Crikey.com.au included something sensible in today's issue as lawyer Julian Burnside points out, the response should be proportionate to the threat - and the likelihood of a Westerner dying from jihadist violence is around 0.0001%.
By contrast, the annual probability of an Australian dying of smoking-related causes is 0.1%.
Or as economics commentator Ross Gittins notes, Americans are almost nine times more likely to die falling off a ladder than in a terrorist attack.
If the government and media response to Australia's biggest problemswas based on reality, probability and relativity, the SMH's top fiveheadlines might read something like this:
"Govt's new laws to reduce road toll"
"Moves to double price of cigarettes"
"Suicide research grants quadrupled"
"Push to increase cancer funding"
"Death: as easy as falling off a ladder"
well it made me smile :)
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