Steven Pinker says that the level of violence we are currently exposed to is less than ever in history. The chances of being murdered or killed in war or the victim of an assault are far lower now than they were in any previous era and the conclusion is clear: our age is far safer than any that has preceded it.
So why do so many people feel targeted, feel like they are in the crosshairs of disease or fate or terrorist attacks or so many other potential sources of pain from without? Because it’s easier to look outside ourselves for threats to our well-being than to look within at the biggest threat, namely things we do to ourselves willingly day in and day out.
Exactly what am I talking about? Cigarette smoking kills a minimum of 400,000 Americans every year. Poor diet and lack of exercise take out another 300,000 people nnually. So why all of the hype about bad lettuce (last year it was pistachios, by the way), sharks, earthquakes, terrorists, and so many other things that are almost definitely NOT going to kill you? Because tobacco, bad driving, and virtually all of the other things likely to actually kill any one of us are, alas, boring.
For a similar discussion, see my piece at Time.com from 2001 after the anthrax attacks: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,180457,00.html