What are the odds? LINK to article
Here are current odds, according to the Insurance Information Institute, of Americans in 2002 dying from the following causes over a lifetime:
Car crash: one in 82
Motorcycle crash: one in 1,159
Falling from stairs or steps: one in 2,331
Airplane accident: one in 5,704
Hit by lightning: one in 56,439
Earthquake: one in 120,161
Dog bite: 206,944
This is from an article over at MSN real estate section. I had always heard that you are more likely to die/be injured in a car crash than a plane crash--this being the thing to say to someone with a fear of flying...as you DRIVE to the airport.
But is this really true or are these numbers based on the fact that you are more likely to die/be injured in a car crash rather than a plane crash because we find ourselves IN cars more than planes?
Maybe our esteemed reader and occasional poster, Fitzu, can enlighten us given his forays into the field of selling that which both parties involved hope you never use.
Speaking of odds, there is a book by Barry Glassner called "The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things" (2000) (this author was also quoted in Moores's film "Bowling for Columbine" (2002)--that's a whole other can of worms, but if you've seen it I'd love to hear your take--some say that it is less an anti-gun message than an anti-fear message or pro-fear message).
In his book Glasner says that the youth homicide rate has actually dropped by as much as 30 percent in recent years and up to three times as many people are struck dead by lightening than die by violence in schools.
I assure you that it is not due to violent videogames that kids are struck by lightening--cough-cough-ha-ha.
This factoid came to mind as I read this article on another school shooting--my question: Is there more violence in schools or are we just hearing about the incidences more often and in more detail? Is this also the same phenomenon that affects plane crashes or any other news topic dejour--there really aren't that many occurrences, but excessive news coverage 24/7 makes it seems so?
DrPsych2b
posted by DrPsych2b @ 10:37 AM
3 Comments:
At 11:34 AM,
Fitz said…
I think you actually have several topics going here. First, it has long been the media's forte to report on tragic events as opposed to "happy" stories. Second, any time you are dealing with numbers, especially percentages, it is difficult to understand their real meaning, as they can be manipulated to support whatever side of the story you want. For example, if I am going to a board trying to get additional money for, let's say the police department. I might present my data in percentages and say "we had a 100% increase in crime, therefore we need a raise in funds for the police department." This sounds like I have a true need and thus the money is granted. What the numbers don't tell you is that I am a small town with one police officer and last year we had one act of crime and this year we have two, so there is our 100% increase in crime. But, obviously the number would not justify an increase in funding. So are there more shootings, crashes, violence? Compare to what? Are all the other numbers the same? Number of kids, airplanes, cars...Truth is I don't know because the people that gather these numbers do it with a story or slant in mind. Otherwise they wouldn't waste their time. Even the suposed unbiased research facilities would have a hard time not projecting their own opions into the results. So the long of the shor is...I don't know.
At 3:37 PM,
DrPsych2b said…
What a long winded non-answer. What'r you a lawyer or a politician? True there are a number of issues here, but i think that there is some truth to be had--for example do you think that there is more or less youth related violent crime now than say, 10 years ago?
At 3:44 PM,
Fitz said…
After thinking on it a little while I would say there is more. When people look at what causes such acts I think they look at the wrong end. It's not that video games, movies, or TV encourage or promote violence, it's that parents, shcools, and legal systems don't discourage it. Starting with parents, they don't teach children self accountability or hold the children accountable themselves. So why should a child not act in a certain way? There are no consequences. I have several familiy members in the school system. Any time a child gets in trouble the parent says it's wasn't little Johnny's fault. Or, even if he was, he shouldn't get in that much trouble for it. The same can be said for a our lenient courts but, I think the biggest problem lies in the home.
Post a Comment
<< Home