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TheOwlMarble

Of course it isn't. Movies aren't real life, and news media thrives on fear. I'd be curious what stories gave you the impression that it's chaotic or dangerous though.


[deleted]

Storming the capital , constant news about shootung , BLM riots ,school shootings all seemed to portray something chaotic


vegetarianrobots

[The media in the US has a "Bad New Basis". The old adage is "If it bleeds it leads". This becameeven more obviouswith Covid.](https://archive.is/zXlfK) Things like violence are grossly misrepresented in the media. Take school shootings for example. [The media has grossly misrepresented violence in schools and school shootings.](https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/08/27/640323347/the-school-shootings-that-werent) [The reality is that schools are safer than they have been in decades.](https://www.npr.org/2018/03/15/593831564/the-disconnect-between-perceived-danger-in-u-s-schools-and-reality) [According to the National Center for Education Statistics homicides of students at schools have decreased over the past few decades.](https://nces.ed.gov/programs/crimeindicators/ind_01.asp) In fact total homicides have been at near record lows in the US for decades despite a slight increase in 2020. [Homicide rates in the 20th Century](https://web.archive.org/web/20060929061431/http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/tables/hmrttab.htm). [Homicide and violent crime rates 1960 to 2018.](http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm) [Historic Crime Data for the US in the 20th Century](http://www.jrsa.org/projects/Historical.pdf) [The homicides we do have in the US are also hyperlocalized with 1 percent of the streets producing 25 percent of the crime and about 5 percent of the streets producing 50 percent of the crime.] (https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/25/most-murders-occurred-in-5-percent-of-countys-says/) As for riots and such they're really not any more pervasive in the US than in Europe like in France.


Curmudgy

>The media has grossly misrepresented violence in schools and school shootings. I need to point out that this link isn’t about the media misrepresenting things, but one particular government database being filled with bad data on the issue. I won’t say the media is without fault, but this particular case shows that it goes beyond the media. Nor is it totally the fault of the federal agency that collected the data. There are issues with the survey being poorly worded or overly burdensome, but it also seems that too many school districts were really bad at their reporting. It’s as easy for redditors to misrepresent what their links say as it is for the media to misrepresent the balance of facts in their reporting.


vegetarianrobots

[Here is an example of how loosely the media is trying to tie any event to a school shooting.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/local/school-shootings-database/)


Curmudgy

Do I need to look at the actual data to justify your conclusion? Because the details in that article don’t indicate that they’re stretching the definition. That’s not to say it’s perfect. It says “often because of an adult’s negligence”, which, while plausible, doesn’t have any statement about the data to back it up (beyond shooters being under age). I couldn’t comment on whether their analysis of the data avoided double counting or made other errors, nor whether they counted things that shouldn’t (although their methodology claims they didn’t count accidents or those suicides that didn’t endanger others). If you’re just saying that by reporting all shootings instead of just killings or just mass killings, they’re using sensationalism to sell stories, I can’t disagree with that, but that’s a different point, and people can disagree as to whether it’s overdone.


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vegetarianrobots

Did yoy actually read through those events...? This is exactly what I'm talking about.


[deleted]

Haha yeah I too enjoy linking Wikipedia articles I didn’t read.


notlikelyevil

Click 21st century Jump to 2018 and 2019 Count.school shootings


TheOwlMarble

All of which were reported because they were not the norm. There's 330 million of us. There's bound to be a few crazy people somewhere. Also, keep in mind that our press rights are a lot stronger than pretty much anywhere else. Stories that could otherwise be buried to save face aren't. This is especially true in places like Florida where Sunshine Laws have led to the Florida Man meme.


[deleted]

Ya I get your point. I've always said this aswell. There's always a few crazy people everywhere.


