Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Crime, fear of
By trade I am an indexer. I work primarily on sociology/criminology texts. It's boring most of the time--like having a professor who teaches straight out of the book and so you have to read the whole thing.
But sometimes it's interesting too. In the nearly six years that I've been doing it, I have watched the trends in thinking, and the changes in society.
There's one theme that keeps hitting me lately...
Fear of crime.
The truth is that most of us, many of us, especially the suburban, white, middle-upper class will never be a victim of a "street crime." Our children will never be abducted, and our daughters never raped by a stranger they spoke to on the playground. And in fact, crime in general has been dropping steadily for years. That's a fact. The cause of the "crime drop" can be debated, but crime is dropping, while fear is rising.
I know why, too. We're addicted to fear. We're addicted to the stories of abduction and serial killing all over the news. Sure, it could happen, but the odds are microscopic, a little bit better than winning the powerball, but still... The truth is that the grand majority of victims know their attackers. They are the husbands, wives, parents, friends, overly solicitous uncles that hurt us. They are not strangers to us.
A lot of people will disagree with me, but I refuse to tell my children not to talk to strangers. It's true that I am always with them, but I can turn my back, I know I can, get busy with the other one just long enough to lose track for a second. But I will not give into my own fear. I tell my four-year-old, do not go anywhere with anyone you don't know. If they say they have something to give you, or they need help, come get Mommy, she'll help them.
I refuse to make them scared of a world, that is less scary than we think. I refuse to breed children who are suspicious of "strangers" who mean them no harm. Am I wrong? I know that I'm not. If they get abducted, or molested by someone who spoke to them on the jungle gym I will feel like shit, but I think the odds are with me.
I refuse to be a part of the local news (and CNN) gen
eration that is afraid of everything from some crazed maniacal genius who lures kids into cars, to mold growing in my basement.
My boys will eat all the Halloween candy they want, as there has never been ONE DOCUMENTED CASE of razor blades in apples. That's right. Someone threatened it, years ago, but never did it.In fact, I think, the more strangers they talk to, the better.
Hatred spurs hatred, mistrust, mistrust. And after all, it takes a freakin' village, right?
But sometimes it's interesting too. In the nearly six years that I've been doing it, I have watched the trends in thinking, and the changes in society.
There's one theme that keeps hitting me lately...
Fear of crime.
The truth is that most of us, many of us, especially the suburban, white, middle-upper class will never be a victim of a "street crime." Our children will never be abducted, and our daughters never raped by a stranger they spoke to on the playground. And in fact, crime in general has been dropping steadily for years. That's a fact. The cause of the "crime drop" can be debated, but crime is dropping, while fear is rising.
I know why, too. We're addicted to fear. We're addicted to the stories of abduction and serial killing all over the news. Sure, it could happen, but the odds are microscopic, a little bit better than winning the powerball, but still... The truth is that the grand majority of victims know their attackers. They are the husbands, wives, parents, friends, overly solicitous uncles that hurt us. They are not strangers to us.
A lot of people will disagree with me, but I refuse to tell my children not to talk to strangers. It's true that I am always with them, but I can turn my back, I know I can, get busy with the other one just long enough to lose track for a second. But I will not give into my own fear. I tell my four-year-old, do not go anywhere with anyone you don't know. If they say they have something to give you, or they need help, come get Mommy, she'll help them.
I refuse to make them scared of a world, that is less scary than we think. I refuse to breed children who are suspicious of "strangers" who mean them no harm. Am I wrong? I know that I'm not. If they get abducted, or molested by someone who spoke to them on the jungle gym I will feel like shit, but I think the odds are with me.
I refuse to be a part of the local news (and CNN) gen
eration that is afraid of everything from some crazed maniacal genius who lures kids into cars, to mold growing in my basement.My boys will eat all the Halloween candy they want, as there has never been ONE DOCUMENTED CASE of razor blades in apples. That's right. Someone threatened it, years ago, but never did it.In fact, I think, the more strangers they talk to, the better.
Hatred spurs hatred, mistrust, mistrust. And after all, it takes a freakin' village, right?
