How safe do you feel in America? \ stacker news ~AskSN

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1218 sats \ 56 comments \ @stack_harder 13 Sep AskSN

Since we have quite a few US-based stackers, I thought I would ask.

Now, of course, it depends on city, habits, and all sorts of things, but I noticed that, in my brain, I have an almost immediate association of 'not safe' when it comes to the US.

Maybe it's the endless news about school shootings, random acts of violence, liberal-enabled homeless drug ghettos. Bit like how now when I think of London I think of the very expensive tube and stabbings.

Is this just an attention bias thing? I mean I don't actually watch the news, but obvs whatever does filter thorugh, tends to be the worst shit.

Like, if you have kids, do you worry about school shootings, or is it kind of not on the radar?

When I lived in Moscow in the mid-2000s, people back home would ask if it was dangerous etc, and I never had any trouble, despite always being out all night in the bars and things on weekends, traveling different places. But a lot of that is down to good situational awareness.

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197 sats \ 33 replies \ @didiplaywell 13 Sep

Trust me, you are safe in the US. God forbid you ever get the Argentinean experience of living in fear every single day. The fear of not knowing if you're going to make it back home from work, or if you are even going to find your home as you left it. Getting back to a fully empty house is normal. And hoppeles: you will never recover what's stolen. Stealing is practically legal. Trying to get your stuff back is practically illegal, and god forbid you find the one who did it, because you're going to have to move to another city, which is the norm, and what the police itself will kindly advise you to do. I'm not exaggerating in the least. When Iran started to bomb Israel some months ago, hundreds of videos went viral here of Argentinians who emigrated to Israel who where calming down their relatives saying that they felt pretty secure and actually feared more for their relatives back in Argentina. I would go to live in the US right now, just like it is right now.

That said, the way to keep the standard high is to worry whenever it's felt it's getting lower, so keep it that way. Just don't lose the reference of where you're at.

96 sats \ 29 replies \ @Undisciplined 13 Sep

There are definitely some Democrat-run cities that are trending in the Argentinian direction (as you described it, I had no idea it was like that), but I've felt perfectly safe almost everywhere I've ever been in America and I've been to every part of the country. Until very recently I mostly lived in low income areas, too.

Even in the most dangerous cities, the crime is usually (historically) isolated to very small areas that are very easy to avoid.

42 sats \ 4 replies \ @stack_harder OP 8h

so basically, stay away from the Hood type situation? how about school shootings and random acts that seem to keep happening?

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @Undisciplined 8h

There are hundreds of millions of people here. All kinds of crazy shit happens, but that doesn't make it common.

I think there's only one county in America that's ever had more than two mass shootings (it's in the Denver area and has had 3). There are more than 3000 counties in this country and almost all of them have never had a single mass shooting.

In grad school, I was trying to do a research project about mass shootings and there were so few that it was really difficult to do any kind of statistical analysis.

42 sats \ 2 replies \ @stack_harder OP 8h

i mean, it is way more common in the US than seemingly anywhere else though (shool shootings, not always mass school shootings).

I don't give it a ton of thought, since you know, i'm not there, but asked chatgpt:

-Using the K-12 School Shooting Database (very broad: gun brandished/fired or bullet hits school property), there were ≈1,468 incidents in the past decade, a ~324% jump vs. the prior decade.

Other trackers use stricter definitions and get much smaller counts (e.g., Everytown’s “gunfire on school grounds,” Education Week’s K-12 list, and the Washington Post’s database). They all agree the trend rose sharply in recent years. -

Then i asked what other countries rank in the school shooting list and it gave me this

*There isn’t a single, reliable global database with apples-to-apples rates. The best-known cross-country snapshot (CNN’s compilation Jan-2009→May-2018; incidents with ≥1 person shot) shows the U.S. far ahead and the next countries a tiny fraction of that:

United States — 288

Mexico — 8

South Africa — 6

Pakistan — 4

Nigeria — 4

could still be an interesting research project i think

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 7h

Notice that CNN is including "gun brandished", which is not a shooting. These metrics are really tricky when you start parsing them and it doesn't help that many outlets are intentionally misleading in how they report them.

There are a lot of gang related incidents on or near school grounds in the kinds of neighborhoods I said needed to be avoided. Most researchers don't include those as mass shootings, though, and they only count them as school shootings if they happen during school hours with targets in the student population.

136 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker 7h

If there's one thing that, as a social scientist, I'd like to communicate to the world, it's this:

Sociological data has to be collected and produced by someone, and the entity producing it is often not a neutral scientific observer. It is usually either a government agency or an interested third party. Moreover, different jurisdictions tend to have different data collection procedures, making cross country comparisons difficult

That's not to say you should distrust every report using sociological data, but it does mean that you should always have in the back of your mind how these statistics were collected and produced. It's often harder than you think to collect an accurate picture of what's going on.