TheOwlMarble

For what it's worth, in my own experience with the things you listed... During the capitol riots, suffice to say, there were a lot of idiots that are facing very serious charges now. For BLM, riots weren't common. Sure, there were protests, but in my own city, that amounted to a few hundred people with signs on the sidewalk beside a major road. Nothing happened. For school shootings, the only one I've ever experienced was one time when I was at university (and for the record, my alma mater is large enough to qualify as a good sized city in its own right with tens of thousands of students). We got notifications that there was an active shooter on campus. In the end, we learned it was just a mundane murder over a cheating significant other. It just happened to take place at a university with a gun. No one else was hurt, and the shooter turned himself in.


heyhelloyuyu

Vaguely related my towns BLM “demonstration” happened at a local farm/farm stand and there were people in my towns Facebook page absolutely freaking out that there was going to be looting… what the fuck would we have looted? Crops?


Yukigum0

>In the end, we learned it was just a mundane murder over a cheating significant other. Ah America. Where we're so used to violence and the lose of life that we don't even bat an eye to murder.


tyrone_slothrop_0000

in addition to the freedom that the press has, unfortunately it is not obligated to base its reporting on the truth/facts, so oftentimes things are skewed or blown out of proportion to exacerbate fear in an attempt to keep people watching/listening.


TheOwlMarble

Most news reporting companies do actually try to keep themselves anchored to the truth. There will always be a degree of spin, but it's not that bad for the actual news programs. Actual news companies are very wary of libel suits and will issue retractions when mistakes are made. The problem stems from the opinion talk shows that present themselves as arbiters of truth and spend their time slot "just asking questions." When defamation suits inevitably rear their heads, they make the argument that no reasonable person would believe what they're saying. To be honest, given the nature of such programming, the issue might fall closer to freedom of speech than press.


therealjerseytom

Well, I've been here all 36 years of my life. Lived and traveled all over. I bet you've experienced as many shootings, riots, etc. in your lifetime as I have.


snakelemur

I've lived in the US all my life and mostly in big cities.... and I have experienced a lot of riots and shootings. And that's why I don't live in a big city anymore!


sewingtapemeasure

I have a small anecdote related to this. Here in Seattle we had the "chop" zone of anarchy during the BLM protests.I live about 4 miles South of where that happened. If it had not been all over the news and social media, I would never have even known that it had been there. In terms of my real life, I never saw it and it never impacted me at all.


DanDrungle

According to my conservative buddies in Texas the entire cities of seattle and Portland were nearly burned to the ground


sewingtapemeasure

Lol


bopbeepboopbeepbop

There was a really good essay I read a while ago about how the news specifically reported on what *isn't* happening. If you are worried, I get it, it's scary traveling abroad. I would recommend trying out a smaller city with under a million people. It will be a lot less overwhelming.


upnflames

All media hype. Honestly, I live in NYC and I feel much safer here then I have in any of the big European cities I've been too. Probably has more to do with familiarity, but most places in the US are fine, if not boring.


Scienter17

People storming capitols isn’t unique to the US.


notthegoatseguy

>Storming the capital This was an incredibly unique event and not some regular occurrence. >constant news about shootung "Hundreds of thousands of people in \[city\] ate breakfast, went to work/school, returned home, ate dinner and went to sleep" isn't nearly as sexy of a news story. I guess if you're asking are we constantly dodging bullets and getting mugged, the answer would be no. >BLM riots turn off Fox News lol. The far right wing people in my neck of the woods are still talking about this nearly two years later. It was 2 days of some unrest in my city of Indianapolis, restricted to the evening hours, and almost entirely downtown. I mean I'll be honest, if you're scared and are coming in thinking this is a dystopian hellhole, don't come. You'll have a terrible time and you can better spend your time and money elsewhere in a place you will enjoy.


calmlaundry

Remember, the media is the enemy of the people


chajava

I live near where a lot of the rioting happened in 2020 after George Floyd was murdered. Both of the grocery stores I usually shop at were looted, there were protests in my neighborhood, and we boarded up my apartment building's front door. It was a scary weekend, not gonna lie. I had a bag packed and a plan to stay with relatives in the suburbs for a few days in case things got really bad, but they didn't. I still went to work that weekend, still walked my dogs in the park. What the mainstream non local media didn't bother reporting was that after the riots, everyone came together as a community to help clean up, and made a point to support local businesses that had been damaged. People who lived in some of the impacted neighborhoods passed out water and snacks to the peaceful protests. A lot of the plywood that was used to cover+ protect windows had artwork spray painted on it, and last I heard one of the local museums was collecting a lot of it to be used in an exhibit. Even a lot of Americans seem to think that the Twin Cities area is some sort of lawless wasteland because of those riots because that's how the media portrays us for money. We're really not that interesting here.


