neutron1 t1_itgkh3w wrote on October 23, 2022 at 2:22 PM

Reply to comment by nycdataviz in R/nyc vs r/newyorkcity by MarketMan123

Except people are bad at judging what's actually a threat to them and what's not.

Conveniently, creating fear of crime helps right wing politicians and narratives, even if it's not accurate or reflective of reality.

For example, violence on the subway has been the chosen right wing narrative lately. But the crime rate on the subway is 1.6 per million riders in NYC. That translates to a couple crimes a day, all of which are featured on the New York Post and this subreddit.

Compare to the motor vehicle death rate (accidents, etc) of 1.6 per 100k residents in NY state.

To be clear, the motor vehicle death rate is ten times higher than the subway crime rate.

So regardless of the narrative you clearly want to push as well, it's not accurate. And yes, it's fair to moderate it.

nycdataviz t1_itglz8i wrote on October 23, 2022 at 2:33 PM

>Except people are bad at judging what's actually a threat to them and what's not.

How do you know that it's not you who's bad at judging threats? You've compared apples to oranges in your naive threat assessment - motor vehicle accidents are accidents. Subway beatings, slashings, stabbings, pushings, and attacks are not accidents.

The preventative strategies aren't comparable, the causes aren't comparable, the voting and governing strategies to mitigate the issues aren't comparable either.

Or would you, o wise one, have us believe being hit by a car and being hit by a knife is just the same, so we can vote in the direction of your choosing?

spanchor t1_itgmno8 wrote on October 23, 2022 at 2:38 PM

Because it’s a long-proven fact that Americans consistently and heavily overestimate crime rates and (coincidentally I’m sure) the size of minority populations.

nycdataviz t1_itgnkzm wrote on October 23, 2022 at 2:45 PM

Are you suggesting that voters should only care about crime if the per capita rate reaches a certain threshold? Would the threshold be benchmarked against other cities, states, or other countries? And once it's high enough (i.e. crime rate in Mainstreet USA reaches Venezuela's crime rate), what course of action should be taken? Are voters allowed to act on it then, and what should their action be in your view?

p.s. Americans can overestimate minority population sizes for any number of reasons besides news media, including over-representation in fictional media, as is the case with African Americans.

neutron1 t1_itgnch9 wrote on October 23, 2022 at 2:43 PM

I would love for you to consider why you think traffic accidents are not controllable or worth considering, but violence is controllable and worth considering.

You already know, I hope, that it's much more risky to your life to drive in a car than take the subway. You could consider all sorts of regulations or laws that could make driving more safe, but you only want to focus on random violent crime which is more rare and less deadly.

And motor vehicle deaths are low compared to all sorts of diseases and conditions.

nycdataviz t1_itgo1y2 wrote on October 23, 2022 at 2:48 PM

>I would love for you to consider why you think traffic accidents are not controllable or worth considering, but violence is controllable and worth considering.

I never claimed either of those things. Re-read my post, you've overlooked my central points.

NetQuarterLatte t1_itgmozp wrote on October 23, 2022 at 2:38 PM

Republicans had no chance in hell to win NY. They were not even seriously trying, otherwise they would not nominate Zeldin.

To say that they were pushing crimes news to win votes is backwards. This is not a media feat.

It’s an incompetence feat by our NY state politicians ever since we acquired a super-majority control.

Crimes have been an increasing issue, and now the republicans are capitalizing on it. Can’t blame them for that.

It was obvious for everyone to see once Adams was elected that people care about safety.

But our fake-progressives have been trying to ignore the reality. Trying to blame the media is just another form of trying to avoid the reality.

On car deaths, NYC had fewer than 200 this year so far. Murders were twice as much.

But people in NYC are not worried about dying in a car accident nor being murdered. There’s a lot more violence than doesn’t involve someone dying.