Hacker News Reader

Comment by pjc50 | Hacker News Reader

I find it hard to imagine that if 3000 people had been killed by Saudi terrorists flying a plane into a nursing home people would have said "let's not bother invading afghanistan, those people would have died soon anyway"

View on HN

I mean, I don't think any nursing homes are iconic towers in what is in some ways the flagship city of the country?

What does it matter? Should we care less about someone because they're not living in an "iconic tower" in "the flagship city of the country?"

The point of QALYS analysis is that yes, even though it sounds harsh we should in fact care less about a 90 year old with multiple severe problems who's going to die in the next few months no matter what mountains are moved for them, than a healthy 25 year old working in a flagship tower who was looking forward to a full and happy life.

Do you not think that terrorism is more effective when it is a spectacle? I think you wouldn't be able to ignite such visceral fears and reactions with almost any other kind of attack killing so few. The death of a skyscraper is more or less unheralded, and it's easy to empathize with the abject horror the people must've felt as that happened

If it's just a low-rise apartment in Anytown it's not going to drop everyone's jaw when played on TV. Can't believe people think my last comment was a commentary on the value of human life as opposed to the impact of literally toppling a tower...

It seemed like you were suggesting that the COVID deaths should have less impact because it wasn't a terrorist attack.

I see. No, I was suggesting that the effectiveness of the attack wasn't it's death toll but instead its visibility. Anyways, enough of this topic, thanks for explaining

Reply on news.ycombinator.com