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I've noticed every country I visit thinks walking down the street in the US is a dangerous activity, getting assaulted is routine, murders are common, etc. fac
by pswenson 13y ago
I've noticed every country I visit thinks walking down the street in the US is a dangerous activity, getting assaulted is routine, murders are common, etc.
fact is, violent crime is way down since the 1990s. Not saying current levels are acceptable, but it sure isn't as bad as it is perceived.
- rmc 13y agoIt's the high level of gun ownership that kinda freaks some of us out. And seeing police with guns walking around like normal.
- LyndsySimon 13y agoEven as someone who regularly carries a handgun, I can completely understand that. Coming from a culture where "gun = criminal or solider" to the US must be a huge culture shock.
- rmc 13y agoMore like "gun = thing you use to kill people/animals", seeing a cop in a post beverly hills street caring a leathal weapon is like WTF?
- rmc 13y agoTo put it another way, we're not used to seeing guns around. It would be like if everyone was walking around with axes or swords. Why the hell does a traffic cop have an ax?!
- grecy 13y agoThere are 10 times more murders per capita in the US than my home country. An entire order of magnitude makes one stop and think. If I offered you a drive in two different cars, and one was an order of magnitude more likely to burst into flames - which one would you choose?
- maxerickson 13y agoWell, what's the actual rate for the worse one? "Safe enough vs incredibly safe" isn't as interesting a comparison as we tend to make it out to be. (But still, there are lots of U.S. areas where I would prefer not to live...)
- asdfologist 13y agoIf your odds of winning the lottery increased by 10x, would that make you much more likely to buy a ticket?
- e40 13y agoThere are 10 times more murders per capita in the US than my home country. I live in Oakland, CA. A very dangerous place according to statistics. In reality, much of the crime here is in the "bad" parts of town, which I rarely travel to/through. I said "much". There are occasional murders outside the bad parts. They're rare, though. Even people that live outside of Oakland but fairly close (Concord, 40 minutes by car) have this idea that gunslingers run amok in Oakland and it's incredibly unsafe. That is, until they actually come here a lot (for work, say). I walk about 1 hour per day in Oakland (that's my commute from home to work). I've been doing this for 13 years. I've never seen one act of violence. So, statistics can be misleading.
- ac29 13y agoMaybe as a whole, but its not like America is universally unsafe. Not many tourists are visiting the unsavory parts of Detroit, Baltimore or Oakland.