About 3500 people died during the 911 attacks

[TheCoxwain]

But about 43000 people die a year in road accidents http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx


We have spent 1 Trillion dollars + 4000 lives in trying to prevent the former from recurring.


I have no clue how much public money gets spent in trying to prevent the latter - but my hunch is that on a per capita basis - it will be nowhere near money spent in trying to save lives from a terrorist attack.


Why is one form of death considered more important to protect against than the other?


Why don't we have a better public perspective on this?

[tavalon]

1. Because we are easily manipulated

If they tried as hard to scare us with the traffic fatalities as they did with Muslim terrorists, we wouldn't be willing to drive to the mall.

[onehandle]

2. 440,000 Americans die each year from tobacco related causes.

But tobacco is profitable and addictive so we whistle past the graveyard.

We get what we deserve.

[Coyote_Bandit]

3. And about 275 people die in the US every day

because they do not have access to health care.

That's more than double the number of people who die in road accidents.

[Delphinus]

10. Seriously?

That's 100,375 people per year. Where do you get this information? I'd use it if you could back it up.

[Coyote_Bandit]

11. Here's a link for you

http://www.monthlyreview.org/0903navarro.htm

The information was presented in 2003. I would imagine the numbers are higher today.

[patrice]

4. How many die from what was, at one time, manageable Diabetes? nt

[Ezlivin]

5. But those road accidents are not Hollywood-level spectacular events

Those who struck our country on 9/11 certainly knew the average American's psyche. They knew that just as we love our summer blockbuster movies, we can't take our eyes off a spectacular disaster. 9/11 was a made-for-television ultra special event.

Auto accidents? Not so much.

That's why eight years after 9/11 we're still pouring billions of dollars into keeping us safe while over 3,500 people die every month on our highways with not one single change to automobile or highway design.

[greyl]

18. "not one single change to automobile or highway design"?

Strong statement. Not supported by facts, however.

[NYCGirl]

6. Because road accidents are not murder. 9/11 was. NT

[Wednesdays]

16. Non sequitor...

the people are just as dead, regardless of cause.

[NYCGirl]

19. No, the OP asked why one is viewed differently from the other. NT

[Critters2]

20. People die because others willfully drive recklessly,

violate laws, and in general show disregard for human life. Not murder, perhaps, but not exactly "accidents" either.

[aikoaiko]

7. We spend a lot of money on roads and traffic management devices and personnel.

Not to mention the costs of safety devices in cars that individuals pay for.

I don't have any numbers but there is a lot of money in traffic safety.

[MicaelS]

8. Self-Control

When you're in control of things in your life, you tend to asses risk at a much lower level than when you are not. To put it another way, people far over-react to things they can't control.

[TheBigotBasher]

9. I did a similar post on this yesterday.

It sank like a stone. (Please note it is graphic)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5773773&mesg_id=5773773

[truth2power]

13. BB, I went back and looked at your previous post...this bears repeating..

" If pro Lifers really want to defend their position then they really do need to think about why they are so pro war, pro capital punishment, so prepared to leave children of single parents freeze in tent cities. They are the taliban and do not recognise it."

As to the subject of this thread: Why is one form of death more important to protect against than another?

In my view, it's because 9/11 was constructed, in whole or in part, by Cheney/Bush, to serve a political purpose, i.e. to make possible our depredations around the world to control oil, natural gas, <insert natural resource of choice, here>. And it has served that purpose exceedingly well.

9/11 has become our Sacred Myth. It mobilizes the American people and excuses a multitude of heinous crimes against innocents targeted by our MIC, unlike traffic deaths, which have no overriding political purpose.

[Beam Me Up]

12. Because traffic accidents are profitable -- as is the war on terror.

Think of the money spent on accident insurance, hospitalization -- the whole industry that has grown up around automobile accidents. Were talking hundreds of billions of dollars. Same with the war on terror. The idea that it is to "prevent" terror is ridiculous. In what way has that war made us "safer"? What it has done is make a few people invested in the MIC and "security" industry and the oil industry (lots of overlap there) VERY rich -- at our expense. It has also centralized power (less oversight and control) and instituted an entirely new foreign policy. We now claim the right to attack and invade ANY nation we even THINK might become a "threat" to our national interests.

[L0oniX]

14. and over 1,300,000 dead Iraqis of which how many were innocent

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq

$830.2 billion dollars have been allocated to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home

[Lorien]

15. And health insurance comapnies kill 20,000 policy owners each year:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5752061&mesg_id=5752061

Killing for profit is a good thing in this country, or so the statistics would lead us to believe.

[barbtries]

17. i've wondered the same thing so many times

my daughter was killed with a car. what about the number of domestic murders? street crime?

no, i think i know why. the military/industrial complex needs their wars.

[G_j]

21. it had nothing to do with those killed on 911

or protecting anyone.

and don't forget the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi dead.

[NoSheep]

22. I don't think the money was spent trying to prevent it. I think it was spent to make it appear

as if the government was trying to prevent it. Tax payer dollars invested by neocons in neocon-centric businesses. What a way to raise an investment dollar, huh?

[The Straight Story]

23. Main difference here is Motive. One was a planned murder of people, accidents are different

We already spend money trying to get people to drive better (speeding laws, drunk driving laws, etc).

But I understand where you are coming from and have ranted myself on such things - but generally when it comes to health care. That has nothing to do with accidents or how others behave, it has to do with access.

We can prevent these deaths and the suffering of many if we care enough to spend the money.

Thing is the people in power don't. And I don't see that changing any time soon.