One thing I always note: everyone who is stressed out about crime says the same thing, "did you see that thing that just happened? It was on the news"
The local news reports (AT LENGTH) about "hoodlum" crimes. Some kid with pants hanging down punched an old lady or something. What will they NOT report on? Corporations poisoning our water or stealing our wages. You're going to see back to back coverage when someone steals a TV from Walmart, but not when Walmart steals thousands from people's wages. As far as the local news is concerned, corporate malfeasance is never news, even though it's more likely to affect the average Joe than a gangbanger attack. From the viewer's perspective, the gangbanger on the news is waaaayyyy scarier than than drinking poisoned water.
Of course, the narrative flips when the hoodlum is actually a clean-cut white kid whose pants are not hanging down. Some kids recently beat up a homeless guy? The local news might devote 30 seconds to that. I literally had my neighbor murdered by her mom's boyfriend in a lily-white neighborhood, and it got about a minute of coverage.
Related to the above, the news doesn't care about violence when it's intimate partner violence. Viewers are way more likely to be assaulted or murdered by a loved one, but it's the thugs on the subway they talk about in fearful tones. I used to have a white boomer lady as a boss who lived in NYC her whole life and was terrified of the subway, and no matter how hard I tried to explain stranger murder stats to her, she was convinced that strangers were the ones to be feared.
Finally, it's important to highlight the prevalence of anti-city narratives by conservatives. People get killed in the burbs, but people in other states call me to fret about the violence in NYC. Copaganda also plays a great part. Police say they need more funds because crime is out of control ... and people take that as bible truth.
So, why is fear of crime going up?
1) Racism
2) Sexism
3) Copaganda
4) Idolatry of corporations / Indifference to white collar crime
5) Local news' incompetence
6) Conservatives' fear / hatred of cities (though conservatives are not the only ones who perceive crime as a growing concern)
One thing I always note: everyone who is stressed out about crime says the same thing, "did you see that thing that just happened? It was on the news"
The local news reports (AT LENGTH) about "hoodlum" crimes. Some kid with pants hanging down punched an old lady or something. What will they NOT report on? Corporations poisoning our water or stealing our wages. You're going to see back to back coverage when someone steals a TV from Walmart, but not when Walmart steals thousands from people's wages. As far as the local news is concerned, corporate malfeasance is never news, even though it's more likely to affect the average Joe than a gangbanger attack. From the viewer's perspective, the gangbanger on the news is waaaayyyy scarier than than drinking poisoned water.
Of course, the narrative flips when the hoodlum is actually a clean-cut white kid whose pants are not hanging down. Some kids recently beat up a homeless guy? The local news might devote 30 seconds to that. I literally had my neighbor murdered by her mom's boyfriend in a lily-white neighborhood, and it got about a minute of coverage.
Related to the above, the news doesn't care about violence when it's intimate partner violence. Viewers are way more likely to be assaulted or murdered by a loved one, but it's the thugs on the subway they talk about in fearful tones. I used to have a white boomer lady as a boss who lived in NYC her whole life and was terrified of the subway, and no matter how hard I tried to explain stranger murder stats to her, she was convinced that strangers were the ones to be feared.
Finally, it's important to highlight the prevalence of anti-city narratives by conservatives. People get killed in the burbs, but people in other states call me to fret about the violence in NYC. Copaganda also plays a great part. Police say they need more funds because crime is out of control ... and people take that as bible truth.
So, why is fear of crime going up?
1) Racism
2) Sexism
3) Copaganda
4) Idolatry of corporations / Indifference to white collar crime
5) Local news' incompetence
6) Conservatives' fear / hatred of cities (though conservatives are not the only ones who perceive crime as a growing concern)