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Anon discusses American exceptionalism
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this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2023
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This guy listing Poland there while I am refusing to travel to USA sightseeing due to personal safety which is not an issue in Poland. Power of country does not directly correlate with standard of living, Russia is the great example where living is shit yet it's still a "superpower"
The chances of you being attacked while sightseeing is virtually zero
Seriously; I've seen several such posts stating a belief that it's unsafe to visit the US, but that's wildly ignoring statistics. The violent crime rate is like half what it was in the 90s and continues its general downward trend, falling further to below the previous bottom in '19. And most of that still stems from gang violence and the like, so it's never near what tourists are doing.
I don't get it; I think people just like acting scared for some reason. Or maybe it's them grasping for a reason to feel superior? People love that kind of thing...
It's just how media works and our media is the loudest.
The only perspective people from outside the US have is that from the media. So when they see the man bites dog stories they assume that to be usual and frequent.
I assume the media there does the same thing the media does here. If it bleeds, it leads. Violent news gets top billing, while news of plummeting crime rates isn't advertised.
Zero or not, person from outside can only know that numbers look worse. Homicide rate alone in the USA is roughly 9 times higher than in Poland. You hear about school shootings every other week as well which doesn't help.
LOL, it's boolshit. Homicide is almost always from a person known to the victim, most violent crime is. Not like we're out here just randomly murdering strangers. Year after year, decade after decade, violent crime is down and down and down.
Gun violence? Not what the media shows us. Note that the leftmost numbers are from a very liberal news outlet, and those are the lowest figures.
School shootings? Not what you think. It's nighttime on a holiday week. If I go down to the local elementary playground and pop one in the ground at the soccer field, that's a school shooting. Seriously. You can Google it for yourself. Anytime a weapon is discharged on school grounds, "school shooting".
And keep in mind, "If it bleeds, it leads!". The media is showing us the very worst that a nation of 333,000,000 souls, across 3,797,000 square miles has to offer.
Depends on where you go; some places its easy to end up finding yourself in the wrong place, especially if you are unfamiliar with the area...
But yeah, school shootings?? it's not just some d-bags having target practice at night on the football field (unfortunately, rather than a pitch -- different story tho), kids die in school shootings here like every other week bud. It really does happen, like a lot, which is actually a pretty uniquely shitty thing in the world today (outside of e.g. the Congo, Chinese elementary schools, ...)
Pretty well thought-out hot take, though, cheers for the high-brow write-up.
FWIW, I'm a liberal gun nut, so I read a lot about these issues from both sides, though I shy away from the obviously partisan stuff.
As for finding yourself in the wrong place? How often has this happened to you? Was just laughing with a new coworker about how South Chicago ain't what it's made out to be. When I was young and dumb, I put myself in many dangerous parts of a few different towns. Had I been carrying a gun? Not sure I would have ever had occasion to draw it.
Got another unusual take; I'm middle-aged and have small children. Just saying, I'm not about to downplay school shootings, but at the same time, I've been around the block.
Yes, for first world countries, it's a uniquely shitty thing, no doubt. Didn't use to happen, and we Americans have always had ass loads of guns. Columbine kicked it off. Lots to talk about there.
But here's the internet's most anti-gun advocates proving my point:
Exactly as I said. Here's the latest "shooting" I found - 12/05/23. Someone shot a cop on school grounds. While I'm no fan of the police, that sort of thing isn't what we're all thinking of when we hear "school shooting".
Kinda weird that you threw China in though, where civilians can't own weapons. And saying that school shootings happen "a lot"? That makes me think you're reacting from emotions and not facts, reacting to news stories, ya know the "bleeds = leads" thing, and not facts. That and the snarky finish.
Also, Chicago like NYC has become a lot "safer" in many areas due to cameras, "proactive" policing, etc. Come to Detroit sometime, we don't have money yet for "cool" stuff like that. See what kind of a difference it makes lol. Even back in the day, Chicago and Detroit went back and forth as the murder capitals of the US (NYC got in there too a lot). Those numbers weren't just relatively high, they were absolutely just high on their own. Just because you never had trouble yourself, doesn't mean... Blah blah blah. Happy New Year btw
Yeah, not proud of the snarky finish, but I think we're definitely talking past each other a bit either way.
Side note: even without guns, China has a surprisingly high incidence of mass attacks at primary schools -- with weapons other than guns. Knives are the most common, ppl on a rampage don't mind putting in the extra work if they have to I guess... But yeah. Primary schools.
Its cool to be a contrarian on the internet, but I've got two young children too, and tbf any violence in schools is too much. Honestly don't give a shit if even 99% of "shootings" were just that (they're not, but still), that 1% is no less serious of a problem than if it was 99%.
Especially since, again, we're somehow the only country in the world that has such a problem keeping kids from getting murdered at school.
Now we're talking!
Columbine kicked off the school shooting thing. Want infinite notoriety? Want to commit suicide by cop? Shoot up a school. Did ya know those assholes had a failed pipe bomb? Imagine if that had worked. We might be looking at a whole different issue.
Anyway, I suspect we agree on much. As to guns, I'll keep saying this; America doesn't have a gun problem, America has a culture problem.
For sure. Sightseeing the US is probably about the same as sightseeing anywhere else, except maybe certain parts of the middle east or Haiti.
What about New York subway? I have friends that were in new York and they just didn't feel safe there at all. And this is a usual part of traveling. I've recently been in Japan where I was never uneasy or concerned in the slightest, feeling completely safe walking in night or day anywhere, which for sure wouldn't be the case in US.
The subway in New York is still safer than driving, honestly. It only gets kind of sketchy if you are traveling very late hours and alone. Even then, as long as you are smart and use busy entrances and exits, and ride in the car closest to the conductor, the chances of anything happening to you are extremely slim.
There are little areas all over the US that you probably wouldn't feel safe in, but those places are usually a bit off the beaten path for tourist destinations. I imagine it's the same pretty much everywhere, though. Even in Japan, there are districts like Kabukicho and Roppongi, which are infamous for their shady bars and scamming tourists. Many stories of tourists being drugged and robbed, or overcharged and arrested because they didn't know they were being scammed and charged thanks to the language barrier.
I don't think anyone seriously believes Russia is a superpower any more after their failure to take Ukraine.
Is it, though?
It's still a nukerpower, at least.
Cool, less traffic