What Americans die from vs. what the news reports on

Early vs “old-age” death and better metrics

• Many argue the article should focus on early or preventable deaths, not all-cause mortality in the elderly.
• Suggestions: weight causes by “years of potential life lost,” cap analysis at ~50–65, or separate charts by age group.
• Disagreement over what counts as an “early” death (e.g., 55-year-old smoker vs 80-year-old with terminal illness).

Heart disease, cancer, and lifestyle vs aging

• Some emphasize that heart disease (and a substantial share of cancer) is largely preventable via lifestyle: diet, exercise, no smoking, moderate alcohol.
• Others counter that fatal heart disease is strongly age-skewed and thus “age-related,” even if lifestyle shifts its timing.
• Debate over how big an effect salt restriction and other specific factors have; some reference consensus guidelines, others cite mixed evidence.
• Several note that dying at 60–70 from heart disease is often treated socially as “old age” even when it likely reflects modifiable factors.

Wealth, healthcare access, and longevity

• Thread contrasts the impact of healthy lifestyle vs being very rich with “top-tier” healthcare.
• Anecdotes conflict: some claim concierge care or employer plans give rapid specialist access; others report months-long waits even with expensive concierge setups.
• One contributor cites work suggesting lifestyle confers larger longevity gains than high income on average.

Media incentives, crime, and terrorism

• Core defense of the coverage skew: news is about rare, abrupt, unjust events, not predictable chronic decline. Homicide and terrorism fit this; heart disease doesn’t.
• Critics counter that persistent overcoverage of violent crime and terrorism distorts public risk perception, fuels fear of cities, and affects policy priorities (e.g., security spending vs chronic disease prevention).
• Several note that all major outlets show very similar topic distributions despite political branding.

Children, schools, and risk perception

• Commenters point out that child mortality is dominated by car crashes, drowning, and “poisonings” (drugs), yet public focus is on school shootings.
• Active-shooter drills are criticized as traumatizing given the tiny absolute risk; others defend simple lockdown drills but oppose hyper-realistic simulations.

Trust in news, statistics, and Wikipedia

• Many recount cases where reporting on events they knew firsthand was incomplete or wrong, feeding deep skepticism.
• Wikipedia’s dependence on news sources and editorial biases is discussed; some see it as a mirror of consensus, not a source of objective truth.
• Broader theme: news seldom lies outright but misleads via cherry-picking, framing, and omission—making people feel “informed” while their mental risk model drifts from actual mortality patterns.