I am currently reading Yuval Noah Harari’s excellent new book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century which has a great chapter on terrorism.
He provides stats showing that more Israelis are killed by car accidents than terrorism and that since 1945 there have been far less European deaths by terrorism than from numerous obscure WWI battles and poses the question of why terrorism is then so effective at causing fear and confusion. The conclusion is that in modern liberal democracies the populous is accustomed to living safe lives free from violence where decisions are made by voting and not by force. A terror attack is then like a coin being thrown into an empty jar. It is a mostly meaningless action that creates a loud noise.
He also provides a good analogy of a terrorist to a fly trying to destroy a china shop. In the case of 9-11 the terrorist fly got into the ear of the American bull causing it to destroy the Middle East china shop.
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The masses of humanity have always had to surf.
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