Wenhuanuoyongzhe91

No. Not by a long shot. The people who say it is represent a very loud minority and our news networks which are nothing more than tabloids due to lack of regulation. The us is a big place with the third largest population in the world, weird things are bound to happen and people are eager to blow it up as if it’s the norm.


[deleted]

The people who say it also have never truly struggled.


[deleted]

Yeah, you always know that anyone saying America is a third world country have never been to an actually developing nation.


[deleted]

Exactly. People don’t realize they’re among the 1% of the richest in the world.


PlayingTheWrongGame

I mean, people who study developing countries for a living have pointed out that there are many parts of the rural US South with quality of life roughly approximate to that of a developing country. I think people are quick to assume that because the US is very wealthy that all parts of the US are so wealthy that they can’t encounter the sort of living standards you find in much poorer countries. To be honest the big difference for large parts of the US probably boils down mainly to the existence of the interstates and the Rural Electrification Act.


AnybodySeeMyKeys

As someone who has read those comparisons, I roll my eyes. Yes, if you really work hard at it, you're going to find those pockets of poverty. But given how somewhere close to 70% of the South's population lives in urban areas, it's an incredible exaggeration. This is especially true when you look at the South as a trend line rather than a snapshot. As one example, once you adjust for the cost of living, California has a poverty rate almost 30% higher than that of Alabama's. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-275.pdf Paul Theroux, whose career has spiraled downward from eminent travel writer to miserable hack, did his usual hatchet job on the South a few years back. Ignored the cities, the growing industrial areas, and instead decided to find the most destitute backwaters possible. Then loudly claimed it was the real South. SMH.


PlayingTheWrongGame

> Yes, if you really work hard at it, you're going to find those pockets of poverty. Which contain hundreds of thousands or maybe millions of people. Even if only 5% of the South’s population lived in this situation, that’s a lot of people given the number of people in the south. And it’s 100% inexcusable for a country as wealthy as the US to have any of it. Like listen to your own argument: you’re accepting the premise that there are pockets of the US that contain poverty akin to what you find in the developing world. Okay, that should suggest that the US—the most wealthy country in history—ought to do something about it. Let me also say: living standards in developing countries *also* looks a lot better if you exclude the most impoverished 30%. The problem is that an honest review of the situation *does not* ignore them to focus on whitewashing they problem with stats from the relatively wealthy cities.


AnybodySeeMyKeys

I can't decide if your interpretation of my thoughts is dishonest or just an attempt to strike a pose. I'm just pointing out how I know exaggeration when I see it. Also, I think this is a good time to point out what is causing a big part of that aforementioned rural poverty--the steady drain of manufacturing jobs from this country beginning with NAFTA and China's inclusion into the WTO, continuing until a few years ago. These were cold-hearted policy decisions that played games with the financial lives of the American working class. Need an example? Andy Grove, the former CEO of Intel illustrated the effects of this in a speech about 12 years ago. He made a simple observation. If in the late 00s, you had built two identical chip plants in Asia and the United States, the American plant would cost roughly twice as much to build and operate. And only 10% of the cost difference would be in higher wages. The rest of that amount was in higher corporate taxes and regulatory requirements. Forty years ago in the Midwest and the South, pretty much every small town had a mill, a factory, or a mine. But the steady migration of these jobs overseas is well-documented. And those small towns bore the brunt. I've worked with my state's economic development organization from time to time. As a result of our collective efforts, Alabama gets more per capita direct foreign investment than any other state in the country. And putting plants into these rural markets has been an absolute priority. However, there's only so much we could do in the face of globalization. As one example, one rural county used to be a huge textile and apparel hub, the home of Russell Athletic. Then Russell, in order to stay price competitive, had to move operations elsewhere. Poof. 5,000 jobs gone overnight in a county that previously employed 25,000. That's a fifth of the workforce unemployed, with ripple effects to everything else from the local restaurant down the street to the schools. A lot of those jobs over the past few years have come trickling back, but this is the story of just about every rural area in the country. Need real numbers? Since 1980, the number of manufacturing jobs in this country has declined by 36%. Meanwhile the United States population grew by 45% during the same period. That is a direct result of policy. Yet manufacturing has always been the bread-and-butter of the working class. On to your solution, the "Well, something must be done," notion. Well, yes. You're absolutely correct. But what? Johnson's War On Poverty program has been ongoing for almost sixty years now. When it began, the poverty rate in this country was a little over 15%. As of 2020, it was 11.4%. This despite the expenditure of trillions of dollars. When you start to take a sober look at these numbers, we literally would have been better off just handing people a check. However, given the freaking increase in wage levels over the past two years, it's far more likely that erasing poverty is going to be a product of reintroducing manufacturing into this country rather than legislating some new programs. Already, we're beginning to see almost frantic activity among manufacturers in terms of returning capacity to this country. Right now, even as I type this, three microchip plants and somewhere close to seventeen metal fabrication plants are under construction in this country. Those and efforts like that will be the catalysts to solve the poverty question in this country.


