A good insight from Bruce Schneier

[unixronin]

From an IT Conversations interview with Bruce Schneier:

Doug Kaye:  Here’s my favorite quote in the whole book, and I know that you probably know which one it is!

Bruce Schneier:  Actually, I don’t!  I can’t wait!

Doug Kaye:  That “more people are killed every year by pigs than by sharks, which shows just how good we are at evaluating risks.”

Bruce Schneier:  That was actually a fun quote.  I actually went to the government web site, which actually has death statistics from various things.  You can see how many people die from lightning, from heart disease, from anything, and the results are surprising.  People tend to worry about the wrong things. 

We worry about what’s in the news.  I tell my friends that if it’s in the newspaper, don't worry about it because it means it hardly every happens.  It’s news.  News hardly every happens; that’s why it’s news!  When something stops being in the newspaper, then worry about it.

And you know, he has a point.  To quote a related saying, "One death is a tragedy; fifty thousand deaths are a statistic."

Go read the interview.  It's about Schneier's new book about how fear makes us react, and how that relates to security and the kind of security decisions it leads us to make (usually bad ones).  It'll make you think (assuming you're not already thinking this way, as a lot of us have been since well before 9/11).

Comments

"Beyond Fear"

[likefinewine.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the 'heads up.' I have to check for it, in the library.

That title is a lot like an older book.... Can't remember the exact title or author now... One of those personal securtity experts who sort of advised women to "listen to their gut feelings" and etc. And he also wrote a book, after 9/11, concerning how to use/handle the 'new fear' and not let it incapacitate us.

Re: "Beyond Fear"

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

There's no "new fear" and "old fear", there's only fear and how we react to it. Some ways of reacting to fear are more useful and more effective than others, but which one is best in any given situation depends on the situation and the person or people involved. A large part of personal security is learning awareness before something happens, and training yourself to channel your fear responses down productive avenues when it does.

(However, I will note that standing frozen in one spot and screaming one's lungs out is rarely productive.)

Re: "Beyond Fear"

[likefinewine.livejournal.com]

There's no "new fear" and "old fear",

Understood. But for a hell of a lot of people, who maybe had led pretty insulated lives, 9/11 was a 'new' fear. The Not-Here syndrome. Stuff like this *doesn't* happen in this country. You know the drill.

Some ways of reacting to fear are more useful and more effective than others,

Yes.

A large part of personal security is learning awareness before something happens, and training yourself to channel your fear responses down productive avenues when it does.

Common sense. But, a lot of people don't ever use common sense. :-( For one thing, how many people really believe in 'gut reactions'? Or in listening to them, I mean? Honing the skill of hearing them!

How many people talk to kids about such? About how - when they feel something isn't right or something makes them 'feel funny/scared/worried/etc,' they listen to it. Use it. React to it. How many people tell their kids that there are times when it's OK to say No to an adult? As in.... "It's Uncle Pete and he loves me and so... why would he tell/ask me to do something bad/scary/funny feeling?" Listen to your gut feelling kid. You CAN say No. And mom and dad will isten to you.

Ooooops, got me on a soapbox there! Sorry for rattling on. :-)

Re: "Beyond Fear"

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yes, I understand very well the "It can't happen here" mindset. And it's part of the problem, because to someone who is certain it can't happen here, it's simply too much to grasp when it does, and so their initial responses tend not to be productive, and they think about the problem in non-useful ways.

Don't feel bad about the soapbox. :)

prepared

[likefinewine.livejournal.com]

someone who is certain it can't happen here, ...

CAN there still be such people? Here? Or anywhere in the world? :-(

Yes, I know. There can be such people. :-( And THIS is as scary as the fact, itself. How many people/places are "ready" for a "big" one? Or even, a "little" one?

Is my city? I've asked and I'd say no. Am I personally? No. So here I sit. Part of the Problem. Not part of the Solution. Maybe worse than the regular citizen. Because it's NOT an it-can't-happen, to me. In my brain, it can. It's more like 'when,' rather than 'if.' So... my not being fully prepared, is worse. :-(

Re: prepared

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Awareness is the first step in preparedness. If something should happen in your vicinity someday, that awareness in itself may make the difference between wasting ten minutes in a modified stationary panic trying to make sense of what just happened, and being the person who snaps out of the shock and gets everyone moving out of the building.

'soapbox'

[likefinewine.livejournal.com]

Don't feel bad about the soapbox. :)

Thank you.

But it's _my_ view. Not necessarily everyone's view. Many feel "don't scare 'em." [sigh] My view is ~ in most childhood/adolescent on-the-cusp-of-a-problem issues ~ it's the kid HIM/HERSELF who will have to handle it. Abuse... abduction attempt... drugs... riding in a drunk driver car... shop lifting... cheating on tests... surfing *interesting* web sites... ALL that *UN-thinkable* stuff. All that stuff which *only* happens to others. :-(

My view..... a loving caretaker has to talk with children, about all of it. Gotta' get loving view in first. Won't be able to, when/if [Deity forbid] it happens to the kid. Kid is then alone and on his/her own.

This should be on 360, shouldn't it? :-( Yes, it should.

Re: 'soapbox'

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Actually, I've gotten bored with 360. It's about 85% the same old same old, 15% a few new features (mainly integrated blogging), but the interface design is poor, and there's so many limitations built in (for example, so many fields of everything have stupidly short length restrictions) that it's actually less useful than the previous purpose-built social-networking sites I've tried and found I had no actual use for.

Re: 'soapbox'

[likefinewine.livejournal.com]

Actually, I've gotten bored with 360.

I meant it as an alternate place for 'heavy' topics. Fear, homeland security, child abuse, etc. are 'heavier' than I usually tread, here.

In fact, I actively try to avoid 'heavy' topics here. I've surfed in LJ for some time. I've seen many near-to-flame-wars, connected with such [political type] topics. :-( This is not what I intended 'likefinewine' to be.... 'heavy,' that is. ;-)

Call me shallow. ,-) It's just my choice. I can do political-style-fighting, in Real Life. And there are plenty of other place on the Net, to do it. I just try to avoid it, here.

No, WE aren't *fighting.* But such topics can result in a long thread. And in long threads, it's human nature to have differences of opinion. Annnnnnnnnnd... such can become "unpleasant." That's where I was 'coming from.'

[zeekar.livejournal.com]

New book? Beyond Fear came out in 2003, didn't it? I got a copy for Christmas. That's not that new. :)

But yes, it's a great read.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

OK, I should technically have said "recent book". :)

speaking of "not news anymore"...

[attutle.livejournal.com]

So anyway, has anyone heard any news reports in the last few months about the death count in Iraq? I notice we don't get daily figures any more. Most have been deemed "bad for morale" or something.

Iraq Coalition Casualty Count (http://icasualties.org/oif/Details.aspx)

U.S. Fatalities in Iraq, by City (http://icasualties.org/oif/US_CITY.aspx)