Is America Safe, Or Not?

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I Shrugged
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Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by I Shrugged » Sun Jan 01, 2017 4:38 pm

I propose that America is one of the safest countries you will find, assuming you are not a member of the wrong culture. I know some of you will laugh at that, but think it through. Because it is basically a choice. Yes, money plays a role for sure. But no matter your money situation, you can live somewhere in the mainstream of America, which is very safe, IMO.

When I meet foreign visitors, they always wonder how we cope with "all the crime". I have never worried about burglaries, petty theft, car theft, let alone violent crimes. I suspect that is true for most Americans. From what I see, it's not that way in most other countries. At a minimum, there seems to be more non-violent crime elsewhere, and more violent crime, but maybe not murders, in a lot of places.

Is your America safe? How do you feel about it?
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by Mountaineer » Sun Jan 01, 2017 5:21 pm

I Shrugged wrote:I propose that America is one of the safest countries you will find, assuming you are not a member of the wrong culture. I know some of you will laugh at that, but think it through. Because it is basically a choice. Yes, money plays a role for sure. But no matter your money situation, you can live somewhere in the mainstream of America, which is very safe, IMO.

When I meet foreign visitors, they always wonder how we cope with "all the crime". I have never worried about burglaries, petty theft, car theft, let alone violent crimes. I suspect that is true for most Americans. From what I see, it's not that way in most other countries. At a minimum, there seems to be more non-violent crime elsewhere, and more violent crime, but maybe not murders, in a lot of places.

Is your America safe? How do you feel about it?
Psalm 4
1 Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have given me relief when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
2 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?
3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.
4 Be angry, and do not sin;
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.
5 Offer right sacrifices,
and put your trust in the Lord.
6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
7 You have put more joy in my heart
than they have when their grain and wine abound.
8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.


Is America safe? It seems we may be increasingly less so, depending on in whom or in what we place our trust.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by dualstow » Sun Jan 01, 2017 7:33 pm

I Shrugged wrote:Is your America safe? How do you feel about it?
I feel safer in big cities, because even though there is crime, I feel like I'm in the belly of the beast. Know what I mean? It's expected, so there are tons of police, and for those of you who don't like the police, focus on the fact that there are also tons of ambulances and hospitals.

I'm not *completely* street smart, but I have lived in major cities around the world and I know what to avoid for the most part. I have a burglar alarm on all the time.

Finally, I have watchful neighbors on a small street. Many watchful eyes. Sadly, two of my physically closest neighbors are doing a lot of AirBnB, and my favorite ones are moving. So, things are a little less safe than a few years ago in that regard.

I don't think I would feel as safe in a small town, even though I grew up in one. Or in the countryside. That's partly because I look pretty Jewy, and folks are still prejudiced, and partly because I read Stephen King's The Stand. Do you remember what happened to Nick, the deaf character, in the early pages? That's what I think about when I consider living outside of a big city. Unless it's a boring suburb or some remote island.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by dualstow » Sun Jan 01, 2017 8:23 pm

;) I still have hair, but oh what I would do for that thick head of youthful hair...
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by Mountaineer » Mon Jan 02, 2017 7:47 am

Safe? I'm not so sure. One factor that I think may come into play is the increasing numbers of people with an entltlement mindset. By that I mean expecting others to provide for us rather than performing hard work on likely menial tasks to support ourselves. I expect an outgrowth of that mindset is expecting others to protect oneself. For example, at an individual level, the dependence on police vs. arming ones self (look how the culture now denigrates guns compared to 50 years ago). On a larger scale, a military that is staffed by "others" instead of stepping up and volunteering to serve (I think that mindset gathered speed with Vietnam). I typically am an optimist, but on so many levels during my 7 decades, I see an America that still looks strong by external visual measures, but is becoming soft and full of corruption on the inside. I think the outer shell will soon collapse into the internal mushiness. I doubt it will much matter whether one lives in a large city, suburbs, or small towns. Perhaps this is why I value my faith so much - a Jesus that delivers on his promises and gives us freedom; a review of history shows only one thing that can be counted upon during the easy times AND the hard. Regardless of whether one is Jewish or Christian or Hindu or Buddhist or atheist or something else, the Judeo-Christian values that our nation was founded upon have served us well, not perfectly by a long shot, but better than other value systems - and we are busily casting them aside. As Pogo famously said, we have met the enemy and he is us ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogo_(comic_strip) ).

