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From: gjk@talcott.UUCP (Greg Kuperberg)
Newsgroups: net.flame,net.politics
Subject: Re: Crime in New York
Message-ID: <225@talcott.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 11-Jan-85 17:52:07 EST
Article-I.D.: talcott.225
Posted: Fri Jan 11 17:52:07 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 13-Jan-85 08:11:26 EST
References: <166@abnji.UUCP>
Organization: Harvard
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Xref: watmath net.flame:7632 net.politics:6793

> Do you realize that you have a greater chance of being killed by a handgun
> in the United States than you do of being killed by terrorism in Northern
> Ireland?

No, I didn't realize it.  In fact, depending on what you compare, it may
not be true.  In any case it's comparing apples and oranges.

On one level, since I'm in the United States and will probably never visit
Northern Ireland, the chances are very close to nil that I might be killed
by terrorism in that country.  On the other hand, since I live in a
low-crime neighborhood, the chances are pretty small that I might be killed
with a handgun in the U.S.  Research shows that most homocide victims know
their murderer, and I am not a member of a street gang, nor organized
crime, nor do I have relatives with violent tendencies.  Terrorism, on the
other hand, is more random and not restricted to bad neighborhoods in
cities.  So if I were a middle-class resident of Northern Ireland, the
chances could concievably be greater that I might be killed by terrorism.
But for me, the chances of either are pretty slim.

I grant you that general homocide rates in the U.S. are higher than
terrorist-homicide rates in Northern Ireland.  However, terrorism by
itself is not a major cause of death, even in Middle Eastern countries.
The reason that it gets so much press is that it represents political
unrest, and that it means that a small, violent group of people have a
highly disproportionate amount of political power.

More importantly, homocide gets much more press than other causes of death.
Suicide rates in almost all Western countries (including the U.S.) are
higher than homocide rates, and there are more auto fatalities in the U.S.
than there are homocides and suicides put together.  For a student like me,
THE most prevalent causes of death are, respectively, auto fatalities
and suicides.

In short, my answer to the hypothetical question, "Should you be more con-
cerned with terrorism or homocides?" is "You probably shouldn't be overly
concerned with either one."
---
			Greg Kuperberg
		     harvard!talcott!gjk