Some Statistics for Worriers

Tucson Adobe Angles. Tucson, Arizona, 2015

Using 2011 statistics from the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Center for Disease Control, Washington’s Blog (hyperlink no longer active) reports:

“– You are 17,600 times more likely to die from heart disease than from a terrorist attack

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

— You are 11,000 times more likely to die in an airplane accident than from a terrorist plot involving an airplane

— 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 9 times more likely to choke to death on your own vomit than die in a terrorist attack

–You are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist

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

– You are 6 times more likely to die from hot weather than from a terrorist attack”

Junk food for thought for those who like to be worry warts, don’t you think?

And to counter which threat do we spend billions? And in the face of what awful threat have we sacrificed many of our freedoms of privacy and of movement and travel? What evil threat has induced us to fight wars costing billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives?

Naturally, we need to protect ourselves from terrorism–both domestic and international. You sure can’t let it grow and get out of hand. Some may even argue that it has been our vigorous spending and aggressive military and law enforcement policies that have prevented terrorism from being a major killer.

Maybe. Maybe.

But that seems a bit far-fetched to me…terrorism would have to do a whole lot of killing (a World War II level of killing, actually, not just 9-11 stuff) to move up the chart to rival cancer, obesity, heart disease, traffic accidents, gun deaths, and so on.

So, lets at least put it all into perspective: Terrorists are really a bunch of wimps when it comes to killing people–hell, as assassins they aren’t even worth as much as your own vomit!

Just say “No!” to paranoia and fear, America!