Specifically, the practice of comparing casualties in one country to “equivalent” casualties in the US based on population size.
In this article:
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0813-26.htm
The author discusses the 800 men lost during Israels 1980’s occupation and calls it “the equivalent in the U.S. of 48,000 dead.” This being based on the us having 60 times the population of Israel.
There was a discussion in Slate magazine a week or so back about this. Sorry no link. I’m really not sure what to make of it. In some regards, it makes sense, but personally, I never think, when hearing about, say, 5 Marines killed in Falujah, "Oh, that was .00XXXXX% of our population. 5 people losing their lives is 5 people losing their lives.
What say you guys?