3 ms·

>Ask almost anyone in NYC, for example, and they'll tell you that the city feels less safe than it a decade ago. "The thing I have noticed is when the anecdote

• pixl97 3y ago
  Eh, there is so much that can be gamed here that any simple statement made about this is probably bullshit... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_white_woman_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_white_woman_syndrome and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_panic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_panic are prime examples of this. If you get the news (and now social media) blasting a message that you are in danger 24x7 it will have a very stressful effect on a large number of people putting them in a heightened state of fear even when the rate of underlying incidences has not changed. Moreso, because people are afraid and suspicious their average interactions with other people will amplify this effect. People are weird social creatures and by just hearing stories we can fall into harmful lines of behavior. Suicide contagion for example https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207262/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207262/.