Australians Are More Afraid Of ISIS Than Literally Anything Else, Study Finds

Looking to views on the ground – The New Daily have today mined the bottomless pit of Google Trends to discern how our Googling habits reflect our biggest fears. Because when you’re shit scared – be it of a spider stalking your shower, or of housing prices skyrocketing to unattainable levels forevermore – the first thing we do is Google. We Google like the goddamn wind.

TND’s findings from Google Trends (only from the past week, mind), paints a strikingly similar picture to Australians’ biggest fear, though obviously we take it with a grain of salt compared to Pew’s research. 

There’s a point there, on the barrage of information and conversation we receive on the issue – while terrorism may kill virtually zero Australians on our shores each year, and cancer claims upwards of 40,000 of us per annum, it’s hardly likely the latter will feature on an evening news bulletin: media hype stirs the pot like nothing else can. CC: this. 

The Lowy Institute’s insights also echo, in a sense, ones gained from the Pew study. Oliver claimed Australia’s relationship with the threat of terrorism presented a distorted cognitive double-edged sword. While “close to” 70% of Australians are in support of Australia’s military engagement in Iraq, Oliver said, “The majority also said they thought this military engagement [in Iraq] would increase the risk of terrorism to Australia.”