The continued fall of modern society

[Beer is good]

What a disgrace, I only wish someone was there to beat this guy to death.

VIDEO: Elderly Man Attacked on CTA Platform | NBC Chicago

[toxigal]

What a disgrace, I only wish someone was there to beat this guy to death.

VIDEO: Elderly Man Attacked on CTA Platform | NBC Chicago

Really? This sort of thing has been going on as long as humans have walked the earth. I really don't get the "sky is falling and the world is spinning into destruction" attitude of a lot of people. Good people far outnumber bad, they just don't make the news.

[jdhill]

Really? This sort of thing has been going on as long as humans have walked the earth. I really don't get the "sky is falling and the world is spinning into destruction" attitude of a lot of people. Good people far outnumber bad, they just don't make the news.

As long as good people outnumber bad, I guess all is fine...

[Insoluble]

As long as good people outnumber bad, I guess all is fine...

The crime rate in Chicago is about half of what it was in 1990. There were over 40 thousand aggravated assaults in Chicago in 1990, down to less than 15 thousand now. The Murder rate in Chicago in 1990 was 30 murders per 100k population. Now they're down to under 14. And this is true across the country (including in Philadelphia). Crime and violence are down across the board, but facts like that don't sell newspapers or advertising spots. So people will continue to think the sky is falling.

[Beer is good]

Or the animals are running out of people to kill and beat up because most are in jail now.

[jdhill]

The crime rate in Chicago is about half of what it was in 1990. There were over 40 thousand aggravated assaults in Chicago in 1990, down to less than 15 thousand now. The Murder rate in Chicago in 1990 was 30 murders per 100k population. Now they're down to under 14. And this is true across the country (including in Philadelphia). Crime and violence are down across the board, but facts like that don't sell newspapers or advertising spots. So people will continue to think the sky is falling.

Yeah, there has been a significant drop in most crime categories even nationally since crime spiked in the 1990's largely during the urban drug epidemic. However crime rates are still significantly higher than in 1970-1980, despite (as Beer is Good correctly alluded to) that about one million additional criminals are incarcerated.

Generally people are more frightened by "motiveless" crimes than those that are domestic or drug related, as they can usually insulate themselves from both. If anyone believes that a crowd of healthy young kids having fun seeing if the can knock out an elderly person is something that's always been there is beyond ridiculous.

[torts]

What a disgrace, I only wish someone was there to beat this guy to death.

VIDEO: Elderly Man Attacked on CTA Platform | NBC Chicago

you don't understand. he did it because he's "in the struggle"

[toxigal]

As long as good people outnumber bad, I guess all is fine...

wow, who said that? i certainly didn't.

[Dayman]

wow, who said that? i certainly didn't.

jdhill has never avoided an opportunity to make a strawman.

[jdhill]

wow, who said that? i certainly didn't.

I said it...

you inspired me.

[jdhill]

jdhill has never avoided an opportunity to make a strawman.

When someone gives you eggs, milk, flour, butter, and sugar it's pretty easy to make a cake...

[toxigal]

When someone gives you eggs, milk, flour, butter, and sugar it's pretty easy to make a cake...

but what if the person intended to make cookies?

[jdhill]

but what if the person intended to make cookies?

Then they should have included explicit instructions...

[Insoluble]

Yeah, there has been a significant drop in most crime categories even nationally since crime spiked in the 1990's largely during the urban drug epidemic. However crime rates are still significantly higher than in 1970-1980, despite (as Beer is Good correctly alluded to) that about one million additional criminals are incarcerated.

Both the overall crime rate and the violent crime rate in this country were higher in the 80's then they are now. They were also higher for most of the 70's. The spike really started in the 60's, and we are almost down to 1960's levels. Before the 1950's the crime rate was on a fairly steady downward trend, although the further you go back the harder it becomes to compare things. So no, crimes are not significantly higher than they were in 1970-1980. They are, in fact, lower.

Generally people are more frightened by "motiveless" crimes than those that are domestic or drug related, as they can usually insulate themselves from both.

The probability of being murdered by someone you don't know in Philadelphia is actually less than the probability of being killed in a car accident. It's all a matter of perception. News stories about things like flash mobs and the crime committed above sell, and people overreact and start to think that the sky is falling and that things are getting worse, when on the whole they are getting better.

Yes the incident in the video was terrible. I hope the perpetrators are caught and punished. But if anyone believes that random acts of violence committed for fun is anything new, they should probably study a bit of history before commenting.

ETA: In case you don't believe me, you can actually look up crime statistics fairly easily in case you want to verify any of this.

Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) - All Data Analysis Tools

[LUCas]

But if anyone believes that random acts of violence committed for fun is anything new, they should probably study a bit of history before commenting.

You need to include explicit instructions with that recommendation or I fear revisionist history will be deemed suitable.

[Butters]

[jdhill]

Both the overall crime rate and the violent crime rate in this country were higher in the 80's then they are now. They were also higher for most of the 70's. The spike really started in the 60's, and we are almost down to 1960's levels. Before the 1950's the crime rate was on a fairly steady downward trend, although the further you go back the harder it becomes to compare things. So no, crimes are not significantly higher than they were in 1970-1980. They are, in fact, lower.

I stated that crime rates were significantly lower during the 1970-1980 timeframe, not during the 80's. This however was not entirely correct. Crime rates (aggravated assault specifically) was lower from 1960 through about 1974 but higher from 1975 - 1980. AA was significantly lower during the 1960's (when it ranged from 48 per 100K to 72 per 100K), than it is today (about 82 per 100K)

The probability of being murdered by someone you don't know in Philadelphia is actually less than the probability of being killed in a car accident. It's all a matter of perception. News stories about things like flash mobs and the crime committed above sell, and people overreact and start to think that the sky is falling and that things are getting worse, when on the whole they are getting better.

Yes the incident in the video was terrible. I hope the perpetrators are caught and punished. But if anyone believes that random acts of violence committed for fun is anything new, they should probably study a bit of history before commenting.

The murder rate in Philadelphia is irrelevant. The man wasn't murdered, he was simply assaulted, and assaults against the elderly, the mentally ill and the homeless largely go unreported.

But again, it's surprising to see so many people participate in a reflexive "this is nothing new" type reaction. Does that logic apply when the victim is LGBT? Of course it doesn't... thankfully.

[jdhill]

You need to include explicit instructions with that recommendation or I fear revisionist history will be deemed suitable.

or you could stop authoring statements of tacit acceptance of some levels of violence.

[Insoluble]

But again, it's surprising to see so many people participate in a reflexive "this is nothing new" type reaction. Does that logic apply when the victim is LGBT? Of course it doesn't... thankfully.

The thread is titled "The continued fall of modern society". Peoples reactions were merely to point out that this is false. No one is saying that violent crime is acceptable. But falling into a media induced hysteria does not help in any way. If you want to address the situation you need to be honest about it. You need to acknowledge the facts. In other words, we can either choose to buy in to the O.P.'s theory that things are going downhill, or we can acknowledge the fact that things are actually getting better and try to figure out why. How could we possible learn from what we've been doing right if we deny the fact that we've at least been doing SOMETHING to reduce the rate of violent crime over the years.

or you could stop authoring statements of tacit acceptance of some levels of violence.

Why does acknowledging the fact that overall violence is trending downward the same as acceptance of violence to you? No one on this thread at any point has indicated that what was perpetrated above is in any way okay.

[LUCas]

or you could stop authoring statements of tacit acceptance of some levels of violence.

Don't you need to start doing something before you can stop it?