Jeez, you big babies! An orbital elevator would be soooooo worth the risk. After all, we'd probably build it at the equator so the orbital track wouldn't cross over any major land masses that matter.
HAAAAA. I didn't say it wouldn't be worth the risk, I just agreed that the damage could be catastrophic if some religious/political/cult group decided it offended their god/gods/sensibilities and tried to bring it down.
Space elevator discussion comes up every once in awhile in the media, and I think there are some groups who are big proponents of the idea, but I doubt we'll see it in our lifetime. But, at least we have a permanently manned space station--that's pretty darn cool in and of itself.