Why do we fear "death by terror" more than all the things that are really likely to kill us?

[whatchamacallit]

We're still smoking, drinking, driving, eating crap... engaging in all manner of high risk behaviors. Government and independent studies tell us, statistically, this or that will kill us and yet we persist. What is it about the infinitesimally small chance of dying in a terror incident that has us rushing to give up our rights? The terrorists (whoever they are) have obviously tapped into something deep, something that overwhelms reason. This irrational fear creates a syndrome that will only escalate. *** The only winning move is not to play ***

Edit: for comma :)

[Fumesucker]

1. You're more likely to die in a meteor impact than from terrorism..

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/10/13/death-by-meteorite/

Astronomer Alan Harris has made that calculation. Allowing for the number of Earth-crossing asteroids — the kind that can hit us because their orbits around the Sun intersect ours — as well as how much damage they can do (which depends on their size), he calculated that any person’s lifetime odds of being killed by an asteroid impact are about 1 in 700,000.

[sally cat]

2. Maybe it's the specific methods of death by terror. Being blown up doesn't appeal.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. I don't know you, but if I were to arrange all way of being killed by awfulness...

...being blown up would be in the "merciful" side. By far.

[hfojvt]

26. I think it is the time factor as well

A terror attack could kill me at age 25. Smoking and eating Big Macks is much less likely to. Same with drinking, although there is a higher risk of some drunken accident and overdose or the ever popular drowning-in-your-own-vomit which can result from drinking. It usually doesn't though and we either know that or are too drunk to worry about it.

[Cleobulus]

29. Compared to other ways you can die, a quick death would be preferable...

at least to me.

[gkhouston]

3. I don't, and I have no idea why my television thinks I'm supposed to. n/t

[Winterblues]

4. Because we live in "The Home of the Brave"

Sale on duct tape

[katandmoon]

5. Because there is big, big money to be made by campaign contributors.

[jdlh8894]

6. The examples you give

are CHOICES we make. Being blown up just trying to live? No choice there!

[pipi_k]

9. That would be totally true if...

it weren't for the fact that more people die in traffic accidents in one year than have ever died from an act of terrorism.

And, while driving a car is a choice we make, we still can't control other people out on the roads. Speeders...drunk drivers...idiots using cell phones...road rage...


They're really no different in terms of what could happen from their actions than terrorists who try to blow up airplanes...

[ProdigalJunkMail]

10. which makes those choices even more stupid n/t

[jdlh8894]

13. Please Explain.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

15. we make choices KNOWING they WILL harm us

and we make some choices KNOWING they MIGHT harm us. the ones that you KNOW WILL harm you are all the more stupid than the ones that MIGHT harm you.

i think that's what i mean...

sP

[jdlh8894]

18. Got what you meant.Still don't agree w/stupid though n/t

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Angry Dragon]

7. We are more likely to be killed by our out of control politicians

than by a terrorist

[Kaleko]

25. In fact, our politicians-lawmakers are the most effective terrorists.

[kctim]

8. You didn't think

using irrational fear to take away rights was really going to stop with the 2nd Amendment, did you?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed....

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” H.L. Mencken

[sinkingfeeling]

12. I'm not fearful of terrorism. But the country has been told to be afraid for the last decade.

[Ganja Ninja]

14. I think the "fear" aspect of this isn't what's driving the mania about terror.

Most people don't give it a second thought. It's right wing politics and their media megaphone that's behind all the hype. Rational people aren't really afraid.

[Blue_In_AK]

17. I'm much more likely to get eaten by a grizzly bear. n/t

[laughingliberal]

19. Conditioning by the ministers of propaganda. The oligarchs are making bank on the war on 'terra.' nt

[Brickbat]

20. We're all going to die sometime. It's helpful and, I think, comforting to remember that.

[Dash87]

21. Human irrationality.

Plain and simple. Humans are not perfectly rational, which allows things like war to happen, for example.

[ladjf]

22. Since 9/11, more Americans have been injured by yo yos than

by plane sabotage. We need to have a "war against yo yo injury". nt

[Lorien]

23. If the government cared about saving American lives we would have Universal health care

and a high speed maglev rail system that would be the envy of the world. Terrorism is a propaganda tool. You have a far better chance of being killed by an illness that your insurance company refuses to cover.

[WinkyDink]

24. What's this "we," Kimosabe?

[udbcrzy2]

28. Maybe the religious fanatics are really afraid of the world ending

I think all this terrorist shit is bullshit especially when you can walk across our borders. It seems like the right are the ones who are so concerned about the wars and terrorists. Maybe the religious right are really afraid of the thing they want the most. The coming of Christ. I think both (terrorist bullshit and religious right) are just ways for the already richest to make more money.