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I think the readers made some excellent points. Personal violence just scares people in a "gut" level kind of way. While I'm sure part of that disparity is natural, we also have to consider the role of the media.

Look at what dominates the news. Every couple of months we have a media frenzy over some poor attractive woman who got abducted, raped, or murdered. These incidents, while tragic, often got a lot more coverage than other events that are likely to kill a LOT more people.

And then there is this:

Homicide coverage on network news increased 473% from 1990 to 1998, while homicides decreased 32.9% during that time, the report said. While homicides committed by youth declined by 68% from 1993 to 1999, 62% of the public reported they believed youth crime was on the rise.

So maybe our fear of personal violence isn't as "natural" as we think it is.

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