Paul: I read somewhere that last fall 56 percent of Americans said that crime is an extremely or very serious problem in the United States. But only 14 percent said that it was very serious where they live. What’s going on here?
David: I think this is the media impact versus personal experience. We hear about crime everywhere else. But in our own villages, towns, or cities we feel safe, at least relatively safe, compared to other places we read about.
Paul: I’m not sure about all this. Do we in fact hear about crime everywhere? Except for one or two exceptionally terrible crime stories that are blasted by the national media for days, I don’t think that we do hear about crime everywhere else as a fact. True, the sensationalist press is full of it. But who reads the NY Post outside of NY City? I, for one, can’t remember reading about a murder in NY City or Chicago or LA or Miami for years. Boston, yes; but that’s where I live.
David: Yes, you’re right that we don’t hear about the contents of the local police “blotters” from around the country. But do recall that since the 60’s Republicans have made crime an issue that has served them well. On the other hand, here in Minneapolis car-jackings continue to be a major issue. Yet our self-described very liberal City Council majority wanted to defund the police. This could turn me into an independent voter who’s very unhappy with both Dems and Republicans.
But the bottom line is clear: Republicans have used fear-based politics to great advantage. Fear of crime, fear of socialism/communism, fear of BIG government, fear of immigrants, etc. Fear brings out voters, even if the fear is based on falsehoods. This will only get worse in the near future in my opinion, thanks to social media.
Paul: More and more I keep thinking that the idea that there’s rampant crime in big cities is an item in the Republican playbook and even more an item of ideological belief on the part of many conservatives: like big government is bad — big cities are full of crime, because by definition that’s what big cities are for many Republicans. That’s surely what lots of TV dramas tell us. Big cities are one big crime drama. That belief, it appears to me, precedes the statistics, whatever they might be.
And, by the way, if you’re going to rob somebody, wouldn’t you think first about finding a crowded city street, so that you can disappear into the crowd — rather than finding an isolated farmhouse in South Dakota? Of course there are more robberies in the city, because there are more people there, right? I once was pick-pocketed in a jam-crowded subway station in Rome. I don’t have to worry about that kind of thing too much outside the grocery store where I shop in rural Maine.
Then this, finally: is attacking so-called crime-infested cities a way of attacking most of the people who live there, who just happen to be Democrats? Which leads me to wonder whether I really do have a gift for stating the obvious.
David: Could be. But think of it this way. Lots of people on my city street, who mostly are Democrats, have had their catalytic converters stolen over the years. What a boost for the scrap metal market! We Democrats can’t be all bad, right? Think how we’re contributing to the economy.
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*Paul Santmire, Watertown, MA; David Gagne, Minneapolis, MN; originally communicated via email.
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