Greek letter bomb sent to Merkel - Disarmed, no one harmed

[Sarevok]

Some peoples sense of self importance is hilarious. The chances of being hit by lightning on a sunny day is greater than anyone here afraid of being targeted by terrorists.

[Broomstick]

Oh, I don't think anyone here is going to be targeted by terrorists. They might, however, become "collateral damage". The lowly postal workers killed my anthrax in the mail weren't "targeted", they were innocent bystanders who died because they went to work.

That, to my mind, is one of the worst aspects of sending deadly crap through the mail - the potential carnage among the non-targeted.

[Sarevok]

Thing is why worry about it specifically ? You can get by a car, contract a fatal disease, electrocute yourself etc etc. Being caught in a terrorist conspiracy is pretty low on the list of ends one may meet. The fact that one feels threatened enough to consider a bomb in a mail indicates heightened sense of self importance. I mean why not panic about being eaten by a shark or something equally unlikely ? A rational person wont spend more than a few seconds trying to survive being caught in blast radius of a car bomb. If you are important you take precaution if not you are just paranoid wasting your time protecting against an unlikely threat only to die some other day from slipping on a wet staircase.

[LaCroix]

How did anybody start from

First Fed-Ex, now UPS. Makes me wary the next time the parcel boy rings the doorbell.

and conclude that I meant

OMG! I'M GONNA DIE! I WILL DIE IN A BALL OF FIRE FROM THE NEXT MAIL PIECE I RECIEVE!

You know: wary - to be slightly incomfortable/ have a bad feeling

And yes, I am afraid that some Gypsy tries to rob me blind (again), or kills my horses or whatever.
I am also afraid that the friends of the guy I assisted sending to jail last Saturday will take it out on me, my property or my wife.

I am more concerned about my wife, who works right next to the UN council in Vienna, where the IAEO resides, for example.

But I am only a bit wary when I receive a parcel in Vienna.

It might be of interest to you that I lived in Denia/Alicante during the 80's and 90's during the summer, and I know for a fact that I missed one explosion only by a few minutes. I could still hear it... So please excuse me if I am a bit more concerned about random bombs as ordinary people might be.

[Broomstick]

Thing is why worry about it specifically ?

I think people are confusing awareness of a small risk with great concern about a small risk. I can acknowledge rare events without getting obsessed by them. I can also take steps to reduce my exposure to risk. For example, getting hit by lightning is unlikely, nonetheless, where there is a thunderstorm I get inside rather than standing outside next to the tallest tree in the neighborhood.

And different people have different levels of exposure to risk. At the time of the anthrax mailings I opened and sorted mail for 40 people at work, so yes, it was on my mind even as I continued to do that part of my job without hesitation. We have people on this forum who work for the postal system, and probably some that deliver packages, so it's not surprising or wrong of them to get a twinge when they hear about letter bombs They are at a slightly higher risk than the rest of us. I also expect they continue to go to work and do their jobs.

The fact that one feels threatened enough to consider a bomb in a mail indicates heightened sense of self importance.

Or that your job involves handling mail or packages.

I mean why not panic about being eaten by a shark or something equally unlikely ?

For some people worrying about sharks IS a valid concern - those who go into the water where sharks live do run that risk. For someone like me, thousands of kilometers away from any ocean yes, that would be absurd - unless I worked with the sharks at the Shedd aquarium in Chicago.

A rational person wont spend more than a few seconds trying to survive being caught in blast radius of a car bomb. If you are important you take precaution if not you are just paranoid wasting your time protecting against an unlikely threat only to die some other day from slipping on a wet staircase.

As LaCroix pointed out, you don't need to be important to be caught near a car bomb. He's concerned about his wife, who apparently works near a potential target. Those are both instances were someone "unimportant" was at a higher risk than normal. Acknowledging that doesn't mean they're trembling and paranoid, it means they're aware of their surroundings.