&gt; terrorism will never touch the average citizen anywhere near the extent of other tragedies like illness, accidents or natural disasters<p>This argument ascribes zero weight to the <i>injustice</i> of terrorist attacks. Your logic--that a death is a death--does not admit distinguishing between someone dying in a freak accident, someone being killed by a drunk driver, and someone being murdered in cold blood. It&#x27;s all the same.<p>You&#x27;re ignoring a very fundamental aspect of human psychology: people view a death very differently based on the <i>intent</i> of those doing the killing. Unlike murder, terrorism isn&#x27;t just an attack on one person. It&#x27;s an attack on the values, religion, economy, and lifestyle of a whole society. That&#x27;s why people weigh it so heavily.