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

Reply to comment by neutron1 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.

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.