My kid is 100x more likely to get hit by a car, or drowned in a pool, or get cancer, than to be molested by whatever guy I am trusting him with. And the vast majority of kids who do get molested are molested by family members. That's just statistics and those stories are on the local news every night. But human fear is completely irrational.
The chance of dying in your car or of heart disease is much higher than that of skydiving, but ask people what scares them more.
My point is that everyone is trying to manage risk, we just focus on the wrong shit.
I think the difference is:
1. If I die of a heart attack, that is unstoppable pretty much because of genetics and such. Eating right only goes so far.
2. If I die in a car crash where a drunk driver is responsible, that is unstoppable unless I was out driving on New Years or some shit like that.
3. If I died in the world trade center, that was unstoppable
However, if my kid got molested because I allowed a Catholic priest into my home, or left my kid with them unattended.. then that is something I could have prevented and should have. If not a matter of "your 100x more likely to X then die in an attack", its more of this is some shit that could have been prevented compared to shit that can not be prevented which is what a lot of what that data represents when they say "you 1000x time more likely to die from heart attack then from jihad".
Can you prevent a drunk driver from killing you? Maybe if you never drive, but whats to stop them from jumping the curb and killing you as you walk down the sidewalk. Not driving or going out is a major disruption to life for something you cant control.
Can you prevent a priest from molesting your child? Yeah, dont put them in Catholic church unattended with the priest. Thats not a major disruption and something you can plan out. How about some freaking sex offender on your street? Yeah, dont let your kid out of site when at home and keep a neighborhood watch on that guys house.
So all this talk about your likely to die from X before you die from a jihad attack is BS to me. its comparing things that are not easily preventable and almost unstoppable without major planning and disruption to you life with something you can easily plan against and protect against. Dont hang around muslims or places they frequent and hang out at, and your chances get reduced IF such an attack were to take place.
There are always outliers though. The people in the World Trade center had no clue or option to prevent what happened to them. Thats an outlier, but these reporters that travel to Egypt, Iran, and other places put themselves in that position though and it could have been prevented. I am not saying what was done to them was right at all, but in the same light I would have never put myself in that position either.
Also, we do all manage risk and we all have different tolerance levels. Your risk for investment and tolerance is probably different then mine too. However, at what level is it acceptable to make fun of, look down on, or act like someone is doing something wrong because they dont have the same risk tolerance as you?
I see your point, I do.. but you have got to see some of mine.