A Roman Catholic friend of mine just sent me an email that contains the link below his intro. The article does present an interesting perspective that the core issue is "What this all means is not 'war with Islam,' – a red herring – but the perpetual struggle against all those, including in our own culture, who threaten the foundations of human freedom and dignity."

The terrorist tragedy began about only 60 minutes into the New Year…. 1/1/2017 in Turkey….more are certain to follow….it’s only a matter of where and when. How will impacted countries react this year? Will the world proact to prevent?
According to recent news…the next wave will probably take place in the Americas…..ISIS and other jihadist movements are creating respective new financial and operating bases there as we speak….with the USA as their primary target.

https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2017/0 ... -the-past/

Happy New Year!
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by ochotona » Sat Jan 07, 2017 11:15 am

We're not safe, because we have about the highest per capita motor vehicle fatality rates among the developed countries. Your risk is not really crime, but traffic.

Also, because our healthcare system sucks, people can get wiped out financially very easily. We have great downward financial mobility in that sense. That's a safety issue, is it not? If you lose your house, you're not safe.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by Mountaineer » Sat Jan 07, 2017 1:54 pm

Interesting chart. I would have guessed the leading cause of death for people <1 would be mother's choice at over 1,000,000 per year in the United States. :'(
DNA has its own language (code), and language requires intelligence. There is no known mechanism by which matter can give birth to information, let alone language. It is unreasonable to believe the world could have happened by chance.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by ochotona » Sat Jan 07, 2017 5:06 pm

I hate getting older
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by rickb » Sun Jan 08, 2017 12:50 am

ochotona wrote:I hate getting older
The alternative isn't that great either.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by curlew » Tue Jan 10, 2017 4:41 pm

dualstow wrote: I don't think I would feel as safe in a small town, even though I grew up in one. Or in the countryside. That's partly because I look pretty Jewy,
I doubt that most people in small towns or the countryside even know what a Jew looks like. I can't tell myself. As long as you don't advertise it I would think it pretty easy to avoid the concentration camps.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by I Shrugged » Tue Jan 10, 2017 6:54 pm

That really made me laugh.

I too grew up in a small town. Jews were not on the radar. I got to college and was making some time with a girl. One of my big city friends comes over and whispers to me, "you know she's a Jew?" I said something like, "um, and?" DS, I think you would be very surprised how not noteworthy your presence would be in small town America. At least in the midwest.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by dualstow » Wed Jan 11, 2017 5:21 am

curlew wrote: people in small towns or the countryside even know what a Jew looks like. I can't tell myself. As long as you don't advertise it I would think it pretty easy to avoid the concentration camps.
Gee thanks.

i shrugged: like I said, I did grow up in a small town. It was uneventful for the most part.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by dualstow » Wed Jan 11, 2017 2:37 pm

And just so you know, curlew (now that I'm on a full keyboard), there's rarely a good reason to casually invoke death camps. Certainly not because of some imagined slight against small towns when the original speaker grew up in one, thank you very much. That's the kind of ignorance that proves my point. If an African-American from the north comes along and says he wouldn't feel comfortable in say, Tennessee, then pointing out the cosmopolitan demographic makeup in Nashville or the stats in Memphis would be ok. Saying, "You're probably safe from the slavers" would not be ok. Dumbshit.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by curlew » Wed Jan 11, 2017 4:14 pm

dualstow wrote:And just so you know, curlew (now that I'm on a full keyboard), there's rarely a good reason to casually invoke death camps. Certainly not because of some imagined slight against small towns when the original speaker grew up in one, thank you very much. That's the kind of ignorance that proves my point. If an African-American from the north comes along and says he wouldn't feel comfortable in say, Tennessee, then pointing out the cosmopolitan demographic makeup in Nashville or the stats in Memphis would be ok. Saying, "You're probably safe from the slavers" would not be ok. Dumbshit.
Ok. Thanks. I'll make a note of that in my PC notebook.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by ochotona » Thu Jan 12, 2017 5:33 am

So is politeness now derided as PC in America?
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by WiseOne » Thu Jan 12, 2017 7:20 am

Reub was banned for no worse than this. Where are the moderators?

