The Weird Things More Likely To Kill You Than Terrorism: Statistics ISIS Doesn't Want You To See

"Yes, the ISIS threat to America is very real."

"ISIS video threatens to attack New York City."

"Face up to reality of ISIS' expanding threat."

"Former CIA director: ISIS will strike America."

These headlines rightly reflect a world shocked by recent events. 

The series of terror attacks in Paris that left at least 129 people dead was devastating. It hit many Westerners in a way that similar attacks in other parts of the world just don't, attacks like the Beirut bombing that occurred a day before the Paris massacres, killing up to 43. Like 9/11 before it, the Paris attacks sewed both heartbreak and terror into the hearts of Europeans, North Americans and Australians. As we go about our daily lives, enjoying concerts, eating out, attending sports matches, walking home from work, shopping for a favorite meal to prepare for our partner, we may be killed by terrorists. 

It's hard to see the Paris attacks as anything other than a series of events that changed the world forever, that will come to define what happens over the coming months and years. ISIS, it's clear, isn't done yet. The Islamic terror group that has managed to seize a frighteningly large amount of territory won't be satisfied until the rest of us, all who stand for a different way of life, are dead or half-frightened to death. 

How Frightened Should We Really Be, Though?

The Global Terrorism Index 2015 shows that the number of people who lost their lives to terrorism reached a new height in 2014, with a record 32,600 people being killed — an increase of 80 percent compared to 2013. The Global Terrorism Index reveals a clear upward trend in deaths from terrorism ever since 9/11, but it also reveals that the vast majority of those deaths occurred in only five countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria.

ISIS and Boko Haram, the Nigerian terror group that pledged allegiance to Islamic State, were jointly responsible for 51 percent of all deaths caused by terrorism in 2014. 

Paris will change the figures for 2015, but the overall picture still remains the same. While the risk is real, we live in a world where any number of other things are much more likely to cost you your life than Islamic State. 

On a worldwide scale, an estimated 1 in 20,000,000 people are killed by terrorist attacks a year. You are 80 times as likely to lose your life in a meteor impact, 147 times more likely to be killed being struck by lightening, 167 times more likely to die in an Earthquake, and 250 times more likely to die during or from the consequences of a volcanic eruption. You are also 1,000 times more likely to die in a plane crash, 66,666 times more likely to die from a non-terrorist gunshot, and 200,000 times more likely to perish in a car accident. A recent report even indicated that US citizens are 55 times more likely to die at the hands of a US police officer than from a terrorist attack!

Should You Let Terrorists Determine How To Live?

We live in a rapidly changing world, a world that will continue to be maimed and scarred by Islamic State terrorists. Should we now live under a cloak of paralyzing fear? I spoke to some people who have had the experience of living with the threat of terrorism to find out how this affected their lives. 

Cara, who grew up during the height of IRA activities in England, recalls the attack on the main shopping street of her hometown of Bristol, but also remembers that the approach to the terrorist threat wasn't "mass panic, but a British stiff upper lip. We were acutely aware of abandoned suitcases, but didn't avoid crowded places. Life very much simply went on, and the focus was on real risk rather than fear."

Paisley, from Boston, admits to being far more frightened of cops than terrorists when her city goes on lock-down: "They are the ones lining the streets with guns". And Jim, a former US Navy Officer, shares: 

"When the U.S.S. Cole was hit, I was stationed on a ship of the same class. The reality that it could so easily have been us really hit home at that point." 

He continues, however: "Americans are accustomed to living in a world with more violence than we even realize. But we're taught to fear others, to fear Syrian refugees who are fleeing an area that is much more likely to be hit by terrorism."

"A terrorist attack could be carried out anywhere, at any point — but we'll only be scared if we are taught to be scared. The strongest offensive the free world can make against terrorism is to carry on anyway. Keep working, keep playing, keep enjoying life."

While the FBI's definition of terrorism includes "violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law", it also adds that terrorism aims to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population". That's us. Acts such as the Paris attacks are brutal and tragic murders that violate every understanding of what it means to be human. Designed to strike terror into our hearts, we come to the aid of such beastly acts by writing articles designed to induce mass hysteria, or by believing them. The Paris attacks were not merely designed to kill people, they were designed to kill hope and love of life in the rest of us. Let's not allow ISIS that victory. 

As Barack Obama said: 

"We are not well served when, in response to a terrorist attack, we descend into fear and panic. We don’t make good decisions if it’s based on hysteria or an exaggeration of risks."

Yes, ISIS is terrifying, and the thought of what could happen if they gained more power is worse. By being letting the fear they are trying to induce guide our choices, we are aiding their cause in defiance of logic. Want to take just a little bit of power away from ISIS? Start worrying about dying in a car accident instead.