It almost feels these days as if there is no safe place — that after global jihad strikes a Nairobi shopping mall or a deranged shooter invades the Washington Navy Yard, the next target could be our own store, school, theater or stadium.
Yet those who study such violence have a message: Don’t worry.
Though anxiety is a natural response to pervasive and frightening images of carnage, they say, statistics indicate that most of the world has never been safer.
“Vivid images and memories of these images are used to make judgments about the overall likelihood of dangerous events.” says Robert Kraft, a psychology professor at Otterbein University. In fact, “these horrific events are no more likely today than they were yesterday or 10 years ago.”
Says David Schanzer, a Duke University professor who directs the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security: “Since 9/11, you are far more likely to drown in your bathtub than be killed by terrorists in the United States.”