More people die in automobile accidents than in the war..blah..blah..blah

[kentuck]

Why do people make a distinction between "accidental" deaths and deaths by "violent" means such as war? Why should people make a distinction? Rush Limbaugh and other right-wingers are always making the point that more people die on the highways than in the war in Iraq. That is true but why do folks have such a tough time making the distinction?

Perhaps it is that they know death happens to us all and they do not see these "accidental" deaths as necessarily preventable. They just happen. But war is different. These deaths would most likely not have happened if not by violence. Deaths by war and violence are not accidental. They are preventable and therefore, unnecessary. That is the distinction.

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. More people TRAVEL by car than are serving in Iraq....

Limbaugh is full of you-know-what.

[sendero]

2. More die..

.. in auto accidents each month than on 9-11 also.

[ThoughtCriminal]

3. Is the fatality RATES were the same

There would be about 1.25 MILLION automobile deaths per year in the United States if automobile accidents had the same fatality rate as U.S. military personel serving in Iraq.

[libhill]

4. The sad truth is that

soldiers are nothing but cannon fodder to these pricks, throw away items , pawns. As long as their corporate buddies are making mucho bux, that's all that matters to them. This crap trying to justify or minimize the tragedy, is just a sop for the sheeple. And more so now that Bush himself has admitted that Iraq had nothing to do with 911. So what the fuck are we doing there? Other than lining Halliburton pockets? As for Rush, he's nothing but a Republican mouth piece.

[Skittles]

5. conservative wingnuts don't give a flying fuck about our troops

they are just dismissable numbers to these chickenhawk freaks

[ComerPerro]

34. Exactly. And they tell you stats like this to justify their not giving

a shit, at all...

"Its perfectly safe over there."

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. Tell that one to the family of somebody who died in Iraq & see

what they have to say about it.

[libhill]

8. Rush wouldn't have the guts...

N/T

[AIJ Alom]

7. Yeah American soldiers are accidently tripping and driving over IED's.

{end sarcasm} but unlike traffic accidents who have 1 or both parties at fault, the hundreds of thousands of American and Iraqi deaths can be solely attributed to one man sitting in an oval shaped room in Washington, DC.

[nini]

9. I'm sure the survivors of the war dead will be comforted by that

Trivializing war dead is beyond disgusting. An untimely death of a loved one is horrible regardless of how it happened. But to have it occur in a situation based on lies that placed that loved one in a position where is was pretty likely to happen cannot be compared to randomness of car accidents.

They're grasping and it's sick.

[twilight_sailing]

12. good

point

[Straight Shooter]

10. I don't get in my car and expect to be blown up by an IED, or shot.

Day after day after day, our troops face that.

Newer cars have airbags, too. Our troops aren't even granted the simple respect of being issued appropriate body armor.

[libhill]

14. But but but

body armor costs money, and cuts into corporate profits... you've got to learn to think like a Repuke. Keep lining the pockets of the fat cats, and pacify the public with rhetoric about "our brave troops who died fer our freedom, but it's ok, they're with Jaysus the Lawd now" - that's their formula, armor costs money, words are cheap. I don't know when the American public is finally going to wake up to the reality, that all Repukes care about is $$$$$$$. That's all, and nothing more.

[teach1st]

11. More people die in traffic accidents...

...than are killed by terrorists.

[Old and In the Way]

16. 200,000 American deaths since 2001, auto related.

vs. 3,000 terror related.

Where would you spend a Trillion dollars...fighting the war on unsafe cars or the war on terror?

[Warpy]

13. There's a difference between accidentally and on purpose.

The latter is called murder.

[struggle4progress]

15. US auto death rate is about 15/100K. US troop death rate in Iraq is about

900/100K. US murder rate is about 5/100K.

[Bluerthanblue]

17. the best response? War is completely optional- travel by

machine, is not.
Trucks, planes, boats, etc are ALL absolutely necessiary for our society to 'run'- Our foods, our goods, our medical professionals, etc. all require vehicular travel in some fashon.

This war, however, was a war based on LIES, AND WAGED BY CHOICE.

