6 ms·

I'm from the UK, but was in San Fran for a weekend last year. Did I ever feel unsafe? No. Was it sad seeing a lot of, very obviously mentally ill, homeless pe

I'm from the UK, but was in San Fran for a weekend last year. Did I ever feel unsafe? No. Was it sad seeing a lot of, very obviously mentally ill, homeless people? Yes. How to solve this? Hard to say.

sky_rw 4y ago
>Did I ever feel unsafe? No. How safe you _feel_ often has little correlation to how much danger you are actually in. A lot of people are oblivious to their impending assault or murder until just before it happens to them.
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
  Sure, but likewise many people spend large amounts of time feeling in tremendous danger and yet nothing happens to them.
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  The opposite is also true, and much more frequently. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/16/voters-perceptions-of-crime-continue-to-conflict-with-reality/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/16/voters-perc... Making you feel unsafe is a specific political tactic: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/nov/25/fox-news-crime-coverage-decline-us-midterm-elections https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/nov/25/fox-news-crime...
  - AbrahamParangi 4y ago
    While this is true, the amount of blatant denial about SF in particular is ridiculous. The city is a place of both incredible wealth and incredible human misery. It’s shameful to not acknowledge this or the fact that whatever the causes, nothing anyone is doing seems to be making it better.
ActorNightly 4y ago
>How to solve this? Hard to say. There is one solution that bypasses politics, bureaucracy, or having to assign people to protect things: let people have reasonable access to firearms and legal recourse in their use to defend themselves and property. The vast majority of people are normal, decent human beings that won't resort to shooting each other at every argument. The rest would probably pursue deadly force even if they didn't have access to firearms. Yes, US has a disproportionally a larger number of those due to our culture, but the way to fix that is to let former people arm themselves and the problem will be minimized.
- troygoode 4y ago
  You want to solve "seeing a lot of, very obviously mentally ill, homeless people" by... giving more people guns?
  - ActorNightly 4y ago
    I hate how once you mention guns, peoples brains shut off and turn into "must virtue signal my ideology mode", that prevents them from either reading or comprehending the full post. There is a world where normal ordinary people with a job and a place to live get guns, while people who are homeless/mentally ill/ on drugs dont.
    - troygoode 4y ago
      What I don't understand is how your comment connects to the comment you were replying to.
      - ActorNightly 4y ago
        > let people have *reasonable* access to firearms and legal recourse in their use to defend themselves and property. That sort of implies that we don't go Oprah on SF where everyone and their mother gets a gun. Reasonable access means that you have to meet certain conditions, like not be homeless, have an id, have no criminal record, e.t.c.
kelp 4y ago
I lived in SOMA until a year ago. We had a dog and I'd need to walk her in the evening, and before bed. I usually felt fine. My wife on the other hand did not like walking the dog in the evening. More often than not she'd have some random creepy person follow her around and say weird shit to her. Nothing worse ever happened thankfully, but it was regular low key harassment for her. We sold the place, to a single guy. We had a few couples interested, but in each case, the woman was worried about what it would be like after dark. Rightfully so based on my wife's experiences.

sky_rw 4y ago

>Did I ever feel unsafe? No. How safe you _feel_ often has little correlation to how much danger you are actually in. A lot of people are oblivious to their impending assault or murder until just before it happens to them.

PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
Sure, but likewise many people spend large amounts of time feeling in tremendous danger and yet nothing happens to them.
ceejayoz 4y ago
The opposite is also true, and much more frequently. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/16/voters-perceptions-of-crime-continue-to-conflict-with-reality/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/16/voters-perc... Making you feel unsafe is a specific political tactic: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/nov/25/fox-news-crime-coverage-decline-us-midterm-elections https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/nov/25/fox-news-crime...
- AbrahamParangi 4y ago
  While this is true, the amount of blatant denial about SF in particular is ridiculous. The city is a place of both incredible wealth and incredible human misery. It’s shameful to not acknowledge this or the fact that whatever the causes, nothing anyone is doing seems to be making it better.

ActorNightly 4y ago

>How to solve this? Hard to say. There is one solution that bypasses politics, bureaucracy, or having to assign people to protect things: let people have reasonable access to firearms and legal recourse in their use to defend themselves and property. The vast majority of people are normal, decent human beings that won't resort to shooting each other at every argument. The rest would probably pursue deadly force even if they didn't have access to firearms. Yes, US has a disproportionally a larger number of those due to our culture, but the way to fix that is to let former people arm themselves and the problem will be minimized.

troygoode 4y ago
You want to solve "seeing a lot of, very obviously mentally ill, homeless people" by... giving more people guns?
- ActorNightly 4y ago
  I hate how once you mention guns, peoples brains shut off and turn into "must virtue signal my ideology mode", that prevents them from either reading or comprehending the full post. There is a world where normal ordinary people with a job and a place to live get guns, while people who are homeless/mentally ill/ on drugs dont.
  - troygoode 4y ago
    What I don't understand is how your comment connects to the comment you were replying to.
    - ActorNightly 4y ago
      > let people have *reasonable* access to firearms and legal recourse in their use to defend themselves and property. That sort of implies that we don't go Oprah on SF where everyone and their mother gets a gun. Reasonable access means that you have to meet certain conditions, like not be homeless, have an id, have no criminal record, e.t.c.

kelp 4y ago

I lived in SOMA until a year ago. We had a dog and I'd need to walk her in the evening, and before bed. I usually felt fine. My wife on the other hand did not like walking the dog in the evening. More often than not she'd have some random creepy person follow her around and say weird shit to her. Nothing worse ever happened thankfully, but it was regular low key harassment for her. We sold the place, to a single guy. We had a few couples interested, but in each case, the woman was worried about what it would be like after dark. Rightfully so based on my wife's experiences.