0 sats \ 23 replies \ @oliverweiss 13 Sep

There are definitely some Democrat-run cities that are trending in the Argentinian direction

Could you name some?

11 sats \ 19 replies \ @Undisciplined 13 Sep

LA, DC, SF, Seattle, Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, NYC, Milwaukee... The list of exceptions would probably be shorter, if we're just talking about major metro areas.

Not enforcing property crimes has become a common practice in many cities and property owners have to put up with lots of theft and trespassing.

The odds of getting your property back has always been very low.

53 sats \ 7 replies \ @kepford 13 Sep

Oakland. Probably the worst in California

11 sats \ 4 replies \ @Undisciplined 13 Sep

I was thinking of metro areas, so Oakland would fall under SF.

My understanding is that theft below something like $500 was basically not being enforced anymore as a matter of policy.

73 sats \ 3 replies \ @kepford 13 Sep

Fair.

My understanding is that theft below something like $500 was basically not being enforced anymore as a matter of policy.

True. I visited SF in 2020 and recently. It has improved dramatically. I still think their policies are nuts but they hopefully already hit bottom.

Oakland is still a hell hole. It wasn't always this bad.

I don't cheer for the fall of these places as some do. That's poisonous thinking to me.

11 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 13 Sep

I was in San Francisco back during the Bush years and loved it. When I went back more than a decade later, it was definitely a lot sketchier and dirtier. Berkley was still beautiful, though, although I've heard that it went way downhill.

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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bell_curve 13 Sep

JUST IN - Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin Tyler Robinson lived with his transgender partner, who is now cooperating with the authorities.

@disclosetv

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 13 Sep

I'm not sure there's much left to learn, but we'll see.

35 sats \ 3 replies \ @oliverweiss 17h

Just to clarify: This is happening exclusively in the Democrat-run cities? Are Republican-run cities oases of safety then? And how is it in Boston area (I am traveling there soon)?

30 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 11h

What major cities have been historically run by Republicans? I'm not aware of any.

I'm not familiar with Boston, in that I have few personal acquaintances there and have never been there myself. I don't associate Boston with being particularly troubled, just from what I've read and listened to.

As I said in my initial comment, I think pretty much everywhere in America is reasonably safe. You just have to avoid small sections of certain cities. I'm sure you'll be fine on your visit.

42 sats \ 1 reply \ @oliverweiss 10h

I think pretty much everywhere in America is reasonably safe. You just have to avoid small sections of certain cities.

I think that except for Japan and South Korea (that feel incredibly safe) this part applies to pretty much every place in every developed country.

30 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 10h

That’s been my experience too. It’s also been my experience in the Caribbean and Central America.

The vast majority of humans just aren’t inclined towards violence.

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21 sats \ 6 replies \ @Bell_curve 13 Sep

21 sats \ 5 replies \ @oliverweiss 16h

If that’s the case, the Democrat party should be dissolved and the politicians imprisoned. This is like watching a Soviet coup from a hundred years ago live. It’s scary to be honest.

11 sats \ 4 replies \ @Undisciplined 10h

They're being investigated right now. The problem is that there's no neutral way to do this and not have it look like it's just Republicans weaponizing the legal system.

Once people become locked into their tribes, they lose the ability to believe criticism from the outside.

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @Bell_curve 3h

I’m surprised he only called me Soviet. I guess Hitler and nazi have been overused

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21 sats \ 2 replies \ @Bell_curve 16h

All the cities are run by Democrats

I can't think of a single city run by Republicans

22 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 10h

I’m specifically referring to the major cities that have been exclusively run by Democrats for decades.

Some cities occasionally elect non-Democrats and that puts some pressure on the local Democrats politicians.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 3h

All the most dysfunctional cities have a Democrat mayor and a unanimous city council and chief of police

Often the mayors and chief of police and district attorneys are black Democrats

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 8h

i mean, where I'm at is crazy safe, but it's all about perspective i suppose. Is Argentina really that fucked?

I mean i'm used to hearing about inflation and things from there, but never looked much into other aspects, have you seen any improvements at all under Mile?

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @franzap 13 Sep

"I'm not exaggerating in the least"

lol ok

If you live in a shithole in Argentina maybe. I feel safer here than in the USA.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @didiplaywell 15h

You got it backwards. Everywhere is a shithole by default. You're living in one of the few places that might be not one, albeith superficially.

