Today At Big Think: You Are More Likely To Drown Than Die From A Terrorist Attack

Today's topic at my blog "Resurgence" on BigThink.com:

You Are More Likely To Drown Than Die From A Terrorist Attack



A friend of mine sent me a text message yesterday. “Should we be worried about retaliation?” I was in the middle of something, so I gave her a one word reply. “Yep.”

It wasn’t until later that I thought about the level of anxiety that the public is feeling right now. So even though I need to give some topics other than the Osama bin Laden whirlwind some attention this week, I've decided that stuff can wait another day while I try to come up with a more satisfying answer.

My first inclination is to tell my friend that if she were to apply the laws of probability, as boring and as predictable as they are, to the likelihood of her or her loved ones being the victims of a retaliatory terrorist act, she would find out that she is more likely to:

-- You are 12,571 times more likely to die from cancer than from a terrorist attack

-- You are 1048 times more likely to die from a car accident than from a terrorist attack

--You are 404 times more likely to die in a fall than from a terrorist attack

-- You are 87 times more likely to drown than die in a terrorist attack

-- You are 13 times more likely to die in a railway accident than from a terrorist attack

--You are 12 times more likely to die from accidental suffocation in bed than from a terrorist attack

--You are 8 times more likely to die from accidental electrocution than from a terrorist attack

EXCERPT SOURCE: News Blaze



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