fear of terrorism greatly exaggerated

I am still puzzling over why so many well informed and sensible people are struggling under the fear of terrorism. Apart from its value as political scare tactic, the rationale for buying into this phenomenon seems so thin. While the audacity and visual horror of the fall of the twin towers is all too real and the death toll tragic, why does this event seem to so many to be unique?

Was 9/11/01 the bloodiest day in US history? NO
September 17, 1862: the battle of Antietam: 5000 men dead, nearly 20,000 wounded - of whom 10% (another 2000) would soon die. (1)

Was this the first 'spectacular' terrorist attack in the US? NO
On April 19, 1995, a massive bomb inside a rental truck exploded, blowing half of the nine-story building into oblivion... When the smoke cleared and the exhausted rescue workers packed up and left, 168 people were dead in the worst [at that time] terrorist attack on U.S. soil. (2)

Was the attack on 9/11/01 the deadliest attack on a civilian population? NO
On August 6 1945, the city of Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atomic bomb used in warfare. The initial blast toppled the city, maiming and killing tens of thousands, but the radiation unleashed by the atomic bomb inflicted countless more with radiation poisoning. Within four months between 90,000 and 140,000 people of the city's population of 310,000 are estimated to have died. About one-third of Nagasaki City was destroyed three days later, leading to the deaths of 60,000-80,000 of its population of 250,000 within four months, the destruction of 18,000 houses in the city and over an area of 6.7 million square meters. For the following ten years many of the survivors, especially those exposed as children, suffered excess risk of leukemia. The excess risk for cancers other than leukemia continues today, and it seems likely that this will persist throughout the lifetime of the survivors. (3)

Another deadly day: Bhopal, India, December 3 1984
A runaway reaction at the Union Carbide chemical factory in Bhopal led to the release of lethal gases. Poison clouds from the Union Carbide factory enveloped an arc of over 20 square kilometers before the residents could run away from its deadly hold. The leak killed over 8,000 people in its immediate aftermath and caused multi-systemic injuries to over 500,000 people. (4)

Unnecessary death every day
Road traffic crashes kill about 43,000 Americans (approximately the population of Chapel Hill) per year (3). World-wide 3,000 people are killed in road traffic daily and about 30,000 more disabled. That is 1 million deaths, 10.9 million injured. (5)

All unnecessary deaths are tragic. Are those killed in terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C. more tragic than those killed on the roads, murdered by guns, or dead from atomic bombing or industrial carelessness? Or those who die from hunger, treatable illness, or exposure through homelessness? Not in MY book.

Sources:
1. David Remnitz and Hendrik Hertzberg, "A Year After", New Yorker, 9/16/02
2. www.cnn.com/US/OKC/bombing.html
3. Radiation Effects Research Foundation, http://www.rerf.or.jp/top/orge.htm
4. NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, Op-Ed Column NYT, August 18, 2004 and from NPR 6/15/03
5. Ian Roberts, professor of epidemiology and public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
posted by quixote at 3:31 PM 0 comments