Not advocating a ban but this is not about PC, this is about an extremely offensive statement to a frequent contributor to this forum. An apology is called for.

The forum has just started to evaporate in the past week or so. I hope this is only temporary.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by curlew » Thu Jan 12, 2017 10:20 am

WiseOne wrote:Reub was banned for no worse than this. Where are the moderators?

Not advocating a ban but this is not about PC, this is about an extremely offensive statement to a frequent contributor to this forum. An apology is called for.

The forum has just started to evaporate in the past week or so. I hope this is only temporary.
No need for a ban as I promise this will be my last post. Having offended Christians and Jews alike I realize I have overstayed my welcome (probably Muslims too but I don't think there any of them here to complain).

For the record, I thought the suggestion that it wasn't safe for a Jew to live in a small town or the countryside in America was ridiculous and I see no need to apologize for it. I put the idea alongside the suggestion I heard recently by someone in the National Parks Service that black people don't visit the national parks because the trees make them think of lynching. It was made by a black person so I guess it was okay. Suggesting that maybe we should plant watermelon patches alongside the trees would obviously not be.

Now if it had been suggested that it might be unsafe for a Jew to live in an all black neighborhood in a big city because he might be mistaken for a white person, that might have been more credible.

And with that thought I bid you all a fond farewell.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by I Shrugged » Thu Jan 12, 2017 10:44 am

What in the wide wide world of sports is going on here?

Obviously I have missed or not retained past posting history between people here. I didn't realize that Curlew was such a bad guy. I recall there was someone who was very outspoken against religion. Must have been him. There were posts that made me cringe, but I managed to let it slide.

But to get all worked up about a joke, jeez. I mean, it was funny! I'll admit my sense of humor is more wicked than some people.

Then again, nothing's funny if you don't want it to be, if you insist on being literal. All humor is based on discomfort of some type. Reub's final strike was the same way. Our whole society is now full of special snowflakes. Holy crap.

You all need to lighten up. If someone really bothers you, put him or her on ignore. I have someone on ignore here. It works fine. There are a bunch of smart, insightful, witty people here, and reading all your thoughts is a big attraction to me. I suspect that is true for most others. But at the same time, realize that you can't hang with that kind of group if you expect to not be exposed to thoughts that are outside of your comfort zone. There is always Bogleheads.

Wow. Just wow.

I will say that every forum that has a folder for politics and religion always ends up with this sort of problem. Oh well.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by dragoncar » Thu Jan 12, 2017 2:22 pm

I think the comment is forgivable if not intended to be be offensive, but the correct response is to apologize not rage quit and imply that the offended party is wrong.

I say this because it didn't initially strike me as offensive either, but dualstow made it extremely clear with his analogy.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by I Shrugged » Thu Jan 12, 2017 3:07 pm

But Dualstow joked, or so it appeared, about looking "too Jewy" to be safe in a small town. It's only natural for someone with a sense of humor to respond to a joke with a joke.

There is obviously something more to the situation than what was written in this thread. Whatever.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by dualstow » Thu Jan 12, 2017 7:31 pm

Back from a trip. Just a quick reply, before this all gets too bizarre.
Sometimes the line between humor and offense is closeness between listener and speaker. And sometimes distance is created by the written word on a forum.

I've got friends who can do ethnic humor all day long and I'll give it right back, because we know each other. And, if you go to see a comedian like Bill Burr or Jimmy Carr, you go in preparing to be insulted. If you can't laugh at yourself, you don't go to see either of those guys.

Since I spent some of the last two weeks reading articles about the overshoot of the politically correct, you may think it's strange that I was on the offended side. It's sad that Chris Rock won't play colleges anymore, and even Seinfeld who works clean said that kids "can't take a joke" anymore. But I get it. They're right!

## KEY PARAGRAPH HERE ##
I haven't read curlew's later post, but what bothered me about the initial one is that I felt he was trying to put me in my place or to admonish me for being overly sensitive Maybe I'm wrong, but that was my perception of his perception. So, it's not that I run through life covering my ears at any mention of the Holocaust (nor rubbing it in other people's faces as some kind of macabre badge of honor). I suppose you have to walk in someone's shoes to really understand.