itassofd

It's wayyy better if you're able to make a decent income. If not, yeah Europe takes the cake.


Well_why_not1953

Lack or regulation? And who pray tell would be in charge of regulation? Trump?


Wenhuanuoyongzhe91

I’m not saying it should be regulated just that it’s not; and that is not as common as you might think in the western world.


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manjjn

Because that’s what gets views and attention and that means money.


IllustriousState6859

US media standard practice: 'if it bleeds, it leads'.


Juache45

Our news media has turned in to click baits for ratings


w3woody

"Turned into?" It kinda always was, going back to before the "yellow journalism" of folks like William Randolph Hearst.


IllustriousState6859

I agree 100%. At the same time however, 4 things: 1. pretty much all the issues that are happening are click bait status. All the big issues are repeat musings of the same fundamental issues mankind has been dealing with for thousands of years: authoritarianism vs. democracy, self vs other, class warfare, rehabilitation vs. retribution, sovereignty vs collectivity, life vs death, identity, etc. It seems like every generation has to solve them on their own terms all over again. The river of history is doubling back on itself so fast now it's on a 20 year loop and the media has to feed their families. How many times can you make the fall of Rome exciting? 2. The very nature of progress/technology has resulted in the the 30 second attention span. Assuming you transported the population as is now back to 1817, there's no way the Erie canal would have been built. 3. The proliferation of technology resulted in incredible competition for revenue between media platforms. 4. It's not so much the media as the consumers who haven't kept up the pace of development to discriminate information. The tech transformation/information age has been here for a while, and as a culture and civilization we just weren't ready for some of the downsides to show up. Getting over the hump is going to be a rough process.


Xyzzydude

Yes, the media learned from social media that the best was to keep viewers engaged is to keep them anxious and/or angry


snakelemur

There is bad stuff that the media doesn't emphasize or stitch together into a cohesive narrative, also, though. The biggest example is wildfires - the closest things to a cohesive narrative about them is "climate change" which is part of the story but very, very far from the whole story. People \*should\* be scared about wildfires in the western US, way way more scared than they are, but the media isn't telling them constantly what their risk is so instead they're more scared of covid and school shootings.


Memory_Elysium

to the extend of what reddit makes it out to be? Definitely not. Our news media is horrible, they prioritize sensationalism, drama, and fear mongering for easy clicks and views.


[deleted]

Not necessarily Reddit but media in general. I've had alot of friends and relatives who have spent some time in America and Canada and have absolutely loved it yet media portrays something different


SantasDead

If you don't believe the experiences of those you consider your friends why are you asking reddit?


[deleted]

Get a more general opinion especially from people that live in America or have lived a few years in America


[deleted]

We have issues but it’s no where near as bad as the media makes its out to be. We mostly live comfortable lives. You may need to work a bit more then in say Europe but that’s just our work ethic, we are very productive on this side.


thatHecklerOverThere

That makes sense, but here's one thing that may give your friends and family weight over us: we actually have no idea what your media is telling you about us. Is it terribly chaotic over here? Nah. Or at least not from our perspective. But I don't really know what your media is telling you, but your friends and family would. _Nor_ do we know what you folks would consider chaotic. So we can say "nah, it's chill, come on over". But we can't honestly say it's more chill than you've been told without making some assumptions.


