# We need to stop making such a big deal about terrorism **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 30, 2014, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-stop-making-such-a-big-deal-about-terrorism/708506 "2014-12-30T04:33:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-stop-making-such-a-big-deal-about-terrorism/708506/21 "2014-12-31T02:25:52Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Maybe. > > But isn’t this something that needs numbers attached before we just accept it on your word? > > In 2013, there were maybe 18,000 terrorism deaths: > > [Terrorism: number of deaths worldwide 2022 | Statista](http://www.statista.com/statistics/202871/number-of-fatalities-by-terrorist-attacks-worldwide/) > **[Lightning Deaths and Injuries, by the Numbers](https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/lightning-deaths-and-injuries-numbers/?scope=anon)** > > Lightning. Photo: Shutterstock On Wednesday January 2, 42-year-old Irish adventurer Ian McKeever was leading a group of more than 20 people through the lunar landscape section of Mount Kilimanjaro when he was struck by lightning and killed instantly.... Lightning kills 24,000 every year. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-stop-making-such-a-big-deal-about-terrorism/708506/22 "2014-12-31T03:13:38Z")
> [@mind\_the\_gap](#): > > I’d like to point out that the “War on Terrorism” has allowed the destruction of the Bill of Rights, allowed the government to wiretap anyone anytime w/o court order, furthered the militarization of police departments and been a windfall for defense contracters. We are not supposed to think about this, being loyal 'Murcans, but we LOST. Shortly after 9/11. Our lives are much less free, our privacy less private. We get to experience “security theatre” everytime we fly. The land of the free…indeed. This happens after all national catastrophes. Did we ignore the right to habeus corpus? Did we intern Muslims? Did we implement an Alien and Sedition Act? ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-stop-making-such-a-big-deal-about-terrorism/708506/23 "2014-12-31T03:20:23Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > [Lightning Deaths and Injuries, by the Numbers](http://www.outsideonline.com/blog/outdoor-adventure/lightning-deaths-and-injuries-by-the-numbers.html) > Lightning kills 24,000 every year. Thank you for finding that. I accept it. There are about 1/3 more deaths by lightning than by militant attacks, worldwide. > [@mind\_the\_gap](#): > > I’d like to point out that the “War on Terrorism” has allowed the destruction of the Bill of Rights, allowed the government to wiretap anyone anytime w/o court order, furthered the militarization of police departments and been a windfall for defense contracters. But lets say that there hadn’t been a big and successful effort to protect the US from becoming a frequent target of militant attacks. Then when follow-up domestic terror attacks occurred, even if far smaller than 9/11, the politicians who were responsible for not doing much about 9/11 would have lost big. And the civil liberties concerns with what came next would be even greater. The US has roughly the same degree of liberty as the average democracy, with one big exception being that we have the highest incarceration rate. Prisons are a far bigger liberty issue than whether someone listens in to my international phone calls. Now listening in to Angela Merkel’s calls – that wasn’t smart. But computerized listening in, in general, is inevitable. Since I’d gladly give up the US constitution in favor of that of just about any other English speaking democracy, I suppose the Bill of Rights thing doesn’t tug at my heart as it does yours. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-stop-making-such-a-big-deal-about-terrorism/708506/24 "2014-12-31T03:20:50Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > The ideal mechanism to combat terrorism would be a relatively off-line government panel that approves assassinations, and these should be carried out against terrorist targets with as little hoopla or explanation as possible. That would _be_ terrorism, and it would invite reprisals. > [@](#): > > It is true that conventional war to combat terrorism is stupid, ineffective, and counterproductive. > > You cannot quantify the effect of terrorism by comparing the number of deaths. Terrorism can incapacitate an entire society and its values. Note the loss of due process in sentence one, for example. Or, you know, treat politically motivated crime as crime, instead of acting like it’s some super-version of war. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-stop-making-such-a-big-deal-about-terrorism/708506/25 "2014-12-31T03:25:35Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > … treat politically motivated crime as crime, instead of acting like it’s some super-version of war. This would be impossible for actions outside the USA where our crime fighting apparatus would have no access to suspects and/or witnesses. OBL would still be alive. The Taliban would still control Afghanistan. Just how is this supposed to work? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-stop-making-such-a-big-deal-about-terrorism/708506/26 "2014-12-31T03:30:20Z")
Gee, if only there were mechanisms for cooperation between sovereign states that would allow formal methods of extradition. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-stop-making-such-a-big-deal-about-terrorism/708506/27 "2014-12-31T03:38:33Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Gee, if only there were mechanisms for cooperation between sovereign states that would allow formal methods of extradition. :rolleyes: Like this suggestion has any realistic chance of ever working. :rolleyes: Like Pakistan would extradite OBL. :rolleyes: Like France would extradite Roman Polanski. :rolleyes: Like Argentina would extradite Adolf Eichmann. :rolleyes: Or Brazil Josef Mengele. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-stop-making-such-a-big-deal-about-terrorism/708506/28 "2014-12-31T03:51:01Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > The ideal mechanism to combat terrorism would be a relatively off-line government panel that approves assassinations, and these should be carried out against terrorist targets with as little hoopla or explanation as possible. I’m sure this has been tried in high terror death incidence countries like Nigeria, Syria, Iraq, and Pakistan, and in the medium terror incidence country of Israel. I don’t think it has worked as well as the little-loved preventive law enforcement and surveillance model we have in the US. (Although there’s a good chance that the US is already, secretly, doing what you recommend. But that wouldn’t explain why we have so few domestic attacks despite being so hated by militant fighters.) As for people who think the other-than-assassination methods the US uses now are worthless, consider the large number of foreign fighters flocking to Syria. Why don’t they come to the US instead? Don’t they hate the US government as much as they hate that of Syria? So why don’t they come here? The US must be doing something right. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-stop-making-such-a-big-deal-about-terrorism/708506/29 "2014-12-31T06:29:36Z")
It’s comical that people use the phrase “War on Terror” like it has meaning or substance. These people are sheep. ---
**Author:** ![BOOM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@BOOM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BOOM)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-stop-making-such-a-big-deal-about-terrorism/708506/30 "2014-12-31T08:48:31Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > As for people who think the other-than-assassination methods the US uses now are worthless, consider the large number of foreign fighters flocking to Syria. Why don’t they come to the US instead? Don’t they hate the US government as much as they hate that of Syria? So why don’t they come here? The US must be doing something right. eh? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-stop-making-such-a-big-deal-about-terrorism/708506/31 "2014-12-31T12:13:09Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Why didn’t we have a … “war on cancer”? We do. And have since 1971. > **[War on cancer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Cancer)** > > The "war on cancer" is the effort to find a cure for cancer by increased research to improve the understanding of cancer biology and the development of more effective cancer treatments, such as targeted drug therapies. The aim of such efforts is to eradicate cancer as a major cause of death. The signing of the National Cancer Act of 1971 by United States president Richard Nixon is generally viewed as the beginning of this effort, though it was not described as a "war" in the legislation itself.\[1... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-stop-making-such-a-big-deal-about-terrorism/708506.md?page=1)