So rush can stick that 'logic' up his rear-

[libhill]

19. Since when has Rush used logic?

N/T

[Bluerthanblue]

21. good point, but some who

use his talking points, stumble over 'logic' in their lives every now and again.
:crazy:
Might be worth throwing down some in their path, in hopes they'll trip up, and have to stop and think for a moment.

[polmaven]

18. You notice they use the word PEOPLE

rather than the word AMERICANS. 'Scuse me, Mr. (and I use that term reluctantly)Limbaugh....but are Iraqi men, women and children, not PEOPLE too?

In the eyes of whatever God it is to which you pray, and to which the (p)resident prays, are those lives worth so much less that the lives of Americans that "we're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here" has removed their human being status altogether?

Are those lives so worthless in the eyes of those alleged Christians that killing them is so acceptable? More acceptable than at least an attempt at peaceful solutions?

Are the words "Jesus wept" in the Christian Bible they read, or do they think they apply only to the deaths of innocent Americans?

May God...both mine and theirs...forgive them.

[libhill]

20. Assuming that

a god of some sort actually exists - not frikkin' likely.

[polmaven]

26. I understand that many feel the way you do...

I happen to believe,you apparently do not.We both have the right to our opinions about that. Please note that I specifically referred to "my" God..not "our" God.It is not meant to shove anything down anyone's throat. I'm willing to bet, though, that you do not consider innocent Iraqi lives to be insignificant when compared to American lives. No moral person would.

Those who will be the loudest in their proclamations which dismiss the people there as less than human are also the loudest when proclaiming themselves as the epitome of morality! Hypocrisy, thy name is NeoCon!

[libhill]

28. Amen to that -

n/t

[libhill]

29. Just to clarify -

I meant that it's "not frickin' likely" that a god or deity would forgive these jerks, not that the existence of god is not likely. As an agnostic, I believe that the answer to that question is unknown and unknowable. Sorry about the confusion.

[polmaven]

30. Consider it clarified

:7

[ck4829]

22. You're also more likely to die in an auto accident than by a terrorist act

Let the RW'er respond to THAT!

[bobbolink]

23. It's also true that more people die from lack of medical care in

the richest country in the world than from the occupation of Iraq, but that's not something the RW would be concerned about, either. But, then again, neither was Cindy Sheehan when she denigrated those who are struggling to get Universal Health care established in the U.S.

You see, it cuts both ways sometimes. I really wish that ALL people were concerned about ALL human life, but it doesn't seem to be that way.

I've posted here that many people are getting cut off their Social Security and disability benefits because "homeland security" is now demanding more I.D. than ever before. Obviously, people without any $$$ coming in for months at a time will not be able to survive, but I didn't hear anyone concerned about people dying from this.

Yes, the RW is immoral for excusing the number of war dead.

But, is it any better that "progressives" aren't excited about those who die from other, preventable causes?

Sometimes we need to look a little longer at ourselves in these things. Then we would have more moral standing with thugs like Rush.

[shadowknows69]

24. Really?

70 soldiers died in car accidents last month? I think they'd rather take their chances on roads that aren't riddled with hidden bombs.

[sweetheart]

25. "violent means" stop right there

gun crime in american cities is worse than any war.

[Imagevision]

27. bla-bla-bla...

[Ilsa]

31. I just ask them how many have to die before it matters to them. That

usually stumps them. And gives an opening for these other wonderful points DUers are making in this thread.

[Colonel Bat Guano]

32. Bond villain explanation

Are they really doing this?
"The same number of people die in auto accidents"?

All I have to know about this is, it's a Bond villain rationalization. In GOLDFINGER, Bond figures out that Goldfinger is going to kill sixty thousand people with a nerve gas attack to get into Ft. Knox. Bond tells him, "you'll kill sixty thousand people uselessly." Goldfinger scoffs, wipes his eye, and says, "bah. American motorists kill that many every two years."

In context, this proves that a) he's considered the math of the situation and b) he's rationalized it away. It's a great character moment, because it's the one that proves Goldfinger is totally, irredeemably insane.

So there are repubs using this argument? Really?

[Ilsa]

35. Yep. On the radio, in blogs, on other websites. Everywhere.

I really like that Goldfinger comparison. Excellent! I should look up the precise text of the script and use it next time.

[izzybeans]

33. More PEOPLE are not American than who are.

Next time you hear that ask them if Iraqis are people too.