[rayiner]

> terrorism will never touch the average citizen anywhere near the extent of other tragedies like illness, accidents or natural disasters

This argument ascribes zero weight to the injustice of terrorist attacks. Your logic--that a death is a death--does not admit distinguishing between someone dying in a freak accident, someone being killed by a drunk driver, and someone being murdered in cold blood. It's all the same.

You're ignoring a very fundamental aspect of human psychology: people view a death very differently based on the intent of those doing the killing. Unlike murder, terrorism isn't just an attack on one person. It's an attack on the values, religion, economy, and lifestyle of a whole society. That's why people weigh it so heavily.

[rustynails]

Possibly. An individual murder means it is unlikely to have an impact to you. A serial killer will often impact a demographic in a city. A mass murderer will often impact a demographic in a large area or country. A terrorist will usually target a demographic in many countries, but on a much smaller scale than a mass murderer.

I currently think a mass murderer would be a greater threat to the world collectively, but the terrorist triggers the fear that any location might be attacked. Hence, while much less destructive, has the "me" factor that pulls heart strings of society at large.