"If it is in newspapers, don't worry about it"
Bruce Schneier once said: "If it is in newspapers, don't worry about it". Newspapers report events that do not usually happen in everyday life and chances that the same event will happen to you or someone you know are very low.
In 2002 over 3,000,000 people US died from heart attacks and cancer (see stats) but you will not have a two thousand newspapers writing about the need to close the fast food chains or ban trans-fats.
Over 44% of accidental deaths in US (over 43,000 deaths!) in 2002 were caused by motor vehicles (see the same stats) yet it is so mundane, there is no (pardon me) "excitement" for the newspapers and people reading them. Can you imagine a few thousand newspapers reporting something like this: "British police foiled a major highway accident this morning by arresting 3 drunk drivers. The highway traffic in US and Europe has been brought to a halt. US officials posted code-Red alert and every driver now has to pass a driving test before he or she can use a motorized vehicle."
you gotta put this data in perspective. how many people died in traffic accidents 10 yrs ago? and how many will die in next 10 years?
Posted by: bravomail | October 10, 2006 at 10:54 PM