Tuesday, September 06, 2005
(11:31 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
Getting a Grip
The National Journal offers a realistic analysis of terrorism (via Political Theory):On September 11, 2001, the day 2,972 people died from the terrorist attacks on America, another 91 died from traffic accidents. In the month of September 2001, there were 3,555 traffic fatalities, and for the year there were 42,196 such deaths. The terrorism deaths were a shock, but it was a typical year on America's highways.The parts of the article that suggest that Bush administration officials effectively bought their own hype on Iraq are at least interesting, even if they aren't ultimately convincing.
For Americans, the considerably greater likelihood of their dying in a car crash than in a terrorist attack seems, at some level, unimpressive. The sheer evil of terrorism provokes contemplation of the End of the World -- while the highway death toll spurs small-scale thoughts about how to build safer cars and roads.
