A few numbers to ponder
During the recent 9/11 attacks it is estimated that about 3,000 people died at the world trade center. That's a lot of people, but I just wanted to see how that compared to various other things.
For example: the US population is around 300 million. That means that approximately 1 in every 100,000 Americans died in that attack. If the terrorists launch more such attacks at the rate of 1 every month that means we will all be dead in about 8,000 years (that is, assuming none of us choose to procreate during that period).
How many people lost a friend, family member or coworker in the destruction? I'm not sure, but how many friends, family members, or coworkers do most people have? Divide 100,000 by that number and you have the approximate number of people you would have to select at random from the US to find one person who had lost some friend, family member or coworker.
Mind you, for the people who did lose someone this is a horrible tragedy, and there are far more people who are affected by this then the 3,000 who died. For one thing there are the people who lost someone, then there are the people who were affected by the economic fallout (perhaps nearly everyone in the US in some way or other), then there were the people who felt the environmental effects, and the people who helped to deal with the survivors. Far more then 3,000.
Let's compare this to other events. Although it is impossible to come up with an accurate number, it is estimated that approximately 100,000 people were killed when the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Surprisingly (at least to me) Japan's population then (1945) was almost a quarter of what the US population is now. About 71 million. Those 100,000 people dead mean about 1 in every 710 people lost their lives due to that one bomb. I'm not talking about the other bomb on Nagasaki, or the firebombing that occurred around that time killing many more people, just the Hiroshima bomb. One might say that, comparatively, the Hiroshima bomb was about 150 times worse for Japan then the world trade center airplanes during 9/11 was for the US, but of course there are many factors other then people killed.
Over 60 million people died in World war 2. One estimate for the world population puts it at about 2.3 billion in 1940. That would mean more then 1 out of every 40 people in the world died in world war 2.
According to another web site, in 1998 the US had about 11.4 firearms deaths per 100,000 people. Note, however, that the majority of those deaths were due to suicides (6.4/100,000). In other words, in 1998 about 6.4 times as many people (well, per capita) chose to kill themselves in the US with firearms as were killed deliberately in the 9/11 attack on the world trade center towers. 1998 was simply the year picked, but there is no reason to believe it is unusual in this regard.
I'm not saying that 9/11 wasn't a major disaster and a tragedy. It was. But there are other tragedies that occur fairly routinely which people pay little attention to because they do not receive as much press, and they don't receive as much press because they simply aren't as sensational. While focusing on the dangers of terrorism we may lose sight of other issues of equal or greater importance.
For example: the US population is around 300 million. That means that approximately 1 in every 100,000 Americans died in that attack. If the terrorists launch more such attacks at the rate of 1 every month that means we will all be dead in about 8,000 years (that is, assuming none of us choose to procreate during that period).
How many people lost a friend, family member or coworker in the destruction? I'm not sure, but how many friends, family members, or coworkers do most people have? Divide 100,000 by that number and you have the approximate number of people you would have to select at random from the US to find one person who had lost some friend, family member or coworker.
Mind you, for the people who did lose someone this is a horrible tragedy, and there are far more people who are affected by this then the 3,000 who died. For one thing there are the people who lost someone, then there are the people who were affected by the economic fallout (perhaps nearly everyone in the US in some way or other), then there were the people who felt the environmental effects, and the people who helped to deal with the survivors. Far more then 3,000.
Let's compare this to other events. Although it is impossible to come up with an accurate number, it is estimated that approximately 100,000 people were killed when the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Surprisingly (at least to me) Japan's population then (1945) was almost a quarter of what the US population is now. About 71 million. Those 100,000 people dead mean about 1 in every 710 people lost their lives due to that one bomb. I'm not talking about the other bomb on Nagasaki, or the firebombing that occurred around that time killing many more people, just the Hiroshima bomb. One might say that, comparatively, the Hiroshima bomb was about 150 times worse for Japan then the world trade center airplanes during 9/11 was for the US, but of course there are many factors other then people killed.
Over 60 million people died in World war 2. One estimate for the world population puts it at about 2.3 billion in 1940. That would mean more then 1 out of every 40 people in the world died in world war 2.
According to another web site, in 1998 the US had about 11.4 firearms deaths per 100,000 people. Note, however, that the majority of those deaths were due to suicides (6.4/100,000). In other words, in 1998 about 6.4 times as many people (well, per capita) chose to kill themselves in the US with firearms as were killed deliberately in the 9/11 attack on the world trade center towers. 1998 was simply the year picked, but there is no reason to believe it is unusual in this regard.
I'm not saying that 9/11 wasn't a major disaster and a tragedy. It was. But there are other tragedies that occur fairly routinely which people pay little attention to because they do not receive as much press, and they don't receive as much press because they simply aren't as sensational. While focusing on the dangers of terrorism we may lose sight of other issues of equal or greater importance.