There's a much greater chance that your children's school bus will be in a horrific traffic accident.
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Again, depending on where you are.
Where is the danger of a terrorist attack on a schoolbus currently the greatest? How does that danger there compare to the danger of a traffic crash involving a schoolbus? There should be official statistics on all these issues anywhere where governance hasn't completely broken down.
You are extrapolating from your own experience on situations which are very different. My argument has two points:
1. I don't consider the current situation in the US "terror". I'm talking about different times and places. If you were boarding a bus in Israel, Sri Lanka, Iraq during certain periods of time, you would have a higher chance of dying from a bombing than from an accident.
2. The natural response to terror is anything but rational. It is a completely different feeling to go on a bus knowing there's a possibility of an accident to going on a bus knowing that one of the passengers may be carrying a bomb.
>If you were boarding a bus in Israel, Sri Lanka, Iraq during certain periods of time, you would have a higher chance of dying from a bombing than from an accident.
You should check the stats on these things first. I'm pretty certain that isn't true. Check out the traffic fatality rate in Iraq: http://chartsbin.com/view/0lz
Even with the rate of Israel at 7.59 per 100,000, that comes out to 539 people per year.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=population+of+israel+*+...
That is more people every year than have died of terrorism in any year during Israel's history, even 1948. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2000/1/Terror...
Even in the most terrorism-stricken places on earth, traffic fatalities still dwarf terrorism.
Certain time, certain place. Check bus stats in Israel between 1993-2006 - I guarantee you will find significantly more passengers died of bombings than accidents.
In any case, the stats are meaningless, as they have nothing to do with human nature and the way we perceive odds & danger. When the Beltway sniper was operating I don't think anyone was calmed by the knowledge their chances of being hit are really quite small.
> It is a completely different feeling to go on a bus knowing there's a possibility of an accident to going on a bus knowing that one of the passengers may be carrying a bomb.
I would compare the feeling to the feeling of wanting to do something, but not having the guts to just 'do it.' In this case, you want to search everyone on the bus that you don't trust until you are satisfied there is no bomb, but social pressures prevent you from doing so. This causes the stress.
The difference just being acceptance. When you believe that someone may be carrying a bomb you hold onto some hope that something can be done to stop them. When you get on a bus knowing that there is the possibility of an accident, there's not much you can do short of wrestling for control of the bus from the driver (or just not getting on the bus).
People have accepted that accidents happen. People have not accepted yet that 'terrorism' is a fact of life.
You are making an assumption about my personal experiences that isn't based on complete knowledge of my life history. In fact, I had a very specific example in mind of a country that has become more free, more prosperous, and more safe during my adulthood because the people there stopped being afraid of the terrorist acts perpetrated by agents of that country's dictatorial former government. The courage of the people brings about the safety and the freedom and the sound judgment of the people. I know of a terrorist movement that has utterly failed because its victims ceased being afraid.
That's interesting, I'm curious to hear more about it. Which country is that?
I'm going out on a limb here and guess from your profile you're talking about Tibet?
Taiwan. When I first lived there, the ruling party (which is once more the ruling party, after a change of ruling party in between) used political assassination and other terrorist acts to keep its grip on power. During the late 1980s, the common people stopped being afraid there, realizing they outnumbered the secret police, and peaceful mass demonstrations and continual efforts at forming opposition political movements and a free press when both were formally banned eventually resulted in free elections and a change of government. Here in the United States, and all over the world, that should be our response to terrorist threats: keep on seeking more freedom and more exposure of truth. Don't let the terrorists scare you from exercising freedom, and don't let your own government scare you from exercising your freedom while it responds to terrorists.