I'm genuinely curious as to why many people think terrorism is the largest issue in today's society?

[LilacBearberry]

I've had this said by a couple of family members. That terrorism is the largest issue. Terrorists are taking over, etc.

I am not in any way excusing terrorism. It's awful. It should absolutely be mentioned, but statistically, the deaths caused by these crimes are much, much, much lower than deaths caused by child abuse, domestic violence, etc.

I never hear anyone say these are the biggest issues of today and that child abusers, etc. are taking over our country.

I was actually told I was defending terrorists by saying this I'm just curious if I'm wrong. This thread isn't to be arsey, I'm genuinely wondering if I'm seeing this completely wrong.

I never hear anyone say these are the biggest issues of today and that child abusers, etc. are taking over our country

Really? I've seen that claimed a few times, in the wake of Savile's crimes coming out and his connections to the royal family.

I genuinely haven't. Even if so, statistically, it's a crime that happens so much more frequently. I don't mean that to sound like I'm downplaying the effects of terrorism, but I feel like a lot more time and effort is put into the coverage of it, but not so much on other crimes. I also think to say it's "getting out of control and we can't walk safely in the street" is very extreme, unless you'd say that about rape, etc.

Because it gets much more coverage in the media than financial inequality and the big corporate tax dodge in this country. Because there's an agenda.

The number of people in the UK who die in road traffic accidents massively eclipses deaths caused by terrorism.

The interesting thing is people will accept increased restrictions to their liberty in the name of preventing terrorism but mention lowering speed limits, they have a fit

I think it is because abuse is something that happpens to others (until it happens to you) whereas terrorism is random.

I think the largest issue in today’s society is probably climate change as we’re all fucked with that one.

Then probably massive inequality in the world including rich v poor and the mirad of tax avoidance issues, homelessness, lack of public services, cuts, healthcare crisis, unemployment, poverty etc - globally

Then probably war in general

Maybe famine next?

Then natural disasters.

Then the fact they’ve changed the Dairy Milk recipe.

Terrorism is like, 9th?

One mans freedom fighter etc.

@Boulshired - rape is random. Lots of other crimes are random, which still have a higher death rate too.

@Littlecaf - see, 9th seems quite high. I'm not saying it isn't important, but I don't get why it's so high on people's lists. It's just another crime.

LilacBearberry and how are we defining terrorism? Barcelona attacks? London Bridge? Or the attacks on the Rohingya people? Or maybe ethic cleansing should be above terrorism? Is that a society issue?

Not sure your family are right, OP. But you know that!

I tend to find most people who say that terrorism is our biggest concern, read the DM or Express and believe everything they read.

Some sections of the press like to frighten us and keep us in our place.

It's potentially a major concern, it's just being contained at the moment by our security forces. If they were to lose control of the situation then things could get very nasty.

The problem with such a statistical fudge is that some forms of death is rather a common thing and a known risk. It also doesn't result in injuries, nor lost business revenues due to falls in visitorship to the area affected. It also doesn't require an increase in security spending.

Terrorism has a massive impact, it is asymmetric in the extreme between the amount of resources required to conduct an attack and the total cost to the target country. It took no more than 7 people to kill 130, injure 500, and cost the tourist industry of Paris €1 billion within three months.

Even a small amount has a hugely devastating impact on society.