Putting danger in perspective
It is interesting how different the actual risks which we face in life are from those which people often think we face.
Terrorism by Islamist Jihadi extremists is a curse which has wrecked or brought to an end too many lives, particularly in the middle east. The short, evil, and murderous existence of the "Islamic State" Caliphate is coming to an end as DA'ESH is driven out of Mosul, and will soon lose the rest of the territory it controls. However, Jihadism will remain a menace for as long as there are idiots who fall for the ridiculous absurdity that they can enhance the glory of a God they describe as compassionate and merciful by killing people who do not worship him in exactly the same way that they do.
We need to be vigilant to protect our people from further atrocities by Jihadi terrorists. But we must not hand these destructive idiots the victory of allowing them to make our lives ruled by fear or let them turn our society into a police state, or one which oppresses innocent people for the misfortune that they believe in a religion which has been perverted by nutcases to justify murder. And we should bear in mind what the real dangers are
Here are the statistics for the average number of Americans who died of various causes in the ten years up to and including 2014:
Obviously if you started the ten year average a bit earlier and took in 9/11/2001 the figures for deaths from Islamist terrorists would be rather higher. But for fifteen years America's security services have managed to prevent a repeat of that disaster.
In other words, from 2005 to 2014 an American was twice as likely to be shot dead by a toddler than by an Islamist terrorist.
Seven times more likely to be killed by a lawnmower than a Jihadi.
And nearly a hundred times more likely to be killed by falling out of bed. A thousand times more likely to be shot by a fellow American who was not an Islamist terrorist.
I must track down a similar chart for deaths in Britain. It is bound to show similar differences between what we think are the greatest threats to us, and the real ones.
Terrorism by Islamist Jihadi extremists is a curse which has wrecked or brought to an end too many lives, particularly in the middle east. The short, evil, and murderous existence of the "Islamic State" Caliphate is coming to an end as DA'ESH is driven out of Mosul, and will soon lose the rest of the territory it controls. However, Jihadism will remain a menace for as long as there are idiots who fall for the ridiculous absurdity that they can enhance the glory of a God they describe as compassionate and merciful by killing people who do not worship him in exactly the same way that they do.
We need to be vigilant to protect our people from further atrocities by Jihadi terrorists. But we must not hand these destructive idiots the victory of allowing them to make our lives ruled by fear or let them turn our society into a police state, or one which oppresses innocent people for the misfortune that they believe in a religion which has been perverted by nutcases to justify murder. And we should bear in mind what the real dangers are
Here are the statistics for the average number of Americans who died of various causes in the ten years up to and including 2014:
Obviously if you started the ten year average a bit earlier and took in 9/11/2001 the figures for deaths from Islamist terrorists would be rather higher. But for fifteen years America's security services have managed to prevent a repeat of that disaster.
In other words, from 2005 to 2014 an American was twice as likely to be shot dead by a toddler than by an Islamist terrorist.
Seven times more likely to be killed by a lawnmower than a Jihadi.
And nearly a hundred times more likely to be killed by falling out of bed. A thousand times more likely to be shot by a fellow American who was not an Islamist terrorist.
I must track down a similar chart for deaths in Britain. It is bound to show similar differences between what we think are the greatest threats to us, and the real ones.
Comments
I think there's a "many a true word is spoken in jest" point there.
The debates about banning lawnmowers, bus services and beds might be interesting ...