4 ms·

As if pushing ever more news of "crime" (much of which may be inconsequential, entirely non-criminal trivia, judging by the kind of material mentioned in the ar

by jfk13 8y ago

As if pushing ever more news of "crime" (much of which may be inconsequential, entirely non-criminal trivia, judging by the kind of material mentioned in the article) at the public will somehow make our society better/happier/safer. Didn't Bowling for Columbine suggest that a key element in America's fear-driven and violent society, when compared to its northern neighbour, might be the extent to which US media already focuses on such reporting (if I remember right -- it's been a long time)? This sort of toxic, alarmist "news" is already poisoning our social fabric; so let's double down on it and focus even more on feeding people's fears. Great.

jboy55 8y ago
It could be that the desire is so great to have your fear justified that the quiet that a lack of reporting from your local Ring community is seen as a lack of quality. "My neighbour's kids are constantly being held hostage by sex slavery rings. My Ring feed just isn't reporting it!"
booleandilemma 8y ago
So if it bleeds it leads doesn’t apply in Canada?
gumby 8y ago
The whole point is revenue not making society better/happier/safer. There is no money in the latter.
mtgx 8y ago
More crimes news to keep people scared means bigger budgets for police/law enforcement=bigger gov contracts for Amazon.
ranie93 8y ago
Here's a relevant opinion from Newt Gingrich on the matter of perception of violence vs. actual trends https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnhJWusyj4I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnhJWusyj4I
- rjf72 8y ago
  This, moreso, seems to emphasize how much partisanship has gripped everybody. For instance homelessness is substantially down across the US. [1] But of course certain areas, especially in California and New York, do not follow this trend. And so for people in these regions and especially in certain areas of them, homelessness is very much an issue, aggregate stats notwithstanding. Imagine having the same interview, except now have an advocate for focusing on homelessness as an issue and a journalist who keeps interjecting 'but homelessness across the country is down!' Now furthermore, have somebody go and insert laugh tracks when the homeless advocate speaks. People would react to it entirely differently even though it's the exact same logic, just with the issue being discussed swapped. I think this is mostly reflective of partisanship, as it emphasizes that the logic itself is not what people are mocking. Increasingly often we mock or support logic based not on the soundness of said logic, but whether it affirms or challenges our views and values. --- But more on topic I completely agree that the media holds some responsibility (I imagine many people even outside of New York and California believe that homelessness is on the rise, contrary to the data) but there's also the very real issue that aggregate stats do not necessarily represent local conditions. There are also a couple of other factors to consider. People are much more influenced by relatively recent changes rather than changes that happened decades ago. For instance the violent crime rate has been increasing recently. That it's far below the levels of the 90s is probably not much comfort for those in areas where it's increasing. Another issue that increases in population can see a rate decrease, but the number of incidents increase or remain stable. If the population increases 10% and the murder rate declines 1% you'd see an increase in the number of murders happening. That it's at a lower per capita rate is, once again, probably not very comforting to those in the area. [1] - https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness-report/ https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homeless...
tomaskafka 8y ago
Non-scared people buy less. That's all what number optimizers need to know.
mises 8y ago
It's also possibly the reason why we have had 3 shootings in the past 2 days. It's like copycat suicide. However, America has a free press. This is a great attribute of hers. If that is changed, we take a tremendous risk. Not something easy to stop.
mc32 8y ago
I think in this case we don’t yet know the consequences: - It hasn’t ramped up - They’re still haven’t fully integrated with LEOs (people must report the traditional way, but this could change) So here are some obvious observations: it increases surveillance (people can be followed across these networks via facial recognition). If more people who commit crime are reported and LEOs become more effective (better evidence/leads/suspects) then it’s possible this could put down pressure on burglaries and other street crime. Maybe it will depend on neighborhood, composition, attitudes, engagement, etc. Begrudgingly I find it useful knowing to look out for bands of roving thieves, meter maids, anti social behavior, etc. Do I like where it’s going? It has good and it has bad. No verdict yet.
lokidokiro 8y ago
Here's a Dilbert comic that you probably won't enjoy, but the rest of us who just read this comment will: https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/75823311/null https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/75823311/null

by jfk13 8y ago

jboy55 8y ago

It could be that the desire is so great to have your fear justified that the quiet that a lack of reporting from your local Ring community is seen as a lack of quality. "My neighbour's kids are constantly being held hostage by sex slavery rings. My Ring feed just isn't reporting it!"

booleandilemma 8y ago

So if it bleeds it leads doesn’t apply in Canada?

gumby 8y ago

The whole point is revenue not making society better/happier/safer. There is no money in the latter.

mtgx 8y ago

More crimes news to keep people scared means bigger budgets for police/law enforcement=bigger gov contracts for Amazon.

ranie93 8y ago

Here's a relevant opinion from Newt Gingrich on the matter of perception of violence vs. actual trends https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnhJWusyj4I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnhJWusyj4I

rjf72 8y ago
This, moreso, seems to emphasize how much partisanship has gripped everybody. For instance homelessness is substantially down across the US. [1] But of course certain areas, especially in California and New York, do not follow this trend. And so for people in these regions and especially in certain areas of them, homelessness is very much an issue, aggregate stats notwithstanding. Imagine having the same interview, except now have an advocate for focusing on homelessness as an issue and a journalist who keeps interjecting 'but homelessness across the country is down!' Now furthermore, have somebody go and insert laugh tracks when the homeless advocate speaks. People would react to it entirely differently even though it's the exact same logic, just with the issue being discussed swapped. I think this is mostly reflective of partisanship, as it emphasizes that the logic itself is not what people are mocking. Increasingly often we mock or support logic based not on the soundness of said logic, but whether it affirms or challenges our views and values. --- But more on topic I completely agree that the media holds some responsibility (I imagine many people even outside of New York and California believe that homelessness is on the rise, contrary to the data) but there's also the very real issue that aggregate stats do not necessarily represent local conditions. There are also a couple of other factors to consider. People are much more influenced by relatively recent changes rather than changes that happened decades ago. For instance the violent crime rate has been increasing recently. That it's far below the levels of the 90s is probably not much comfort for those in areas where it's increasing. Another issue that increases in population can see a rate decrease, but the number of incidents increase or remain stable. If the population increases 10% and the murder rate declines 1% you'd see an increase in the number of murders happening. That it's at a lower per capita rate is, once again, probably not very comforting to those in the area. [1] - https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness-report/ https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homeless...

tomaskafka 8y ago

Non-scared people buy less. That's all what number optimizers need to know.

mises 8y ago

It's also possibly the reason why we have had 3 shootings in the past 2 days. It's like copycat suicide. However, America has a free press. This is a great attribute of hers. If that is changed, we take a tremendous risk. Not something easy to stop.

mc32 8y ago

I think in this case we don’t yet know the consequences: - It hasn’t ramped up - They’re still haven’t fully integrated with LEOs (people must report the traditional way, but this could change) So here are some obvious observations: it increases surveillance (people can be followed across these networks via facial recognition). If more people who commit crime are reported and LEOs become more effective (better evidence/leads/suspects) then it’s possible this could put down pressure on burglaries and other street crime. Maybe it will depend on neighborhood, composition, attitudes, engagement, etc. Begrudgingly I find it useful knowing to look out for bands of roving thieves, meter maids, anti social behavior, etc. Do I like where it’s going? It has good and it has bad. No verdict yet.

lokidokiro 8y ago

Here's a Dilbert comic that you probably won't enjoy, but the rest of us who just read this comment will: https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/75823311/null https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/75823311/null