Yeah, the lack of control would be a big factor. Again, it's easy for me to spout from many miles away. The WTC terror and this aren't comprehendable (word?) by me ... never been through anything where my life is at stake and I'm not in control, so my opinions on the news media's reaction are from the outside looking in. Absolute worst thing I've been through is my youngest being blue and not breathing after she was born (in the basement of our house!) ... no control over the situation really did a number on me there, so maybe I need to remember that in these cases ...
I just wonder if the news honchos salivate privately at what this kind of thing does to their bottom line. Dan -----Original Message----- From: Larry Lyons [mailto:llyons@;ebstor.com] Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 11:50 AM To: CF-Community Subject: RE: CNN NEWS break Dan, Consider this, talking as someone who lives about a mile from the attacks it did scare people around here a lot. The perceived risk is different. It doesn't really matter what the actual risks are - fear is entirely irrational. There was far less of a perceived sense of control in this case. Thus the situation becomes far more averse to people. In contrast in this area people tell themselves "I never go into that part of the District, so I'm fairly safe in [Fairfax, Alexandria, Rockville, Wheaton, etc]." But with these random shooting the situation and the events are far less controllable to people. Similarly if you look at the absolute stats, you are at greater risk if you are driving a car to a destination a distance away than if you flew to the same destination. From what I remember in the research literature, people perceive flying to be of greater risk. One of the biggest contributors to that is this perceived lessening of control. larry -- Larry C. Lyons ColdFusion/Web Developer Certified Advanced ColdFusion 5 Developer EBStor.com 8870 Rixlew Lane, Suite 204 Manassas, Virginia 20109-3795 tel: (703) 393-7930 fax: (703) 393-2659 Web: http://www.ebstor.com email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chaos, panic, and disorder - my work here is done. -- > -----Original Message----- > From: Dan Haley [mailto:DanH@;telect.com] > Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 2:35 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: RE: CNN NEWS break > > > Angel, > > I'm torn on whether to agree with you or not. Washington > State recently > sentenced to death (in Pierce County where Tacoma is ...) > Robert Yates, who > was a serial killer who preyed on prostitutes. I had some of the same > reactions you are when the local papers would make such a big > deal about our > "safety". Umm, I'm not a prostitute so I didn't feel my safety was > threatened. Not that he shouldn't have been hunted down and > not that he > shouldn't get the death penalty, but the hype was way too much for the > situation. He wasn't a terrorist. > > Did the sniper on the other hand "terrorize" the DC area? > Were your chances > of getting killed better than winning the lottery? Yeah, > probably, but > should it have affected everyone's lives as much as the media > made it? They > were random killings (hideous, but still random). Random car > accidents > happen. Random drive-by shootings happen. Random people get > killed for > using their neighbors phone (a couple of days ago that > happened near here). > There will always be random acts that endanger our lives. > > I guess I'm leaning towards agreeing with Gel that the hype > was a little > much ... but it may be buffered by 3,000 miles or so ... > > Dan > > -----Original Message----- > From: Angel Stewart [mailto:gel@;silkcotton.com] > Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 10:55 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: RE: CNN NEWS break > > > Fine..but then were all Serial murderers terrorists? I've never seen > them described as such. > > > A string of 7-11 robberies by three men in one state....would that be > terrorism? (let's say some people died). I don't think so. > > This is someone who shot 11 people at random with a gun. > To me he's a serial killer. Killed them all with the same method, > probably all for the same reason....Serial killer. > > What terrorised more? > The killings, or the news media and their method of reporting? > > I am of the opinion that it was the latter. > > -Gel > > > -----Original Message----- > From: BethF [mailto:dawg@;alaska.com] > Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 1:48 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: CNN NEWS break > > > > Compared to that, someone shooting 11 people with a gun is > murder, and > > > should be treated as such by the court of law. > > > What if I wore a bomb into a nightclub, and it blew but > somehow it only > killed 11 people? Is that terrorism then or "just murder"? > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/index.cfm?forumid=5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists&body=lists/cf_community Your ad could be here. Monies from ads go to support these lists and provide more resources for the community. http://www.fusionauthority.com/ads.cfm
