Larger dangers than terrorism

It is logical that the media spend time on terrorist attacks. But they will also know that the more attention they give to that subject, the more consternation in society will arise and the more the terrorists will be happy because they want to create consternation.

Moreover, they will have less time for attention to larger numbers of deaths through the traffic, diseases, violent repression, poverty and disasters. In comparison with their numbers, the number of terror victims is very small. On the day that you extensively pay attention to 32 deaths by terrorist attacks in Brussels, over 30,000 people dying by HIV, over 30,000 by lung cancer, approximately 30,000 by diarrhea and 30,000 by diabetes. In the Syrian war violence about 170 people in Syria are dying on an average day over the last five years, nearly six times as much as in Brussels on 23 March.

Of course, terrorist attacks distinguish themselves by willfulness of the offenders, but willfulness also brings casualties in other ways, and in much larger numbers. Think of the thousands of horrible deaths through hunger because of oppression and exploitation, while entrepreneurs, bankers and politicians are pocketing the money. Or think of the thousands in Homs or Gaza who die gruesomely through willfully thrown bombs from aircraft of Asad or Netanyahu. And don’t forget the people who die from torture in the dungeons of dictatorial regimes. Much of all that suffering arises from willfulness of offenders.

Terrorist attacks have also the aspect of unexpectedness that many fear so much. But it is equally unexpected for a biker to be killed by a lorry that wants to pass you in a narrow residential street and crush your head under a wheel. That happened to a woman living next to me. And like her, more than 200 people die in the European traffic each day and worldwide about 4,000 people each day, also unexpectedly and gruesomely.

To be clear, I do not campaign for ignoring terrorists and their attacks, but for a balanced distribution of media attention to all victims and directly or indirectly responsible people. In that way, we help seeing a terrorist attack in its true proportions and redress over-emotional reactions.

Moreover, we preclude that time and again there is a call for measures that we will regret later on, while less time is left to discuss measures against much larger forms of suffering and the people responsible for that suffering.

---

More than 28,000 photos of deaths in government custody that were smuggled out of Syria:

https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/12/16/syria-stories-behind-photos-killed-detainees