A little while ago I was watching the news with my mother. Of course, as there has so often been lately, there was some piece on the IS or ISIS. You know, those fanatics running around in Iraq and Syria taking over cities, killing, looting, maiming, and being generally all around unpleasant people. And, perhaps like many people over on this side of the world, and, I suppose, in other parts of the world as well, my mother has some degree of concern about this group of so-called "terrorists" and the level of the immanent threat to our lives.
This, of course, has spawned a few interesting conversations between my mother and I.
Now, I'm not going to say that these people aren't terrorists, but I am going to say that the word "terrorist" frequently seems to be levelled by those on one side of some conflict or other against those on the other side of this same conflict. The enemies are the terrorists and the good guys are the freedom fighters. That seems to pretty much be the overall generic formula to the story--whichever story.
Of course, it gets a bit more complicated to sort out who is really the enemy and the good guy when it comes to the Middle East and its seemingly ongoing plethora of conflicts. There's a whole socio-political-economic stew going on with the nations and groups involved and it has been cooking so long now that it all merely tastes brown to me. So, none of that is really what I wanted to discuss here.
Oh yes, the conversation between my mother and I about the level of threat that the IS, or, really, terrorists in general, realistically have on our lives here on Vancouver Island, or, for that matter, on the rest of Canada or even the United States. I was hoping to assuage her fears a bit, so I simply asked her:
"Mom, since that terrible 9-11 event, how many people have been killed by terrorists (because it is, in some ways, the idea that terrorists are going to kill her--like they beheaded those other people, say--that scares her) here in Canada or even the US?"
And I didn't even go into (and won't here either) anything about 9-11 and the whole "official story". Was it official? Yes, it was official. Was it a story, well, there's very little room for doubt about that! But I wouldn't claim to know the actual story. Wait, I said I wasn't going to go into that...
OK, so, anyway, I don't know what the official numbers are of people who have been killed by bona fide terrorists here in Canada or the United States. I'm not even sure if such information is publicly available. I am fairly confident about one thing, though, that it's a pretty low number. Like less than a hundred type of low. Maybe less than ten type of low. *shrugs*
So, I asked my Mom how many people she figured were killed by automobiles here in Canada and/or the US since 9-11. She said she didn't know. Hell, I didn't know either--and still don't (related: 12, 516 people have died in automobile related incidents in Canada from 2006 to 2010--thanks internet!)--but the point really is that, obviously, the number of deaths caused by vehicles is much, much higher than the number of deaths caused by terrorists, I mean, as far as we are talking domestically here, you know, the "homeland".
Nobody calls automobiles "terrorists" or, really, thinks there's any sort of significant threat level associated with them. You don't see nightly news stories about the threat levels of daily driving. Sure, there is the occasional report on the local news about a local fatal car crash, yes, and perhaps every now and then a particularly bothersome multi-vehicular incident somewhere else might make a less than local news story, but automobiles in their hazards to the population do not enjoy the same amount of coverage as the terrorists du jour; yet, the act of daily driving poses a much more significant threat to any particular citizen's life, here in Canada, than does some thirty-odd thousand people behaving badly thousands and thousands of kilometres away (over ten thousand of them, apparently).
Further, I asked her, how many people are killed each year, again, here in Canada or in the US, by the police? Again, I didn't have a number and neither did she, but she could easily realize that the number of people killed by the police since 9-11 is likely larger than number of people killed by terrorists, Again, we are talking domestically.
(A quick Google search revealed little in the way of quality info, and I can't be bothered to find actual numbers. Some sources throw around that over 5, 000 people have been killed in the US by their police since 9-11. Google at your own leisure and make your own assessment!)
Now, as to whether or not the police can be considered "terrorists," well, that might go back to the formula of which side of a conflict is doing the defining. Regardless, most people would not label the police as "terrorists" and many people are under the impression that the police are here to "protect and serve" (who they are actually protecting and serving seems to become a less distinct and more controversial issue, but I digress…) and are, in general, not a threat to the population.
However, if we take the numbers and look at them statistically, it becomes quite clear that if you live in the US or Canada (and I'm sure some other countries too, but those two countries are the ongoing examples of this piece) you are much more likely to be killed by an automobile or a police officer as compared to being killed by a terrorist.
Now, this is not to say that terrorists--whoever we might define them to be--pose no threat to people or to dismiss the need to figure out a way to squelch terrorism in whatever form it takes. Hardly. No, this is about the perceived level of threat, or perhaps even the encouraged perceived level of threat, versus the actual level of threat.
I'm sorry, Mom, but you're much more likely to die in a myriad of other ways than you are at the hands of any terrorist. Quit letting the news scare you. Don't believe the hype.
