuous traffic accidents is inappropriate. For instance, a really bad traffic accident might take 100 lives, but won't really move the average. A really bad terrorist strike, though, could cost millions of lives.

It's clear to me that it's a worthwhile effort, not just trying to make us feel safer. Which makes it all the more galling that we're still traipsing around Iraq losing lives to go after thugs and mafias instead of real threats elsewhere.

- C. Prince (RHIT '99)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

C. Prince - you mention "real threats", but since these threats have yet to manifest themselves, you are looking at a sample size of zero, something that is even harder to get good statistics on than a sample of one. All "real" threats remain hypothetical, until it is too late, that is. So what makes them real? You may not want to admit that it is your fear that makes them real, but that is the truth.

Politicians play on that fear, and most of us don't know how to rise above the fear to make good, informed decisions about threats. But the fact remains that we fear a hypothetical threat (another terrorsit attack) more than a real one (45,000 traffic deaths each year in the US), and so we focus our effort on what makes us feel better rather than on what makes us safer.