# I just can't keep up (with recent killings) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 18, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-cant-keep-up-with-recent-killings/760266 "2016-07-18T23:01:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-cant-keep-up-with-recent-killings/760266/1 "2016-07-18T23:01:08Z")
I went to the post office today, and saw that the flag was at half-staff. I had to stop for a moment and remember who had recently died. The way things are going, they should probably leave the flags there permanently. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-cant-keep-up-with-recent-killings/760266/2 "2016-07-18T23:11:08Z")
Technically, the Nice, Turkey, police, and police shooting deaths are all so small in scope that 50 years from now you couldn’t look at a homicide timeline (minus the year markers) and identify which year it was that had featured those tragedies. On the whole, global homicide rates are on the decline. Despite the killings in the news, it’s entirely possible that this could be a record breaking year for low homicide rates (though, I don’t have any evidence to that effect, other than the general trend.) ---
**Author:** ![zwede](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ac91a4/32.png) [@zwede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zwede)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-cant-keep-up-with-recent-killings/760266/3 "2016-07-19T13:36:45Z")
US homicide rates peaked in the 90’s and have gone down ever since. But as Jon Stewart said “no one cares about the tanker truck that’s **not** on fire”. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-cant-keep-up-with-recent-killings/760266/4 "2016-07-19T18:16:19Z")
But my point was: the typical homicide doesn’t require flags to be flown at half-staff. Unlike today, that used to be a rarity. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-cant-keep-up-with-recent-killings/760266/5 "2016-07-19T18:24:35Z")
The formula seems to be roughly that the death of one important person or 5 or more normal people at once call for half-staff flags. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-cant-keep-up-with-recent-killings/760266/6 "2016-07-19T20:15:12Z")
Hey, whatever happened with that family (were they in Ohio) a few months ago where pretty much everyone was murdered? It was huge in the news for a few days, then I never heard anything about it.