Stop worrying
Jul 1st, 2007 | 09:34 PM
#21
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,285
Likes: 0
Yeah, it's definitely a bummer to be poor. Much higher murder and other crime rates in lowest-income areas.
The sad truth is that with all we know about the risks involved in any activity, a huge number of people don't even do the simple things that will help protect them: like putting on that seatbelt every time, resisting the urge to be on the phone while driving, and many more. Be smart, attentive and thoughtful, it's better than worrying.
The sad truth is that with all we know about the risks involved in any activity, a huge number of people don't even do the simple things that will help protect them: like putting on that seatbelt every time, resisting the urge to be on the phone while driving, and many more. Be smart, attentive and thoughtful, it's better than worrying.
Jul 2nd, 2007 | 07:20 AM
#24
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 78,320
Likes: 0
to me it's rather funny, or really sad, that a terrorist plot that fails or doesn't kill anyone is rather quickly forgotten by the Nervous Nellie casual travelers - yet if those inept terrorists had killed hundreds in that nightclub folks would be cancelling like mad - especially the many youth groups who have to yield to the perception rather than reality.
Jul 2nd, 2007 | 08:27 AM
#25
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 677
Likes: 0
Risk is relative and probabilities of risk are meaningless without context.
The chance that you will be struck by lightning is not 1 in 55,928. It is zero in most circumstances and significantly greater than 1/55928 in a few circumstances (e.g., standing on a golf course or hiking above treeline during a lightning storm).
Simple statistics can be misleading because they generally assume a degree of randomness that does not exist. Does anyone dispute the notion that you are more likely to be the victim of a terrorist bomb in London or New York than Pueblo, Colorado? The victims of terrorism, like the victims of lightning, are not selected at random.
Every tourist that passed through Picadilly Circus last Friday night was at a considerable risk of becoming a victim of terrorism, and yet most didn't even realize it until they saw the news the following day.
Despite traveling to high-profile places that put me at some degree of elevated risk, I don't worry that I will be the victim of a terrorist act. But I am concerned about such acts nonetheless. Someone will be a victim of the next bomb or subway gassing, and this makes me more angry than worried.
The chance that you will be struck by lightning is not 1 in 55,928. It is zero in most circumstances and significantly greater than 1/55928 in a few circumstances (e.g., standing on a golf course or hiking above treeline during a lightning storm).
Simple statistics can be misleading because they generally assume a degree of randomness that does not exist. Does anyone dispute the notion that you are more likely to be the victim of a terrorist bomb in London or New York than Pueblo, Colorado? The victims of terrorism, like the victims of lightning, are not selected at random.
Every tourist that passed through Picadilly Circus last Friday night was at a considerable risk of becoming a victim of terrorism, and yet most didn't even realize it until they saw the news the following day.
Despite traveling to high-profile places that put me at some degree of elevated risk, I don't worry that I will be the victim of a terrorist act. But I am concerned about such acts nonetheless. Someone will be a victim of the next bomb or subway gassing, and this makes me more angry than worried.
