Well said. The psychological value of denial is high. As well we must look at the stats. ~3000 people out of 10 million killed by 9/11 vs how many mugged, raped, assualted, killed in NYC / year. Not to mention the casualties due to traffic "accidents" (most of which are totally avoidable if folks would hang up their cell phones, put out their ciggarettes, put down their coffee, finish putting on their mascare before getting into the car, finish reading the newspaper before getting in the car, etc) The global collapse of our environment is something that may be happening but most of us alive will perish from heart disease or cancer long before it becomes a problem that is killing folks. What should the average NYC resident prepare for percentage wise? Should they hit the gym and stay fit enough to outrun the mugger or should they worry about the micro rapelling gear needed to rapell out of the top of a burning tower after a terrorist attack? They are statistically way more likely to need to out run the mugger. We, on this forum, like to consider the scenarios that include us buying some equipment so that we may become equipped to survive. We enjoy assembling gear into little kits. Some of us keep this in perspective and also prepare for the more mundane scenarios and some don't . But to dismiss folks as unprepared because they are unprepared for a 1 in 10,000 chance of being in the wrong place during the next terrorist attack is perhaps a little out of perspective. The folks in France who died because of the blackouts during last summer were verifiably unprepared. The folks in NYC who peaceable went about their business as best they could during last summers blackout may have stumbled in the dark because they didn't have flashlights but they were optimistic enough to get through and perhaps that optimism is all the preparation they needed. After all the preparation of the mind will go further than any gear. I don't mean any nationalistic chest beating here just calling it as I see it. If the blackout in NYC had lasted as long as those in France we very well may have seen the worst of the NYC character show up as riots and other types of lawlessness. Thankfully the power company and the police and other public workers were prepared enough to prevent that.

Preparation must be started at the individual level but an individuals choices need to be guided by the preparations of those around them and the likelyhood of the events for which they are preparing. Am In unprepared, living in rural NH, to not have a gass-mask and a positive pressure, filtered saferoom? It may look that way if someone flies overhead in a crop-duster full of VX but I don't consider that likely enough to worry about. OTOH in my sleepy little town, last year a fellow who wasn't getting along with his wife took off from the local airport in his little cessna and kamikazeed it into the roof of his home while his wife slept. So terrorism from the skies is not unheard of here either.