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>Terrorism is just minor nuisance [sic] If you look at the raw numbers, only 3 people died in the boston bombings. But if you look at the economic costs, - Th
by Pilfer 9y ago
>Terrorism is just minor nuisance [sic]
If you look at the raw numbers, only 3 people died in the boston bombings. But if you look at the economic costs,
- The entire boston transit system was shut down for security reasons, disrupting the entire city
- Large numbers of people did not go to work the next day, costing hundreds of millions in lost productivity
- An enormous manhunt ensued, at the cost of over 300 million
- Entire parts of the city were shut down, preventing them from going to work
- 10s of millions in costs to the victims
- Tens of thousands of hours of additional work for public employees
- Billions in lost productivity nationwide as people focused on the media saga
All this cost the terrorists only $200 in explosives. In your words, billions of dollars in economic damage "is just minor nuisance".
- Barrin92 9y agoIn Israel the rocket attacks are a large motivation for collaboration between the military / tech sector and there's plenty of startups that actually focus on providing services around this, there's an app for example that warns people when some rocket attack is supposed to happen. What you're identifying as cost here is actually a service that a business can provide. The close military connections (also supported by the conscription) are actually an asset for the country in terms of technological progress. Think of it like a messy version of the cold war.
- jjeaff 9y agoThat kind of brings us back to the original point. If there is enough demand that someone has created a rocket attack warning app, I don't consider it a safe city in any sense of the word.
- fshaun 9y agoDemand is proportional to perceived threat, not actual threat. This "ROI" is one of the reasons terrorism continues. A city can be quite safe even if its residents are not rational.
- Nokinside 9y ago>All this cost the terrorists only $200 in explosives. In your words, billions of dollars in economic damage "is just minor nuisance". How badly did startup scene in Boston suffer? Economic damage was the result of was fear and overreaction. Tel Aviv would not scare so easily. America is probably the most jumpy country to live on and vulnerable to terrorism as a result. London, Paris and other big cities can suck in the damage with smaller cost.
- dantillberg 9y agoYou can't blame the terrorists for all that. They didn't shut the city down -- government leaders did. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself, and we do ourselves incredible damage by it.
- jklein11 9y agoThat is terribly dangerous logic. There have been times after terrorist events where evacuation couldn't happen fast enough and more people will killed. It is unfair to play Monday morning quarterback with public official's decisions when people's lives are in the balance. Shutting down the city when a bomb goes off which was targeting a mass amount of civilians seems perfectly reasonable to me.