5 ms·

If you are killed it doesn't matter how many others died with you. I personally tend to be more worried about things that happen often and are widespread, than

If you are killed it doesn't matter how many others died with you. I personally tend to be more worried about things that happen often and are widespread, than things that happen seldom and are more localized. But if asked "Are you more worried about right wing or islamist extremists?", my answer is "Yes".

walrus01 6y ago
My concern from a priority and law enforcement perspective is that in the post-9/11 world, a great deal of funding and effort was put towards deterring and combating the latter. Whereas something that is well known and homegrown in the USA (Timothy McVeigh, anyone?) has had a much lower level of concern assigned to it until very recently.
- ta17711771 6y ago
  > Timothy McVeigh Who did he work with again?
  - pjc50 6y ago
    He had a couple of accomplices, but he was radicalised by the Waco fiasco and linked to what these days would be called the "milita movement".
    - gadders 6y ago
      And the even bigger fiasco of Ruby Ridge.
      - pjc50 6y ago
        So I had to refresh myself on the details of this via wikipedia, and with a 2020 eye it seems almost like the white version of complaints about police brutality per BLM. - victim becomes a martyr despite being "no angel" (Weaver was a white supremacist, dealing in illegal firearms) - initial involvement of law enforcement is entrapment (undercover ATF agents) - lies by law enforcement ("the ATF filed the gun charges in June 1990. It claimed that Weaver was a bank robber with criminal convictions.[27] (Those claims were false: at that time Weaver had no criminal record. The 1995 Senate investigation found: "Weaver was not a suspect in any bank robberies.") - basic cockups (court date mixup) - absurdly long quasi-siege - significantly lighter treatment and more investigation than similar fiascoes for nonwhite people (e.g. Breonna Taylor); the 2020 version of this would probably have just been to drive a MRAP through the shack and use the return fire as sufficient justification for the killings (see e.g. https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/08/31/actor-steven-seagal-sued-for-driving-tank-into-arizona-home-killing-puppy/#69e1ab5d7489 https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/08/31/actor-steve... ) - they shot the dog. They always shoot the dog - attempt to prosecute sniper is met with sovereign immunity, case is dropped
- pnako 6y ago
  Do we know that there is actually less concern? I think two "issues" are the relatively better protection against surveillance US citizens have (I wouldn't think it's an issue at all, hence the quotes) and the fact that they tend to be lone wolves more than Islamic terrorism, which often works through networks. So it's not that easy to spot people like McVeigh, Kaczynski, or outside the US Breivik, before they act.
cm2187 6y ago
From a number point of view, you should be more worried about common crime than terrorism from any side.
- walrus01 6y ago
  From a pure numbers/statistics point of view a great deal more people die from slipping and falling or drowning in their bathtub every year than are killed by either form of terrorism in the USA. But we still should take efforts to reduce that, whether it's by building showers with textured floors and efforts to counteract terrorism... https://www.seattlepi.com/national/article/Someone-drowns-in-a-tub-nearly-every-day-in-1201018.php https://www.seattlepi.com/national/article/Someone-drowns-in...
  - save_ferris 6y ago
    However, falling in the bathtub isn’t ideologically driven or at risk of increasing dramatically based on political shifts. We don’t take terrorism or white supremacy seriously because it poses an imminent threat to everyone right now, we take it seriously because it has the potential to put hundreds of thousands to millions of lives at risk in the future if left unaddressed.
    - thomquaid 6y ago
      I am sorry to say this but white supremecy does not have the potential to kill millions. It's like saying gang violence has the potential to kill millions.
      - walrus01 6y ago
        Except that within the memory of people still alive to witness it, it killed approximately 6 million people in concentration camps...?
      - save_ferris 6y ago
        Nazism, which formed the ideological foundation of modern white supremacy, killed millions just a few generations ago. To argue that white supremacy doesn't have the potential to kill millions simply ignores not-to-distant history. We cannot ignore what has already happened many times before.
kmonsen 6y ago
My answer is actually “No”. Terror, both from right wing and religious extremists is extremely rare.

walrus01 6y ago

My concern from a priority and law enforcement perspective is that in the post-9/11 world, a great deal of funding and effort was put towards deterring and combating the latter. Whereas something that is well known and homegrown in the USA (Timothy McVeigh, anyone?) has had a much lower level of concern assigned to it until very recently.

ta17711771 6y ago
> Timothy McVeigh Who did he work with again?
- pjc50 6y ago
  He had a couple of accomplices, but he was radicalised by the Waco fiasco and linked to what these days would be called the "milita movement".
  - gadders 6y ago
    And the even bigger fiasco of Ruby Ridge.
    - pjc50 6y ago
      So I had to refresh myself on the details of this via wikipedia, and with a 2020 eye it seems almost like the white version of complaints about police brutality per BLM. - victim becomes a martyr despite being "no angel" (Weaver was a white supremacist, dealing in illegal firearms) - initial involvement of law enforcement is entrapment (undercover ATF agents) - lies by law enforcement ("the ATF filed the gun charges in June 1990. It claimed that Weaver was a bank robber with criminal convictions.[27] (Those claims were false: at that time Weaver had no criminal record. The 1995 Senate investigation found: "Weaver was not a suspect in any bank robberies.") - basic cockups (court date mixup) - absurdly long quasi-siege - significantly lighter treatment and more investigation than similar fiascoes for nonwhite people (e.g. Breonna Taylor); the 2020 version of this would probably have just been to drive a MRAP through the shack and use the return fire as sufficient justification for the killings (see e.g. https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/08/31/actor-steven-seagal-sued-for-driving-tank-into-arizona-home-killing-puppy/#69e1ab5d7489 https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/08/31/actor-steve... ) - they shot the dog. They always shoot the dog - attempt to prosecute sniper is met with sovereign immunity, case is dropped
pnako 6y ago
Do we know that there is actually less concern? I think two "issues" are the relatively better protection against surveillance US citizens have (I wouldn't think it's an issue at all, hence the quotes) and the fact that they tend to be lone wolves more than Islamic terrorism, which often works through networks. So it's not that easy to spot people like McVeigh, Kaczynski, or outside the US Breivik, before they act.

cm2187 6y ago

From a number point of view, you should be more worried about common crime than terrorism from any side.

walrus01 6y ago
From a pure numbers/statistics point of view a great deal more people die from slipping and falling or drowning in their bathtub every year than are killed by either form of terrorism in the USA. But we still should take efforts to reduce that, whether it's by building showers with textured floors and efforts to counteract terrorism... https://www.seattlepi.com/national/article/Someone-drowns-in-a-tub-nearly-every-day-in-1201018.php https://www.seattlepi.com/national/article/Someone-drowns-in...
- save_ferris 6y ago
  However, falling in the bathtub isn’t ideologically driven or at risk of increasing dramatically based on political shifts. We don’t take terrorism or white supremacy seriously because it poses an imminent threat to everyone right now, we take it seriously because it has the potential to put hundreds of thousands to millions of lives at risk in the future if left unaddressed.
  - thomquaid 6y ago
    I am sorry to say this but white supremecy does not have the potential to kill millions. It's like saying gang violence has the potential to kill millions.
    - walrus01 6y ago
      Except that within the memory of people still alive to witness it, it killed approximately 6 million people in concentration camps...?
    - save_ferris 6y ago
      Nazism, which formed the ideological foundation of modern white supremacy, killed millions just a few generations ago. To argue that white supremacy doesn't have the potential to kill millions simply ignores not-to-distant history. We cannot ignore what has already happened many times before.

kmonsen 6y ago

My answer is actually “No”. Terror, both from right wing and religious extremists is extremely rare.