Al Queda is not a threat
Aug. 30th, 2006 01:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pluralSeriously, in fact all the terrorist groups around the world combined are not currently a threat..
You sitting there reading this have only a slightly higher chance of being killed by a terrorist than you have of being eaten by a shark in your neighborhood swimming pool [unless you piss me off, then the chances of the latter goes up dramatically].
Ok so I exaggerate slightly, lets look at the real numbers [using 2003 figures]:
Your chance of dying in a motor vehicle accident
in any particular year is: 1 in 6,498
over your lifetime those odds increase to: 1 in 84
in contrast
Your chance of dying as the result of a terrorist attack
in any particular year is: 1 in 77,292
over your lifetime: 1 in 996
Which means you are 11.9 times more likely to die in your car than by a terrorist attack.
If terrorists are half the problem the media or government makes them out to be, we should nuke detroit.
For comparison, lets look at some other causes of death
with the same approximate odds as dying from a terrorist attack
Intentional self-poisoning Y = 1/53,250 L = 1/686
Intentional self-harm by hanging, strangulation, and suffocation Y = 1/43,836 L= 1/565
So you are 1.45 times more likely to poison yourself and 1.7 times more likely to hang yourself than be killed by a terrorist.
If we look at all forms of intentional self-harm Y = 1/9,238 L = 1/119
Then you are 8.4 times more likely to kill yourself than be killed by a terrorist.
The obvious answer here is to kill you to protect you from the danger you present to yourself.
You sitting there reading this have only a slightly higher chance of being killed by a terrorist than you have of being eaten by a shark in your neighborhood swimming pool [unless you piss me off, then the chances of the latter goes up dramatically].
Ok so I exaggerate slightly, lets look at the real numbers [using 2003 figures]:
Your chance of dying in a motor vehicle accident
in any particular year is: 1 in 6,498
over your lifetime those odds increase to: 1 in 84
in contrast
Your chance of dying as the result of a terrorist attack
in any particular year is: 1 in 77,292
over your lifetime: 1 in 996
Which means you are 11.9 times more likely to die in your car than by a terrorist attack.
If terrorists are half the problem the media or government makes them out to be, we should nuke detroit.
For comparison, lets look at some other causes of death
with the same approximate odds as dying from a terrorist attack
Intentional self-poisoning Y = 1/53,250 L = 1/686
Intentional self-harm by hanging, strangulation, and suffocation Y = 1/43,836 L= 1/565
So you are 1.45 times more likely to poison yourself and 1.7 times more likely to hang yourself than be killed by a terrorist.
If we look at all forms of intentional self-harm Y = 1/9,238 L = 1/119
Then you are 8.4 times more likely to kill yourself than be killed by a terrorist.
The obvious answer here is to kill you to protect you from the danger you present to yourself.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-08-31 06:06 pm (UTC)Because we have no suicide videotapes where would-be bombers deliberately state that they are motivated by global solidarity with other religious fellow travellers.
Oh wait. We do.
You are wrong.
You're wrong about this too, as many suicide cults have demonstrated. People work against their own self-interests all the time. Memes, like genes, do not care if they destroy the people who carry them, and many destructive memes and genes can exist so long as they are not so destructive that they prevent their own transmission. Ebola and Shakerism tend to burn themselves out, but other diseases of the body and mind - such as HIV and Islam - can cause plenty of pain and suffering while still propagating themselves.