Since 9/11 we seem to have been obsessed with being killed by terrorists.
How many terrorists have attacked you? What about your family? Your friends? Anyone who went to your school or who you worked with?
Do you know anyone, personally, who has been attacked by a terrorist?
Your answer to all of those questions is likely to be a resounding NO.
Obviously, a small number of people will personally know someone who lost their life in the terrible 9/11 attacks.
Terrorists, Open Borders, Supporting Citizens
Yes, there are terrorists, and the government keeps our borders wide open, allowing for the possibility of terrorist and drug runners to come in and out as they please. The government seems to be incapable of supporting citizens, preferring to pay more attention to non-citizens.
The Progressive Review looked at some things we ought to be worried about, and although a terrorist attack is a bad thing, there are some other things that are mor likely to cause you problems than being caught up in a terrorist attack, or “terror attack” as president Obama says, because he seems incapable of saying the word “terrorist,” in case we link it to islamic terrorists.
The review asked these questions “While we’re constantly being told that another attack is imminent and that radical Islamic fundamentalists are two steps away from establishing a caliphate in Branson, Missouri, just how close are they? How do the odds of dying in a terrorist attack stack up against the odds of dying in other unfortunate situations?”
Irrational Fears
So what should we really be more worried about?
After 9/11, the fear of another attack on U.S. soil clearly supplanted men’s fear of having their penis chopped off by a vengeful lover in the pantheon of irrational American fears.
Data from National Safety Council Estimates, compiled in 2004 brings us a report based on data from The National Center for Health Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau. To round it out, the Center for Disease Control provided mortality data from the year before.
So there you are. Don’t you feel so much better now?
- You are 17,600 times more likely to die from heart disease than from a terrorist attack
- You are 12,571 times more likely to die from cancer than from a terrorist attack
- You are 11,000 times more likely to die in an airplane accident than from a terrorist plot involving an airplane
- You are 1048 times more likely to die from a car accident than from a terrorist attack
- You are 404 times more likely to die in a fall than from a terrorist attack
- You are 87 times more likely to drown than die in a terrorist attack
- You are 13 times more likely to die in a railway accident than from a terrorist attack
- You are 12 times more likely to die from accidental suffocation in bed than from a terrorist attack
- You are 9 times more likely to choke to death on your own vomit than die in a terrorist attack
- You are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist
- You are 8 times more likely to die from accidental electrocution than from a terrorist attack
- You are 6 times more likely to die from hot weather than from a terrorist attack
See this story updated for 2016 Just How Likely Are You To Be Killed By Terrorist Action?
