Hi Omar Foda! That’s a fair response.

I certainly wasn’t trying to set out a comprehensive anti-terrorism strategy. Of course, the victims of terrorism have every right to grieve. But as a society, we indulge in the horror of terrorism. We pore over every incident, saturate every news and media outlet with images of gunfire and screaming, and make huge social, fiscal and foreign policy decisions in response. Terrorism dictates a lot of our public discourse; it shapes who we are.

For me, that is wrong-head for at least three reasons. First, the motivation for terrorism is to frighten a population, and to create a spectacular image which attracts recruits. Public terror is their oxygen. By responding to terrorism like we do, we are perpetuating terrorism. Second, terrorism harms very very few people. In the UK, roughly 1,800 people die every year in road accidents. The same figure for casualties from terrorist attacks is 5. To put that in proportion, the Independent Review of Terrorism for Parliament observed:

“During the 21st century, terrorism has been an insignificant cause of mortality in the United Kingdom. The annualised average of five deaths caused by terrorism in England and Wales over this period compares with total accidental deaths in 2010 of 17,201, including 123 cyclists killed in traffic accidents, 102 personnel killed in Afghanistan, 29 people drowned in the bathtub and five killed by stings from hornets, wasps and bees.”

Accordingly, not only does our response perpetuate terrorism, but it’s wildly out of proportion to the actual threat which it poses. We are literally making policy on the basis of hysteria. Third, it generally makes for bad policy — we turn inwards, tighten surveillance, spend enormous amounts of money, and end up hurting refugees, migrants and (in the recent past) innocents in our wars in the Middle East.

I don’t know how we change how we respond to terrorism as a society. For a start, people need to recognise that there is a problem: and that was exactly the point of this short post.