Bad Luck: Why Americans Exagerate the Terrorist Threat

Erik Johnson
English 250 FD
Mr. Perez
April 5, 2009
Media is raking in the ratings with terrorism as their mascot. Most people know that the media will exaggerate anything to get more ratings. They are fawning over the anthrax scares and terrorist threats. This is not a good thing. It creates unneeded stress and anxiety on people. It is like yelling fire in a crowded movie theater and then charging admission to leave. Jeffery Rosen’s article titled “Bad Luck: Why Americans Exaggerate the Terrorist Threat” explains the ignorance of Americans exaggeration of the truth.
Rosen says that exaggeration of terrorism is not surprising. Criminologists say that crimes that are unfamiliar, strike at random and cannot be easily avoided are crimes that we worry about the most. Terrorism is the perfect example of that type of crime. Rosen insist that it is Americas ability remain calm in the face of random violence that will win the psychological war against terrorism. But he says that considering our reaction to similar threats in the past it is not looking very good. Rosen looks at academic literature about crime and the human psyche. The literature finds that people worry about being victims of crimes that they are least likely to be victims of. Rosen asks “why are people most afraid of crimes they are least likely to experience?” Wesley Skogan of Northwestern University believes that “it may be the things we feel we cannot control or influence are the ones that make people fearful” Skogan says that “it is why people fear flying more than they fear being hit by a car.” We as a people think that we can protect ourselves by being cautious when we cross the street and that’s why we underestimate the risk. Rosen further states that we as a society over estimate the risk of crimes that they have never experienced.
The media is partially responsible. Rosen found that there is distortion in the newspapers. According to one study that he found forty-five percent of crimes reported in the newspaper involve sex or violence, even though it only accounts for three percent of the crimes. He investigated further and found there were new crimes every few years that seized the public eye in the 80’s and 90’s. Starting in 1987 with freeway violence, wilding in 1989, stalking in 1990, kids and guns in 1991 and the list goes on from there. Rosen found from his source titled “Random Violence” that the media picks out two to three incidents of random but dramatic crime and makes them seem like an everyday occurrence. That way everyone seems vulnerable, increasing the audience.
Rosen’s final question is “how can we minimize panic after an event like September 11th?” He says that instead of the media focusing on the worst case scenarios, they should accurately inform people of the real risk so that they may asses it and take precautions toward it. But most importantly Rosen states that we must learn that there is no insurance against every calamity or compensation for every misfortune. We must emerge out of September 11th a stronger society and a stronger nation.