Terrorists, what terrorists?

[the_s_guy]

Is it just me, or has the number of terrorist activities relating to aircraft been steadily declining since the 1970s, and in fact is now at the lowest point ever since the 1960s, when the first skyjacking occurred

Comments

[dvandom]

Humans do not, as a species, think statistically. We think anecdotally, and the spectacular one-off makes much more of an impression than humdrum inevitability. Even a foiled terrorist plot makes a bigger impression on our decision-making processes than a hundred car crashes.

And trust me, if someone DID get killed by something as weird as a flying left-handed turnip and it got into the news, people would start demanding anti-turnip legislation.

[capnoblivious]

There was something bubbling round the lj-sphere recently showing actual causes of death in the USA - the top twenty were all medical conditions. Terrorism counted somewhere in the top several thousand, but only just.

And we, the blogsphere, were asked what would happen if all that anti-terrorism funding went into health funding...

[the_s_guy]

It'd be nice if governments used that list openly and in a helpful way. They could even claim it as vote-getting material, in a "look at all the things we're working on fixing" kind of way.

It'd be nice to see news items like "Terrorist attack in $city brings terrorism up to equal footing with choking on broccoli, new broccoli-and-terrorism bill to ask for $47.03 in funding."

[megpie71]

I take it you've just purchased your airline ticket over here, and been told what time you have to arrive at the terminal to get through security, etc. Never mind that it's an internal flight.

See, I *told* you we should have come over on the Indian Pacific! Much less futzing about with security (even though blowing up a train would work just as well to disrupt things as blowing up a plane - possibly better).

[the_s_guy]

Yes, no, partially because of the British thing but also partly because it's bugged me ever since the first post-September-11 power grabs.

[raisedbymoogles]

Oh, quit being curmudgeonly all over our paranoid, power-hungry fun. ;)