[kwhitefoot]

A little off-topic perhaps:

> This is why terrorism is so effective despite being an irrelevant statistical blimp.

Is it effective? What are the criteria by which one could judge?

I lived half my life in England while the IRA was active, I have a friend who was in a building in London when the IRA threatened to blow it up (it wasn't an empty threat, the device was in place and armed). Neither of us lose any sleep over it.

My children have friends and acquaintances who were shot at Utøya (we live not far away). None of them are letting the event stop them being politically active.

But if I read English language newspapers like the Daily Mail now I am bombarded with 'terrorism' related 'news' and the newspaper tries very hard to give the impression that everyone is really worried.

I'm not convinced that people are that worried.

[TeMPOraL]

People are not that worried in terms of actual expectations. I doubt many people in the West are seriously afraid of getting blown up or shot on their way to work. I remember being terribly worried after the Towers fell; the fear lasted maybe a week or three. You learn to ignore it if you want to function properly in the society.

But, the fear is very well alive and visible when it comes to more abstract issues, like policy decisions. Should we invade the Middle East or not? Should we kick out Muslims or not? Should we hate immigrants or not? Should we let the government surveil us more or not? The general population's answer to all of that seems to be a resounding "yes". And the attacks that happen every now and then make things harder for those who disagree.

[dghf]

Is it effective? What are the criteria by which one could judge? I lived half my life in England while the IRA was active, I have a friend who was in a building in London when the IRA threatened to blow it up (it wasn't an empty threat, the device was in place and armed). Neither of us lose any sleep over it.

Did the IRA achieve the restoration of the 32-county republic declared in 1916 and ratified in 1919? No. But they did get a devolved administration, with power-sharing guarantees to prevent the domination of one community by the other and with their political wing holding nearly a third of the seats in its legislature and nearly a third of the positions in its executive.

[GFischer]

It is effective. I know of people that have changed their travel plans to avoid France, and apparently they weren't alone:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3338173/Terror-attac...

Terror attacks in Paris means visitor numbers across Europe tumble and France has already lost £1.4bn in tourism revenue

[icebraining]

Yeap. Tunisia was hit even harder, with y/y growth dropping from around 10% to -90% in the months after the attacks.

[dagw]

Is it effective? What are the criteria by which one could judge?

Take a look at the number of European tourists visiting Tunisia and Egypt.