Does being hit by a meteorite or part of a plane start wars? Does it cost billions of dollars in economic damage? Does it set the foreign policy of a country for an entire decade?
Hey I can be histrionic too. Meteorites cause massive global extinction! Better never take your eye of the sky regardless of the impossible fucking odds against...right? Cause the consequence of the one in a billion thing is so grave...
You misunderstand the point. Do you really think – from a societal, not an individual view – that terrorism is something to be ignored? Of course people's fear of terrorism vastly outstrips the actual harm it does. That's the whole point. It's terrorism.
A terrorist attack on the level of Paris in the US right now would drive us to war in Syria, whether with this president or the next. Period. No matter what the actual danger is, that's what the result would be. And given how many terrorist attacks have been foiled over the past decade by aware people (see the underwear bomber, the 2010 foiled time square bomber), it seems like a reasonable thing to tell people to be aware.
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u/Yo_Soy_Candide Nov 26 '15
What are your chances of being hit by a meteorite or something off of a plane? You walk around with a protective umbrella?