Ask HN: How come the US has low domestic terrorism?
2•phoenixhaber•1h ago
I'm surprised, given the level of poverty, that there are as few incidents of people blowing up major pieces of infrastructure or bombing busses and trains as in other countries with similar levels of poverty. We tend to go in for mass shootings. Why is that?
Comments
PaulHoule•1h ago
It takes actual skill to use explosives effectively. The unabomber was a math PhD and it took him more than a decade to make mail bombs that could kill consistently. Mass shooting is within the reach of more people.
Rzor•47m ago
Are you comparing the US to which countries?
baobun•37m ago
Why do you not consider mass shootings as terrorism? Why would poverty be the major contributing factor? What statistics are you basing your observation on?
BTW, did you see my replies to your other recent AskHN threads? Please take a look.
I am surprised that you think lack of poverty is the only thing which keeps such factors at bay. But to address the main premise, only about 32% of the population makes $50K or less, that’s counting individuals not couples. A couple with $35K each clears about 70K, whereas the median cost of living is about $61K. So, on average the U.S. population is not that poor. But no one is climbing the social ladder with these numbers, which raises a lot of concerns from various groups, but there’s no real poverty per se. But of course, that varies by state, and whatever they have going on locally in each county, and so on. Feel free to correct me.
PaulHoule•1h ago