Why are we afraid?

Follow-up to First they came for the terrorists… from Dan Goodman @ Warwick

One of the recurring points on the discussion on my recent entry on terrorism and civil liberties was the threat posed by terrorism, and whether it justifies the government's curbs on civil liberties.

A starting point is the European Convention on Human Rights, where qualified rights can be overridden by the state if the interference is proportionate and necessary.

My argument was to compare the number of deaths due to terrorism with the number of accidental road deaths. In the UK, these are more than 3000 a year. For reference, last year in the UK terrorism caused about 50 deaths. In the largest ever incident of terrorism (the twin towers attacks), about 3000 people were killed. To my mind, terrorism legislation cannot be any more restrictive than legislation related to driving if it is to pass the test of proportionality.

The counter–argument is that terrorism might cause many more deaths than this. For example, if terrorists got hold of a nuclear bomb or chemical/biological weapons.

There are a variety of responses to this.

Firstly, this scenario has never happened. The worst terrorist attack using chemical weapons was the Aum Shinrikyo attack using sarin gas on the subway in Tokyo which caused 16 deaths.

Secondly, it is not possible to be 100% sure that you can stop any terrorist attacks, however complete your infringement on civil liberties.

Thirdly, the threat of terrorism will most likely never go away, so you have to be prepared to accept infringements on civil liberties as a permanent change in the nature of our society if you argue along these lines.

So, discussion points.

• Why are people afraid of terrorism? Is this related to the fact that some people who are perfectly happy to drive are afraid to fly, even though flying is about the safest thing you can do?


• Is it possible to conduct a rational risk analysis of the threat of terrorism and to balance that with civil liberties? What sort of results would we expect?

: 30 Apr 2006 16:42 |  Tags: Civil Liberties Politics |  Comments (1) |  Report a problem