Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparklehorse
Here is a link to an interesting but scary story about a pregnant woman's experience with swine flu. This bit really caught my attention: |
People overvalue risks with human causes and undervalue those that seem randomized or have no attribution. Ask 10,000 people whether they oppose irradiating foods or eating genetically modified produce that is pathogen-resistant, and they will tut-tut about the "unknown risks" of runaway mutations being unleashed on the ecosystem. Ask them how those "unknown risks" compare to the 76 million cases of food-borne illnesses in the U.S. last year, or the 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths, and they will frown and turn back to their clipboards.
In other words, people will go to great lengths to avoid a death that is someone's "fault," even if it means tolerating hundreds or thousands of deaths that are no one's "fault" except in our systemic failure to prevent them.
