Comments on: Odds of Dying in a Terrorist Attack

By: Peutch

Peutch — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:01:42 +0000

Problem is, you have to be careful how you calculate probabilities. These are unconditional probabilities, not taking anything else into account.

On the other hand, if you start taking into account the fact that, say, you live in NY, I’m pretty sure the odds are changed.
Or if you live in Baghdad, I’d be surprised if the odds of drowning were higher than the odds of dying in a terrorist attack.

E.g. if you are White, you are probably less likely to be shot dead by a police-man (no offense), but as likely as a Black person to die in an airplane hijacking. So this would bring the odds closer.

By: Bob Hudson

Bob Hudson — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:58:29 +0000

Huddled in the dark, waiting to die
Huddled in the dark, waiting to die
We’re huddled in the dark just waiting to die.
He don’t see you when you’re sleeping!
He don’t see you when you’re awake!
He don’t know if you’ve been bad or good,
so be good for GOODNESS SAKE.

Oh, we’re huddled in the dark,
Huddled in the dark
Huddled in the dark
Just huddled in the dark
Huddled in the dark, just waiting to die.
(More or less sung to Santa is Coming to Town)
(Sorry for the lousy timing)

By: Ron Robbins

Ron Robbins — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:31:32 +0000

Oh hell yah. JB brother you got it going on! And the rest of you , keep using that grey matter. The irony of my chances of being killed by the cops is eight times greater than from a terorist attack. Wow, when are we going to declair war on the police?

By: john

john — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:08:06 +0000

This war on terror is a waste of money and of peoples lives. Instead of investing millions of dollars in this so called war they could invest that money into research to prevent diseases which kill thousands of peoples instead.

By: Russ Nelson

Russ Nelson — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:27:04 +0000

Ryan, no, it’s not acceptable to kill people. The question is how dangerous is one thing versus another. Don’t think of terrorism as people being killed by a person. Think of it as a force of nature which cannot be stopped; only survived. That attitude will help you to have a more reasonable attitude towards it.

By: Logan Cormier

Logan Cormier — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:26:23 +0000

Very interesting. This really shows how we should be paying attention to the daily dangers we face and not worrying about being killed by a terrorist. It’s amazing how much the media is able to exaggerate terrorism. I have a question, though; are these statistics world wide?

Thanks for the stats.

jb says: The stats, as mentioned above, are based on American data.

By: Noisiv

Noisiv — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 01:05:39 +0000

I am curious as to where these facts came from.
Is there a link I can go to that will give the source for how these statistics came about?

Sincerely,

Noisiv

By: Verena

Verena — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 01:58:07 +0000

Re: Tym Michel:
“Please realize that statistics will be skewed to prevent a panic. Your Govt at work)
Unlike the numerous orange alerts that went out every time someone needed the public to be distracted?