Bit of a Rant (You've been warned)
So for those who aren’t local, the DC Metro has just instituted a system of random bag checks at Metro stations. They won’t be announced in advance, and while you have the right to refuse, if you do you will be denied access to the system. Checks will be conducted randomly at one station at a time
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Why am I not more grateful for "attempts to protect my life and wellbeing"?
http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds.htm
Assuming the stats in 2003 weren’t drastically different from the preceding years, here are a few facts that you should keep in mind:
1) In the last decade (1997 to 2007), you had about a 1/100,000 chance of being killed by a terrorist attack. (That’s the population of the country divided by the number of people who died on 9/11/01).
2) In the last decade, you were about 170 times as likely to be killed in a car accident as you were to be killed by a terrorist act. Let’s do a little graphic to illustrate the ratio:
Killed by terrorists (1997-2007):
*
Killed in car crashes (1997-2007):
************************* ************************* ************************* ************************* ************************* ************************* ********************
(So are you 170 times more scared of driving than you are of terrorists? I am.)
3) In the last decade, you were as likely to drown in your bathtub as you were to be killed by a terrorist act. (Where is the clamor for “bathtub control”?)
4) In the last decade, you were twice as likely to die from cold weather as you were to be killed by a terrorist act.
5) Last, but not least, in the last decade you were more likely to be SHOT AND KILLED BY AMERICAN LAW ENFORCEMENT than you were to be killed by a terrorist act. Don’t believe me? Look at the bottom of that page, under the Orwellian heading “legal intervention.” (347 events per year adds up to well over 3,000 in a decade.)
Just saying.
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