There’s been a great deal of fussing and fretting about terrorists by American politicians and journalists and recent months, even though terrorism in the United States is exceptionally rare. Candidates and corporate media have named terrorism to be the number one issue in the 2016 presidential election, even though for every American that dies as the result of a terrorist attack, more than 3,700 Americans die of the flu.
A new CNN/ORC poll indicates that the majority of Americans aren’t fooled by the obsessive insistence by politicians and corporate news sources that terrorism threatens us all. When the pollsters asked, “How worried are you that you or someone in your family will become a victim of terrorism – very worried, somewhat worried, not too worried, or not worried at all?” 55 percent of respondents said that no, they aren’t very worried about that.
It’s worrisome that 45% of Americans have the irrational belief that someone they know will become the victim of a terrorist attack. This delusion could warp our nation’s democracy, if the passion of paranoia motivates voters to turn out to vote in high numbers.
There is no reason for the fear of terrorism to become a major issue in the presidential election of 2016. Unfortunately, many Americans don’t require a reason for fear to drive their actions.
