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You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

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Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#141

Post by user_0001 »

a3voices wrote: post #57
Retric wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’re talking about really low probability deaths then you need to consider really unusual cases. Fires gun at fleeing suspect, bullet hits _ -> deaths. Now, how does _ end up with 10 million deaths? Well, the US Air Force for example has accidently dropped nuclear warheads on several occasions. They are designed to be really tough, but there is probably a non-zero chance a bullet could end up setting a defective…

But it's far, far higher chance that terrorists would kill 10 million tomorrow than police. All it takes is for a terrorist group to get their hands on nukes.

the chance that a nation state would kill 10 million more tomorrow is several orders of magnitude more probable.

China, US, India, Pakistan, Russia.....

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#142

Post by mcnamaratw »

dllthomas wrote: post #114
mcnamaratw wrote: post #49

I like numbers, but this one might work better if they put some context: "You're 50% more likely to be killed by lightning than by a terrorist." or "You're six times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a bumblebee." Or the somber "You're 150 times more likely to be killed by a motor vehicle than a terrorist." (The War on Vehicles should apparently be funded to the tune of $150T a year, if I understan…

If something on the order of the 9/11 attacks happened every other day, we'd still lose more Americans to heart disease.

lol there you go. Let's spend 1500T a year on that.

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#143

Post by simonh »

Do we know what the ratio is between persons actually engaged in criminal activity killed by police officers (in the US), and innocent citizens? I realise it would be hard to have much confidence in any such statistics, but the point is if I visit the US and I have no criminal intent, my personal risk of getting killed by an officer is certainly not zero, but I expect it would be low compared to the risk for persons who do have such intent. Conversely, my risk of being a victim of terrorism has no significant correlation to my intent.

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#144

Post by oldmanjay »

RobertoG wrote: post #127
briandear wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American has used nuclear weapons twice in history. Fearing American nukes is ridiculous and not based on any rational thought.

In my opinion, fearing nukes, in general, is pretty rational.

Fear can't be rational. It's definitional. The fear is justifiable in some sense, of course, as we still allow people to feel whatever they want (if not express it)

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#145

Post by twoodfin »

mcnamaratw wrote: post #49

I like numbers, but this one might work better if they put some context: "You're 50% more likely to be killed by lightning than by a terrorist." or "You're six times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a bumblebee." Or the somber "You're 150 times more likely to be killed by a motor vehicle than a terrorist." (The War on Vehicles should apparently be funded to the tune of $150T a year, if I understan…

Your comment essentially demonstrates why setting public policy based on relative death counts is profoundly silly.

How many Americans had the Nazis killed when we invaded N. Africa? Surely a tiny, tiny fraction of the number who had died in coal mine accidents that year. So?

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#146

Post by happyscrappy »

cryoshon wrote: post #79
cubano wrote: post #45

And you are five times more likely to be killed at a railroad crossing then by a police officer.[1] Headlines like these are obviously created for sensationalism , and while you will be hard pressed to find someone with a bigger animus towards the current USCJS then I, I think we should all be on the lookout for hyperbole, no matter what underlying meme it may be promoting. [1] http://www.popularmechanics.com/technol…

It isn't hyperbole that US cops are far more violent and unstable than the cops of other developed countries. Look at how many people Germany kills per year. Now look at how many people China kills per year. Now look at the US...

Germans don't cross an empty street against the light, hardly comparable.

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#147

Post by gotchange »

monocasa wrote: post #129
gotchange wrote: post #71

> You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist I hate to say this and defend those people but that statistical observation is due to the fact that security, intelligence and law enforcement officers are doing their job in foiling most of the terrorist plots and averting disasters.* However, if terrorists were given free rein, the casualties number on their side would much much high…

If that were true, we'd be seeing non bullshit terrorist convictions. I'm not a big fan of paying for snake oil.

To what factor would you attribute this observation if you are not buying the law enforcement competence theory?

From the top of my head, the Garland Texas terrorist attach was foiled due to the officers competence who shot down the two terrorist who were about to go on a rampage a la Charlie Hebdo at the center.

That's just one example to support my argument

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#148

Post by nsxwolf »

dllthomas wrote: post #114
mcnamaratw wrote: post #49

I like numbers, but this one might work better if they put some context: "You're 50% more likely to be killed by lightning than by a terrorist." or "You're six times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a bumblebee." Or the somber "You're 150 times more likely to be killed by a motor vehicle than a terrorist." (The War on Vehicles should apparently be funded to the tune of $150T a year, if I understan…

If something on the order of the 9/11 attacks happened every other day, we'd still lose more Americans to heart disease.

It has been 5,161 days since 9/11. Every other day would be 2,580 9/11 sized attacks.

The entire country would be in ruins. There would be no more cities, and the economy would have ground to a halt. We would all be living in a post apocalyptic nightmare, with knock on effects leading to far more deaths than the direct numbers from the attacks.

This is why I hate these comparisons to heart disease and whatnot.

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#149

Post by chrisBob »

dionidium wrote: post #88
cryoshon wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't hyperbole that US cops are far more violent and unstable than the cops of other developed countries. Look at how many people Germany kills per year. Now look at how many people China kills per year. Now look at the US...

Does Germany have an equivalent to South Chicago or North St. Louis? Because we've got one of those in just about every major U.S. city. It seems relevant.

I love watching European cop shows where the lead detective goes into the house where he suspects he will find the killer, and pulls out his flashlight.

Re: You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist

#150

Post by bprieto »

It depends on the value of "You". Even if we are talking only of USA and not any other country, you don't have the same probability of being killed by a police officer if you are a white person living in a rich area than if you are a black drug dealer in downtown Detroit. And although terrorist might be more "random" in selecting their victims, you probably are more prone to being killed by a terrorist if you live in a big city than if you are in a small village.

So my point is this comparison, stated like this, is useful only to those that want to confirm their beliefs on "police brutality".

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