Well, let’s see… In the last, say, 100 years, how many American cities have even had to call (repeated) “cease-fires”? (None to my knowledge.) How many terrorist bombs (car bombs or otherwise) have gone off on American soil? (OK City and the UN Bldg is all I can come up with.) How many buses/streetcars have been blown to smithereens by terrorists (or anyone else) here in the US? (Uh… none?) Now compare the stats to those of the UK/Ireland.
I’ve lived in American cities (almost) my entire life, and I haven’t been killed yet (or shot at, or slugged, or threatened, or mugged, or beaten, or bombed, or raped, or stabbed, or set on fire, or spit on, or even had a bad car wreck). I’ve been perfectly safe on the streets of American cities, and don’t expect this to change. Of course, I don’t hang out in dangerous/gang-warfare-type areas - this may have something to do with it, since just about ALL of Ireland is (or was until recently) something of a gang-warfare zone). So the chances of me being hurt/killed by anything in the UK/Ireland can’t possibly be “far lower.” The chance I’ll be hurt/killed in the UK/Ireland are either exactly even/equal to my current experience (i.e. perfectly safe - never been hurt/killed) or higher (more dangerous).
Additionally, the odds of me being killed by a terrorist bomb in the UK/Ireland are VASTLY higher than they are of me being killed by a terrorist bomb in the US. I’m not interested enough to count the number of terrorist bomb dead/wounded in the UK vs. in the US, but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that Ireland’s got us beat on this one.
So thanks for playing. Johnny? Tell him what he’s won!
As a frequent visitor to the UK and Ireland, I have to disagree with StoryTyler’s assessment. He’s making the same generalizations the OP did. Perhaps, that’s the point he’s trying to make. Violence is just as isolated and circumstancial here in the US as it is in the UK and Northern Ireland (I can’t even recall the last time the Republic of Ireland was affected by terrorism).
Whatever your nationality, it’s bad form to bitch about the shoes before you’ve tried them on, regardless of what you’ve heard on the news.
Whew… I’m glad someone finally got it! (I never expected to have to work so hard for that one.)
My point stands - I’ve never been looked at crosseyed on the streets of American cities, let alone hurt or even badly frightened. Yes, it can and does happen, but unless you live in South Central LA (or the like) it’s relatively isolated.* I agree with Ursa, I think it’s largely the media overkill that twists our world view so badly.
Mostly, I’d LOVE to see Ireland and England, but my pocketbook says otherwise. Someday, maybe. In the meantime, I’ll continue to enjoy my (relative) safety here in the good ol’ U S of A.
The US isn’t that much more violent than most other places, really. In a recent interview, John Lott notes that (paraphrasing) “if you ask people how many children under five, or under ten are killed each year by handguns, they will often guess thousands. They are amazed if you tell them that in 1996, there were 17 gun-related deaths of children under the age of five, and 44 for children under the age of ten. . . If you have a gun death in the home involving a child under the age of five, you’re going to get national news coverage.” He states further; , , “more than twice as many children drown in five-gallon buckets each year; more than five times as many drown in bathtubs, but those deaths don’t get national news coverage.”
I will concede that those are deaths we could well do without, but the point is still made. - MC
Not the adventurous travelling type then, Story Tyler?
Must admit, there’s no way I’d go to the US, too violent by far.
You ever left the country?
Try it, you might like it. Risks and all.
All right, all right, I made (but failed to state) an assumption that a higher population translated into a higher murder-per-population rate due to crowding and whatnot. Beg pardon.
If we want to be truly accurate, we’d need violent crime (not just murder) statistics for the same years for the US and for whatever European countries we want to consider. Stats for the US for 1998 can be found at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/cv98.txt Can anyone supply stats for the UK?
Actually, in the US you are more likely to die from an auto accident and not wearing a seat belt than you are of a gun related incident. And of course, the number one cause of death in our country is heart disease and I don’t see congress trying to outlaw pizza, bacon, eggs…
He’s making the same generalizations the OP did. Perhaps, that’s the point he’s trying to make. --Ursa
Whew… I’m glad someone finally got it! (I never expected to have to work so hard for that one.) --me
Not the reading, comprehending type then, Andy?
Again, for those of you who don’t quite have a clue… I was using the OP’s argument against him/her. Duh.
And not that you deserve a response, Mr. Snitty, but yeah, I’ve been here and there:
[ul][li]Mexico from the US border to Guadalajara, 9 months total - mid 1970s[/li][li]Leningrad - 1985[/li][li]Paris/Dusseldorf - 1988[/li][li]Amsterdam - 1989[/li][li]SW Canada - 1994[/ul][/li]
As for you not crossing the pond to visit the US - thank you so VERY much. We’ve got enough morons here already.
I’ll keep this short and sweet since I’m in a bit of a hurry. My apologies if this has already been covered. (but probably not, since its almost to obvious)
Crime follows money.
The more money there is, the more crime it attracts. The more money there is spread all over the place, the more crime there is spread all over the place. It IS that simple actually.