71 sats \ 3 replies \ @kepford 13 Sep

I feel very safe but I do not live in a flash point city. Or a city at all. Even so, I haven't assumed nothing can happen. I'm prepared.

There are places in the US that are not safe at all. I was recently in San Francisco and never felt I safe there either. But we took a wrong turn in Oakland and I didn't feel safe at all.

I have been in rough areas in many cities. I've also did some international travel in my youth. I haven't felt unsafe for most of the time

Statistically the US is pretty safe with some exceptions. Because many of us can legally carry concealed weapons I have fewer concerns.

Schools are another story. My sons are beyond that stage but if I were to have young children there is no way they would be in government schools. Safety is one reason but indoctrination and incompetence would be bigger reasons.

All that said, this all depends on hyper local and personal factors. Generalizing is easy and rarely helpful. In the US regional hypocrisy is blatantly expressed all over. Take everything with a grain of salt.

46 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 13 Sep

The only two places I recall feeling unsafe in America were a wrong turn in Chicago and a poorly researched restaurant choice in DC (the food was great though).

42 sats \ 1 reply \ @kepford 13 Sep

I still wanna visit Wrigley Park

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 13 Sep

That was still a nice part of Chicago when I was there. Not upscale nice, exactly, but it's in the gayest part of town, so it isn't rundown or dangerous.

14 sats \ 1 reply \ @zapsammy 6h

there was another neck stabbing by a deranged man the other day, in the victim's backyard, in our otherwise quiet and peaceful neighborhood... so not feeling very safe at the moment; no churches, schools, or big public gatherings for me, no thank you

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 6h

stay safe dude

31 sats \ 0 replies \ @freetx 13 Sep

Is this just an attention bias thing?

Yeh, I think its mainly that (for reference, I was born in a rough part of a major US city and spent about 6 or 7 years living in 3rd world for work, so I have some reference). I live now in a semi-private community that is very very safe.

No doubt the US has very unsafe areas, but those are fairly localized. I think being a victim of crime can be broken down into a few different areas, like:

Victim of random theft / robbery
Victim of assault
Victim of rape / murder

Assuming over a 10 year period: You probably have a fair chance of experiencing #1 if you live in a major US city, a medium-low chance of #2, and an almost negligible chance of #3.

24 sats \ 6 replies \ @SimpleStacker 23h

I've been in LA for 13 years. In those years we've been burglarized once, a homeless person spit into the ear of my daughter once, I was in a restaurant when someone threw a brick through the window

That's just my own experience. I've had friends whose cars had been broken into, tires slashed, all sorts of things

Do I feel safe? Generally yes but I felt 4x safer when I was living in Taiwan

0 sats \ 5 replies \ @stack_harder OP 8h

i literally recoiled at the thought of a homeless person spitting in anyone's ear, let alone my kids'.

0 sats \ 4 replies \ @SimpleStacker 8h

We filed a police report but don't know if anything came of it. The area is known for its large homeless population (Venice). Just so happens that my child's school was in that area.

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @stack_harder OP 7h

i mean yeah, what more can you do. i doubt they would have the resources to police all the crazy anyway.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @SimpleStacker 7h

What's ironic is that liberals are basically 100% at fault for California's homelessness (permissive drug policy, red tape big gov housing regulation)

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @stack_harder OP 7h

reading a book called Sanfransicko about how the liberals ruined it , will do a stacker book report when finished

32 sats \ 0 replies \ @SimpleStacker 7h

100%. I read that book too, look forward to your report!

14 sats \ 0 replies \ @BeeRye 19h

i live in a suburb of Portland, OR. I never worry about safety, crime...kids playing in the streets and in parks. Couldn't ask for more, feel blessed and lucky.

14 sats \ 1 reply \ @denlillaapan 20h

Pretty safe.

Not as safe as in most of my beloved Nordics, but reasonably OK.

depends, as always, on specific locations and which wacky people are in immediate surroundings (homeless people, mentally ill)

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder OP 8h

you don't places like skid row in the Nordics tho right? seems a lot of the issues are mental health + drugs

20 sats \ 1 reply \ @CliffBadger 13 Sep

2025 America is fine. Once we start seeing >50% inflation, maybe 2030, not so fine.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @didiplaywell 15h

If Trump keeps the utterly retarded tariffs abomination thing for too long, I can assure you that.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bell_curve 13 Sep

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @didiplaywell 13 Sep

That's what the left boils down to. Here in Argentina the left leadership is composed of actual ex-members of terrorist groups. It's a pretty grim story.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 13 Sep

JUST IN - Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin Tyler Robinson lived with his transgender partner, who is now cooperating with the authorities.

@disclosetv