The Irrational Fear of Death in the United States
- By Poetry X
- 29 August, 2014
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One of the very particular characteristics of people of the United States is their state of permanent fear what we live in [TYT Oct 29-2014]. The main fear among Americans is their deep fear to die, specially to die due to terrorism – specially “Islamic” terrorism. This fear is so huge that companies are dedicated to provide goods and services related to protection against terrorism. So the question is, is that fear rational?
Among the most popular ones for now are Ebola, ISIS and the made up Khorasan [AlterNet Oct 3-2014]. All this fear while heart decease kills 600,000 Americans a year and 32,000 Americans are killed annually in gun related events. Among many other other causes we have thousands of deaths due to industrial accidents that are big concern since profit at stake, but lives are not important. The only case where an industrial “accident” was punished is the case of Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship — charged with responsibility for the deaths of 29 coal miners in an April 2010 mine explosion [TYT Dec 28-2014].
In addition 46 people die in the U.S. due to complications with pains killers [The Daily Beast Jul 1-2014]. Also, more than 3,000 annual teen die nationwide for texting while driving [NewsDay May 8-2013]. Just if we consider we have 11,000 injuries each year due to accidents in bouncy houses [TYT OCt 19-2014]. Now, let’s see the numbers.
| Likelihood in the U.S. of being killed or die of different causes compared to a die in a terrorist attack.Study by 2004 National Safety Council report, the National Center for Health Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau, and 2003 mortality data from the Center for Disease Control | |
| LIKELIHOOD | CAUSE OF DEATH |
| 17,600 times 12,571 times |
heart disease cancer |
| 11,000 times 1048 times |
airplane accident car accident |
| 404 times 87 times |
falling drowning |
| 18 times 13 times |
bathtub incident * railway accident |
| 12 times 9 times 8 times |
accidental suffocation in bed choke to death on your own vomit shot by a police officer |
| 8 times 6 times 3 times |
accidental electrocution hot weather bee sting * |
| Deaths in the United States in the year 2000Study by the National Institutes of Health | |
| NUMBER OF DEATHS | CAUSE OF DEATH |
| 245’000 | low levels of education |
| 176’000 | racial segregation |
| 162’000 | low social support |
| 133’000 | individual-level poverty |
| 119’000 | income inequality |
| 39’000 | area level poverty |
| Conclusion “Poverty, low levels of education, poor social support and other social factors contribute about as many deaths in the US as heart attacks, strokes and lung cancer”. [Science Daily Jun 18th 2011] | |
Now, lets break down the terrorist attacks we have had in the a period of 15 years. This is in terms of affiliation.
18 Muslim
22 Jewish
122 White
129 Latino
TOTAL 291
| State Department Report of Terrorism on 2009 of people killed by international terrorism9 US American died as victims or terrorism. They died in Afghanistan, Iraq, Mauritania and Somalia. As June of 2012, there more active US soldiers dying from coming suicide than being killed by war action.[Huffington Post Jun 7th 2012] | ||
| YEAR | TOTAL OF PEOPLE | US AMERICANS |
| 2004 | 1,907 | 68 |
| 2009 | 14,971 | 9 |
In 2011, 4,609 Americans were killed in work accidents while only 17 Americans passed away as victims of terrorism, but we must ignore the corporations’ safety violations that endanger and take American lives in much bigger numbers than terrorism [Washington Post Apr 23rd 2013]. Also, Here in the US more than 30,000 people die because of gun related events [Wilson Center Oct 25-2010]. And just to be aware of this, American are 8 more likely to be killed by a police officer than by terrorist.
We must beware since September 2001 up to April 2014, right wing extremists have killed 34 people in the United States for political reasons. In the other hand the so called islamists have killed 21 people in the same period. Also left wing militants and environmental extremists have carried out violent attacks for political reasons against property and individuals , but none of them have been killed a single person. Indeed, since 9/11 none of the more than 200 individuals indicted or convicted in the U.S. of some act of jihadist terrorism have acquired or used chemical or biological weapons or their precursor materials, while 13 right wing extremists, one left-wing extremists, and two with idiosyncratic beliefs, used or acquired such weapons or their precursors. But what is really worrisome is that DHS (Department of Homeland Security)has not released a single report on non-Islamic domestic extremist acts like anti-abortion extremists, white supremacists, sovereign citizens, or eco-terrorists [CNN Apr 15-2014].
In addition, global warming is a much greater danger than terrorism [TYT Sep 9-2014].
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