The 6 Most Over-Hyped Threats to America (And What Should Scare You Instead)

[GameMaster]

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[Professor S]

Well 3 out of 6 ain't bad, although I don't think many people are scared of the Bird Flu anbymore, and never were really scared of SARS. The media tried to make everyone scared of them, but I don't think it worked.


As for the ones I have issues with:

Al Quaida in Iraq point - They mentioned Al Sadr's army being more dangerous, and they are, but they are also more... well... reasonable... well relatively speaking. Al Sadr believes in Iraq as a nation, he just hates America being there. That said, his presence is pretty much isolated in Iraq. Also, Al Sadr has recently been pulling back his rhetoric and has slowed down violent actions.

Al Quaida is a network that reaches accross the world, and on a global scale does far more damage. Also, there has never been any sign of them being reasonable in the least.


Iranian President (I won't even think about trying to spell his name) - Yes, he's a figurehead, but when the country denies anyone else running the country, you HAVE to deal with the figurehead or else you can't talk to anyone. Also, he's one person, but he speaks for those in charge, so when we go after him, we go after his masters.


Venezuela(sp?) - Their argument is rediculous. No one ever said we were afraid of his military. Its his access to large amounts of oil and therefore economic power that people are worried about.

Everything else I agree with.

[manasecret]

Responding to the argument about bird flu:

The one major outbreak of SARS resulted in 774 deaths, while the Bird Flu has killed only 191 people worldwide since
2003. The point is, every few years, a new pandemic du jour comes along to scare the ass off of the American public, and
turns out to be a flop.

Yeah, try using that inductive reasoning with the people in New Orleans. Just because a huge outbreak doesn't occur for a few years, doesn't mean it will never happen. Inductivism is not sound reasoning. I don't know for sure if bird flu is a real threat, from the sounds of articles I've read it could be very dangerous (oh noes but that's the media trying to scare meeee!), but you can't disprove the danger by saying "oh, well, for four years they said it could happen and then it didn't, therefore it will never happen!"

The point that it's over-hyped, okay, maybe, but I know for a fact that tons of people disregarded the hype about the threat of New Orleans being a fish-bowl in the face of a Cat4 or higher hurricane. No one would regard those threats as over-hyped now. They will if after thirty years nothing happens, and then they'll let their guard down again and say, "Oh please! It's all a bunch of over-hyped media trying to scare us!"

[Joeiss]

Was there any outbreaks of SARS in America? I know it hit Toronto pretty hard. But at least we got a kick ass concert out of it.