This may be end up as a GD type debate but because in the OP I am not offering my own opinion, I am just curious about what other dopers think is more likely to happen to the average American (I pick Americans for fairly obvious reasons) than to die/be injured by a terrorist attack, I am posting it here.
If it’s in some way inappropriate or controversial I won’t object if it gets closed.
Given that I believe it is more likely to be struck by lightening than to be a victim of a terrorist attack (unless you are stationed in Iraq, in which case the odds go up a bit), I think we can all afford to worry about a lot of other things first.
I was going to say lightning.
-Getting hit by a car
-Bitten by a shark
Car crash, much more common.
Suicide (WAG–I bet it’s true)
Trip and fall.
Choking.
Dying in bed at age 90, loved by all.
Same, hated by all.
Something on the scale of 1400+ people die each day in the US due to tobacco related illnesses. For some reason there is no “War on Tobacco”. The US media makes a lot of strange choices as to what’s important to cover.
Keep in mind: what makes a terrorist a terrorist is the goal of causing irrational fear. You can only stop terrorism by not being afraid. (If their goal is just to kill a lot of people, gain ground, capture stuff, etc., they aren’t terrorists. Look up the word in a dictionary.)
As for more small scale stuff: you are more likely to die in an SUV rollover.
I think you’re more likely to die of a heart attack then get attacked by terrorists. But then again, if terrorists attack you might have a heart attack from the fear, so I wonder if that really counts :rolleyes: .
Twice a day, I stand on a platform about 10 feet wide with several thousand people packed on it as speeding passenger trains whip past only inches away. Many of the other people here are wandering around preoccupied with talking on cell phones, chasing after small children, or picking their noses. There are no guardrails anywhere.
The odds of me getting accidentally(?) nudged in front of the morning commuter express are much greater than the odds of being in a terrorist attack.
I’m more likely to be killed by a falling chunk of concrete
or by a car plowing through the wall and crushing me.
Both seem to happen with some frequency here. (No, the kid at the ballgame was not hurt. A number of people have died or been injured when building pieces fell. I’m too cheap to pay for archived stories.)
I once read that you are more likely to get killed by a space rock falling on your head, than by a terrorist attack.
Gods, I just hope I have less chance of getting killed by a terrorist than of ever having sex again. The odds of that happening have got be better than something!
He he. Stupid Earth men. Still buying the ol’ “falling space rock” story:
Ming the Merciless.
ftg, if you get into the marijuana legalization debates in GD or elsewhere, you find people saying that marijuana is less dangerous than several other drugs, and tobacco is sometimes mentioned. Not a “war” but there are people who are against it.
Anyway, I’d say that the odds of food-related death (food poisoning, E. Coli, choking…) are probably way higher.
Bees. Surely bees are involved.
The bees have already won!
It’s far more likely for me to finish the Four day walking event in Nijmegen than becoming a victim to the crazy people.
The ‘Vierdaagse’ was threatened by some “terrorists”, but, as far as I could see, the walkers were more annoyed at the weather than scared for their lives.
Heh, I’ve never seen so much laid-back people on one place.
“Terrorists? Oh, sure. Look at the rain, dammit!”. 
Can we put a number on this? If pop=300,000,000 and deaths pa=3000, that’s 100,000 to 1 - probably more likely than winning the lottery. Of course, I’m guessing most years the death toll is more like zero…
Being the victim of an over-zealous police officer or airport security lackey.
I doubt it, because I believe there has been no reported cases of an individual killed by a meteor. I might be wrong, and there might have been a couple of such deaths, but in any case, way less than death caused by terrorist attacks, in the US or anywhere else.
In general, people are more likely to be killed by a member of their own family, particularly by their spouse. (Not me though because I have no spouse, and my family is a bunch of wussies.)
I’m more likely to be suffocated by the cat that likes to sleep on my face at night. (The other night he drooled right in my eye.)
I’ve always thought I would die by getting hit by a vehicle while I was looking at the stars.
It’s really easy to say the risks are low. And they are, I won’t deny that. That doesn’t mean they’re zero for some of us, or that we shouldn’t go after terrorists.
My office reeked of smoke for weeks after 9/11, because the smoke from the Pentagon got sucked right into our building’s ventilation system.
Where I currently work could easily be a terrorist target as well. Our site provides a lot of support for the Navy’s Tomahawk cruise missile program. It’s no mystery who’s been at the receiving end of those Tomahaws lately.
The risks are not insignificant in my particular case, folks.
You’re more likely to be killed by a 1920s style Death Ray than by a terrorist attack.
Come on, someone had to say it.