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Most "premature death" isn't really random and individuals can eliminate most (not all) of their risk by making the right choices. For instance, choosing not t
by lupusreal 2y ago
Most "premature death" isn't really random and individuals can eliminate most (not all) of their risk by making the right choices. For instance, choosing not to drink and drive significantly reduces (but doesn't eliminate) the risk of dying in a car crash. Choosing not to be a drug dealer reduces the risk of being shot. Choosing not to be a paraglider reduces the risk of dying in an accident.
Of course some people, for political reasons, want to pretend that such choices don't exist and anybody who thinks they can have any control over their life is delusional. Rejecting such sentiments is the healthy choice.
- jeffbee 2y agoThat's right, American homicide is not stochastic. It is far more likely to happen to a person who is themselves a criminal. Not being a habitual criminal cuts your risk of becoming a homicide victim by an order of magnitude. Suicide has a similar solution: if you're worried that you or someone in your household will kill your/themselves, not owning a gun slashes that risk by a large factor.
- Teever 2y agoYou're forgetting the frequent tragedies of mass school shootings that are more or less an entirely American phenomenon and affect innocent people at random. The knock-on effect of these events in American communities must be horrific. How many victims who survive them directly or who lose their loved ones to them fall into deaths by despair or go on to live severely blunted lives that cause them to act out in ways that are detrimental to your society? That's but a microcosm of the kind of stuff that Americans deal with that people in other countries don't. It isn't normal and it isn't something that your average citizen can just avoid by choosing better.
- jeffbee 2y agoI am not forgetting about them, but they are demographically irrelevant. ETA: In the 25 years ending 2022, 122 people died in school shootings. That's 5 people per year. There are ~3000 homicides every year of Americans under age 20.