Personalization of Danger
Jim Henley is happy his mailman is back from duty in Fallujah as a reservist but wonders,
Thousands of other Americans are not back from Fallujah. His being back means that someone else has to be there (at least by the logic of intervention). We’re glad anyway, which means we’re glad someone we know slightly is out of a danger that someone we don’t know at all is in. Why is that? The answer is the beginning of political wisdom.
I suspect it’s the same reason we get press reports about a jumbo jet crash, killing hundreds, and there is always a mention of the number of Americans on board.
