[Peace-discuss] FW: A Conspiracy of Fear-Mongers

[David Johnson]

December 15, 2015 

A Conspiracy of Fear-Mongers
<http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/15/a-conspiracy-of-fear-mongers/> 

by Sheldon Richman <http://www.counterpunch.org/author/sheldon-richman/>  

 

" you are 9
<https://www.google.com/search?q=155+divided+by+17&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rl
s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a>  times more likely to be
killed by a law enforcement officer than by a terrorist." 

 

Description: CNN-report-criticised

Over the weekend CNN breathlessly reported as "Breaking News" - it
breathlessly reports everything as "Breaking News" - a new poll indicating
that people are increasingly frightened about terrorism. The accompanying
web story stated
<http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/11/politics/terrorism-top-problem-poll-isis/inde
x.html> , "Terrorism has eclipsed the economy as voters' top pick for the
biggest issue facing America, a New York Times/CBS News poll
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/11/us/politics/fear-of-terrorism-lifts-donal
d-trump-in-new-york-times-cbs-poll.html>  has found. Last month only 4% of
Americans said terrorism was the most important problem, according to the
New York Times. Now nearly one in five - 19% - believe it is."

The story goes on:

Following terrorist attacks in Paris and in San Bernardino, California, the
poll said Americans are more fearful about the likelihood of another
terrorist attack than at any other time since the weeks after Sept. 11,
2001..

More than four in 10 Americans - 44% - believe an attack is "very" likely to
happen in the next few months. And 70% say that ISIS is a major threat to
America's security.

Nearly 60% of people are "very" concerned about the threat of terrorism
against Americans committed by elements entering the U.S. from other
countries. And 63% are "very" concerned about the threat of terrorism
against Americans committed by people currently living in the U.S. who are
inspired by foreign extremists."

How likely is an American to be a victim? Curiously, CNN never bothers to
say.

In fact, the likelihood is so low
<http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/09/youre-68-times-more-likely-to-be-hit
-and-killed-by-lightning-than-murdered-by-a-terrorist.html>  that the
saturation coverage - which is better described as fear-mongering - looks
ridiculous. Commonplace things are far more likely to kill Americans than
terrorism - from any source - yet you won't learn that by watching TV or
reading the daily newspaper. 

The odds of being killed by a terrorist attack is about the same as being
hit by an  <http://politicalscience.osu.edu/faculty/jmueller/HARRIS.PDF>
asteroid .                 Which is a 1 in 22 million chance. 

being struck by lightning at 1 in 5,500,000. 

In other words, in the last five years you were four times more likely to be
struck by lightning than killed by a terrorist 

drowning in a bathtub 1 in 800,000; 

dying in a building fire 1 in 99,000; 

In a car accident 1 in 19,000;

you're 353
<https://www.google.com/search?q=6%2C000+americans+fall+roof+ladders&ie=utf-
8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#client=firef
ox-a&hs=3et&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&sclient=psy-ab&q=6%2C000+divide
d+by+17&oq=6%2C000+divided+by+17&gs_l=serp.3..33i29i30l4.204956.206861.0.207
772.14.13.0.0.0.0.271.2555.0j6j7.13.0...0.0...1c.1.11.psy-ab.KkA-Eo8gW1I&pbx
=1&bav=on.2,or.>  times more likely to fall to your death than die in a
terrorist attack.

you are 271
<https://www.google.com/#output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=4%2C609+divided+by+1
7&oq=4%2C609+divided+by+17&gs_l=hp.3...688.4044.0.4767.15.15.0.0.0.0.241.172
2.7j7j1.15.0...0.0...1c.1.11.psy-ab.2GReJwDoZOA&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=
bv.45645796,d.cGE&fp=4fb34227f337626b&biw=933&bih=43>  times more likely to
die from a workplace accident than terrorism.

You are  <http://www.cdc.gov/foodborneburden/> 110 times more likely to die
from contaminated food than terrorism 

you are 9
<https://www.google.com/search?q=155+divided+by+17&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rl
s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a>  times more likely to be
killed by a law enforcement officer than by a terrorist. 

 

It's not as though qualified interviewees would be hard to find. John
Mueller and Mark G. Stewart
<http://www.libertarianism.org/media/free-thoughts/what-are-risks-terrorism#
.byinjba:hedN>  have been putting the terrorist threat in perspective for
years.  <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0190237317counterpunchmaga>
Chasing Ghosts: The Policing of Terrorism is their latest attempt to cool
things down.

"Although the yearly chance an American will be killed by a terrorist within
the country is about one in 4 million under present conditions," Mueller and
Stewart write, "around 40 percent of Americans have professed, in polls
taken since late 2001, that they worry they or a family member will become a
victim of a terrorist."

Of course. The media work overtime to make them afraid. But getting killed
by an asteroid
<http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/10/13/death-by-meteorit
e/>  is more likely. Richard Jackson of the National Centre for Peace and
Conflict Studies <http://www.otago.ac.nz/ncpacs/staff/otago029983.html>  in
New Zealand says
<https://richardjacksonterrorismblog.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/the-threat-of-
terrorism/>  we have more to fear from bathtubs and vending machines.

After the attacks, American officials from the president on down sounded
repeated alarms about how many al-Qaeda operatives (2,000-5,000) and sleeper
cells were in America and about a coming second wave of terrorism. The lack
of evidence was considered evidence. No operatives or cells were found and
no second wave took place, yet no official apologized.

Thus the U.S. government's expenditure of trillions of dollars since 9/11 is
shown to be outrageous.

We've been through this before. In the 1980s a group of right-wing
"experts," aided by the media, tried to scare Americans into believing that
Soviet-trained terrorists were among us. If so, they preferred living here
peacefully to creating mayhem.

Why do the government, the media establishment, and an assortment of
consultants traffic in fear?

It's not a hard question. Many people profit from fear-mongering about
terrorism. Politicians and bureaucrats gain more power. They also gain
access to more money (through borrowing, that is, taxation of future
generations). That money ends up in the terrorism industry
<http://www.amazon.com/Top-Secret-America-American-Security/dp/0316182206/re
f=sr_1_1_twi_pap_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450120394&sr=8-1&keywords=dana+priest> , a
constellation of firms that sell the government endless quantities of goods
and services.

No presidential candidate dare tell the truth because rivals will portray
him or her as a weak-kneed, head-in-the-sand appeaser. Fear-mongering brings
the worst to the top.

Finally, the news media and the
<http://www.salon.com/2012/08/15/the_sham_terrorism_expert_industry/> "sham
'terrorism expert' industry" it fosters have every incentive to exaggerate
any danger. Fear-mongering attracts viewers and builds circulation. Why
would CNN report something that might prompt viewers to change the channel?

Regular Americans pay a heavy price - in stress (which is a killer), in lost
liberty and privacy, and in prosperity forgone. Fear of terrorism also makes
people more willing to support American militarism in the Middle East, which
creates more would-be terrorists than it destroys and keeps the scam going.

What will it take to change this perverse system that thrives on power, war,
and fear?

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20151218/6e2dbccd/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 48973 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20151218/6e2dbccd/attachment-0001.jpg>