- #1
BicycleTree
- 520
- 0
What is it about disasters that make people assign more importance to them than they actually contain?
Case in point is airliner crashes. Statistically, traveling by airliner is far safer than traveling by car. But when 200 people die in an airline crash, it's huge national news, and airlines must issue statements and put in place better safety procedures. When 200 people die by 1's and 2's in automobile crashes, which happens far more frequently, it's just a bunch of local news items and the car companies usually do not need to do or say anything.
I think part of it is the "fish in water" mindset. Car crashes happen all the time; we're used to them, it's a fact of life, so people hardly notice them. Airliner crashes happen infrequently and each crash kills more people than a single automobile crash (even though airliners as a whole are much safer than cars). The fish do not see the water, but they do see the splash.
But who does not know that automobiles are much more dangerous than airliners? It is common knowledge. Why don't people think of that when presented with a story about an airliner crash, and not make such a big deal of it? Perhaps they just don't think. Whatever the reason, there's some strange irrationality going on.
Case in point is airliner crashes. Statistically, traveling by airliner is far safer than traveling by car. But when 200 people die in an airline crash, it's huge national news, and airlines must issue statements and put in place better safety procedures. When 200 people die by 1's and 2's in automobile crashes, which happens far more frequently, it's just a bunch of local news items and the car companies usually do not need to do or say anything.
I think part of it is the "fish in water" mindset. Car crashes happen all the time; we're used to them, it's a fact of life, so people hardly notice them. Airliner crashes happen infrequently and each crash kills more people than a single automobile crash (even though airliners as a whole are much safer than cars). The fish do not see the water, but they do see the splash.
But who does not know that automobiles are much more dangerous than airliners? It is common knowledge. Why don't people think of that when presented with a story about an airliner crash, and not make such a big deal of it? Perhaps they just don't think. Whatever the reason, there's some strange irrationality going on.