I spent my entire childhood and young adulthood in a small town where I was treated very well by classmates. I won't pretend that the few racial incidents that did come up would be enough to make someone consider fleeing to another place. They mostly just kept me up dwelling on them on occasional nights. When they happened to someone other than me, same deal. And there were more positive things associated with being different than bad. Best days: passed for Italian!

I'm sorry if this is too long, but maybe being too concise in my first post in this thread is part of what got me into trouble in the first place. It was the latter part, the Stephen King/the Stand reference that had me thinking about violence (and with zero racial dimension). No streetlights, small police force (or just a sheriff and some deputies), good ol' boys in both the north and the south, east and west, who feel they can get away with whatever they choose.

The Jewish thing is something that has more to do with today's world, like what's going on in Malmo, Sweden, than it did in the relatively innocent 70's and 80's. And even now, I think bad events in my hometown would be few and far between. Sorry, I don't need I-Shrugged to tell me that.

It's just how I feel. More comfortable in the city. That was my answer to the OP's question. And wasn't joking. People are more attuned to what passes as a tasteful joke, or even the right time and place to tell a tasteless one! No, not super-sensitive PC types who need a so-called safe space. Just people who have lived with many other kinds of people and know what's up.

I can't say I'm that surprised that some of the reactions here were it's funny so what's the problem. I hope I shed a little light on it, because I kind of feel like I'm in a very alien tavern right now where any kind of explanation is going to be met with, at best, blank stares and at worst, blame on top of insult. I'm not upset as I write this, just confused. Confused that others are confused.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by dualstow » Thu Jan 12, 2017 9:19 pm

I read curlew's replies.
the suggestion I heard recently by someone in the National Parks Service that black people don't visit the national parks because the trees make them think of lynching. It was made by a black person so I guess it was okay.
I guess so, too. That's just one of the rules. I don't make them up, but I recognize them. Chris Rock has a joke about hiding money in books that I would never tell as my own.

Howard Stern was once describing hanging out with his wife and a handsome male celebrity. "She looked (beautiful) (Barbie reference), he looked like a Ken doll, and I look like Ken's moneylender." See? That's funny. O0 But I wouldn't find it very funny if Pat Buchanan said it.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by Xan » Thu Jan 12, 2017 11:05 pm

dualstow wrote:I can't say I'm that surprised that some of the reactions here were it's funny so what's the problem. I hope I shed a little light on it, because I kind of feel like I'm in a very alien tavern right now where any kind of explanation is going to be met with, at best, blank stares and at worst, blame on top of insult. I'm not upset as I write this, just confused. Confused that others are confused.
For what it's worth, I think there's some middle ground here. I don't think the original remark was in good taste, but I also don't think it was meant as a personal attack, nor do I think it's worthy of a ban (even a self-imposed one). But I also don't think you're wrong for disliking it and calling it out.

MediumTex says this shouldn't be a place that raises your blood pressure. Let's not take each other so seriously!
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by dualstow » Fri Jan 13, 2017 6:24 am

Yeah, I mean a ban should probably be the result of repeated problems, and this does look like a one-time misunderstanding. Maybe curlew could just put me on ignore and I'll try to recuse myself of this kind if of topic.
Last edited by dualstow on Fri Jan 13, 2017 8:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Post by WiseOne » Fri Jan 13, 2017 8:09 am

I didn't register curlew's comment as a joke, which is a risk of typing something into an online forum. You're skimming or jumping through conversations and maybe not catching all the nuances. Still, even rereading the post with that in mind, it remained cringe-worthy to me even though I thought I was relatively immune to the "PC" issues. I guess I'm not.

There's also the factor of living in a large East Coast city, as opposed to a small town, and working at a large university with many international faculty & students where the "melting pot" is real. When there is a shared culture, these racial/ethnic issues just don't come up, and I've gotten used to that. In my laboratory currently there is a Mormon, a UK citizen, a Taiwanese student, a black resident, a Canadian, and a resident who (now that I think about it) is probably Jewish. The shared culture is key here...the problem, to me, are groups who don't want to join our culture, but want to create their own subculture (including language) and then require us to adapt to it and even offer special privileges. It's "PC" to go along with this unstable arrangement - at great cost and inconvenience to the rest of us, and at the price of blocking these groups from most of the American opportunities they could otherwise participate in.

Somehow I'm walking this tightrope between the "dark side" of PC (above), and the good side, where you try to be just a bit sensitive to people who have a different heritage.
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