eve
"New terror camp names" "Stockpile of chemicals found in shopping mall"
"Jail boss alarmed at cleric's activities" "Five charged over courthouse
attack" "Buying in bulk drew attention" - hysterical headlines about terrorism that purports to be news but is really a carefully-calibrated portfolio of stories calculated to whip up fear.
But as lawyer Julian Burnside, QC points out, the response should be proportionate to the threat - and the likelihood of a Westerner dying from jihadist violence is around 0.0001%. By contrast, the annual probability of an Australian dying of smoking-related causes is 0.1%. Or as economics commentator Ross Gittins notes, Americans are almost nine times more likely to die falling off a ladder than in a terrorist attack.
If govt and media response to Australia's biggest problems were based on
reality, probability and relativity, the top five headlines might read something like this:
"Govt's new laws to reduce road toll" "Moves to double price of cigarettes" "Suicide research grants quadrupled" "Push to increase cancer funding" "Death: as easy as falling off a ladder".
The above items from Crikey.com.au today
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