As we remember, on the evening of 13 November 2015, a series of coordinated Islamic terrorist attacks occurred in Paris and its northern suburb, Saint-Denis. 137 people were killed and 352 were wounded by the attackers.
The media, politics and the terrorists are exaggerating the effects of the Paris terror attacks to their own interests – said Eyal Winter, professor of economics at the University of Leicester and the Center for the Study of Rationality of the Hebrew University in an interview that he was given to VS.hu.
According to the Israeli-German professor, everybody is highly exaggerating the effects and consequences of the attacks. He mentions that the chance of becoming a victim of a terror attack in Europe or in the United States of America is very little. In World War Two, a lot more people died in one single battle than in all terrorist attacks that ever happened in the world.
“What happened in Paris on 13 November is tragic, however the number of domestic violence victims is much higher than the number of terrorist attack victims.
Violence in any form, regardless of motivation, destroys lives and traumatizes families. But while extensive coverage of domestic violence can actually reduce the violence by creating awareness, similar coverage of terror attacks can only propagate it. Fear of terrorism generates more terrorism. When terrorists see that their actions are having the intended effect, they plan more attacks. “
Weird “coalition”
Winter says that a weird “coalition”, that consists of politicians, the media and terrorists, helps generating more terrorism. All the three for their own interests: politicians are doing it for becoming heroes, who saves their nations; the media tries to maintain people’s interests; and for terrorists it is good because people live in constant fear.
“If terror attacks were to receive the same amount of media coverage as, for example, juvenile delinquency — a far more lethal threat— they would probably soon be a relic of history. They would cease to exist because the cost of conducting attacks would outweigh their benefit to the perpetrators.”
The EU needs a common language
Regarding the circumstantiality of the European Union, Winter explains that the EU consist of 28 different cultures and languages, so it needs a common language; English is not the one yet. On the other hand, member states should get to know each other; masses of people should travel from one country to another to get some common impression.
Source: debreceninap.hu
Unabridged interview: http://vs.hu/kozelet/osszes/a-terroristakat-egy-nagyon-furcsa-koalicio-segiti-1210#!s0
