this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2024
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A big question I ask people is "Why do we feel less safe even though crime is at an all time low?" Not a lot of people have answers, and I think way too many people aren't aware of that fact. It's one of the safest times to walk through any downtown core, yet people feel the least safe they ever have.
The answer is the media.
It's not all of the media, it's editorialized news, opinion pieces, debate format shows, etc.
Yes, those are the media to which they are referring.
But it's not "the media" it's the heavily editorialized media. There are plenty of credible sources who remain neutral who don't deserve to be lumped in with the rest.
The problem is not everyone agrees on what exactly "editorialized" and "credible" means. You're making the same arguments they would make against you.
The thing is, I don't feel less safe walking down the street. I can't really relate to people who do. That drives the divide further.
That's definitely part of the problem. I had an incident recently where an older family member had a minor panic. Because I left my (mfg in 2006!!) vehicle running in the driveway while I ran inside. During the day. In a very safe suburban neighborhood. Just a flat out absurd concern and she leapt right to it, instantly. She's always been concerned, she's a grandma, but she wasn't pointlessly terrified like this years ago.
I think many of us don't realize how badly this irrational fear has taken hold, or maybe I should say how effectively this irrational fear has been deployed. Otherwise ~reasonable people are walking around thinking the worst is going to happen everywhere at all times, based on absolutely nothing - worse than nothing, it's based on weaponized deception.
That's really the problem. When I friends from small towns come and visit I can see they're on edge the entire time while I'm just doing what I do every day. Yes there's a person sleeping there. Yes someone is screaming a block down. There's traffic noise, and the subway isn't the cleanest - but it's normal, that's what I'm used to. It takes a bit of thicker skin, but once you realize nothing is really unsafe about it it gets easier. Problem is voters from tiny 20,000 population places vote with that fear already, and think that cities are unsafe. We can't bring everyone to the city and hold their hand.
Many of them still believe that cities are full of buildings burnt down by BLM and immigrants are raping people in the street. They will never visit, and thus will always believe this.
it's all vibes, you are way more likely to get hurt from a car crash than crime yet people have no problem driving.
Here in my city we just opened up a rail line extension. I've seen literally hundreds of comments saying it's not safe, all calling back to a stabbing in February. Which is horrific I know. But that's one death in a decade.
No one seems to know what to say when I call out the average 100 traffic fatalities every month in our state. That's just normal apparently, but city bad scary when 1 person in 10 years is killed
My ex spouse got an app that gave alerts every time there was anything going down in our neighborhood. They went from cautious to walk around at night to "omg we live in a crime riddled hellhole with people being murdered everywhere" and stopped going outside. People now have access to so much information, often explicitly designed to make you fearful, and we suck at statistics
Assuming the statements are correct, maybe it's because people feel less safe. Fewer people go outside which results in fewer crimes being committed.
That's actually a big thing I'm into, and especially with the urbanist movement. People in America are very isolated, we live in suburbia, we drive our cars to work, and we work with our tight group of coworkers. We don't have third places anymore where you meet the people who live around you, and most don't take transit and aren't in an urban core so you aren't surrounded by people like you. Our neighborhoods aren't mixed in terms of wealth either, so when you do see a neighbor, you're seeing a mirror of yourself - someone who could afford a similar home in a similar region, and probably is just like you. So everyone becomes the other, and everything becomes very scary. It's probably why I feel fine walking through downtown. Everyone around me are just people like me, and by going out it reinforces that.