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The most obvious answer is large-scale media. I can learn about a shooting on the other side of the country within hours of it happening, and think "that could
by SAI_Peregrinus 1y ago
The most obvious answer is large-scale media. I can learn about a shooting on the other side of the country within hours of it happening, and think "that could happen where I am". Likewise with any other news, which by definition is about out-of-the-ordinary events. There's more news about violence because there's more news, not because there's more violence, but it feels like there's more violence.
- spogbiper 1y ago"if it bleeds, it leads" is (or was, i'm old) a common saying regarding the news media. It may be that there is more news that scares us because scaring us is profitable
- reverendsteveii 1y agoPiling onto this, humans have both recency and frequency biases that, combined with the attention-as-currency news industry, tend to lead to an increase in the perceived danger of violent crime that's entirely disconnected from the actual statistical danger of violent crime. You hear about more crimes, you hear about each crime more often, and your estimate of how much crime there actually is increases.