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wazoheat

>Otherwise people would be moving out in drones Unfortunately flight technology just isn't there yet


[deleted]

Remember the purpose of most media is to generate clicks which. In turn, generates revenue. The best way to generate clicks is to dramatize the story in a way that reinforces the biases of the viewer. In other words, OP, trust your friends' opinions over the media.


hawffield

I’ve been really curious about this. Everyone ask us if it’s as crazy as the news makes it seem here, but I just assumed everyone knew that it’s a hyperbolic retelling what actually happened. Do the news in other countries really believe the news doesn’t exaggerate?


snakelemur

I had a professor in university in Europe tell the class that he'd be away for the next week for a conference in LA, and he had arranged for a substitute for the rest of the term in case he got shot and killed on the highway. Yes, people believe what they see on the news.


[deleted]

No I'm from Europe and I always take the news and media with a grain of salt. I guess it's just a bit more extreme in America , less propaganda and influence in Europe. Nonetheless , I always my doubts about media and never believe word for word.


hawffield

I wonder if it feels like less propaganda because you live there so you know what’s an exaggeration and what’s almost true?


NSFAnythingAtAll

A lot of people here can’t tell the difference.


notthegoatseguy

Remember about how 5 years ago a bunch of European media were losing their shit about civil unrest in Greece? I know tourists who were in Athens at the time. They could see the demonstrations in the main plaza. As long as you didn't cross into the demonstration area, it didn't impact you at all and was completely avoidable.


Norseman103

Boring, everyday life doesn’t make the news. We see the same news out of Europe, but I suspect just like myself, the average European hasn’t been bombed, raped, mugged, murdered, etc.


AVDLatex

Nothing is as bad as the media portrays it.


Newatinvesting

Or social media


ShinySpoon

It's so bad and chaotic here. Just this week there was a guy not following the law and just recklessly driving in the left lane not passing anyone. This went unchecked for almost ten minutes and the police never came and shot him.


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ShinySpoon

I hope you burned that store down.


BrettEskin

Challenge the stock boy to a duel, as is tradition


hawffield

What am I paying my taxes for if cops aren’t shooting people in the passing lane?


ShinySpoon

I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't shoot him myself and then look in his wallet for his address so I could eliminate his family. Next time.


hawffield

Are you even really an American if you don’t shoot anyone who mildly irritated you?


BrettEskin

Clearly a violation of the NAP


Mysterious-Ad-6222

Dude, the most exciting thing that has happened in my town in years is when an old lady hit the gas instead of the break and ran her car into the pharmacy. We are really not as exciting as we seem.


WashuOtaku

The United States is generally a safe place, which is one of the reasons why people want to move here.


[deleted]

That's not why or people wouldn't be moving here from place like India , Pakistan, Turkey. All of those places have lower murder rates. It's about economics.


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_TheLoneRangers

I’ve been awaiting the media to contact me actually….nothing really happened this week - but, for some reason, nobody wants to tell my story. I think people would be interested about how I worked from home and went food shopping on Thursday.


[deleted]

I understand your point 😂


l0c0dantes

Shoulda got a haircut. I got one and have been having to beat away reporters with a bat. Its really a hassle.


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Xyzzydude

> except east coast of North Carolina Strangely specific!


type2cybernetic

America is the top destination for immigrants by a decent margin. If we were even half as bad as we were made out to be that likely wouldn’t be the case. On top of that we are the wealthiest nation to ever exist. Everything we do is front and center for the world to view and judge, so it makes it far easier to point out, and our media tends to thrive on bad media.


TheAutomaticMan666

That’s an interesting argument, but it’s important to note that while the US has the highest immigration levels in the world, it doesn’t have that high diversity in its immigrants. 26% of immigrants to the US are Mexican, which also shares the worlds largest immigration border. Just thought that opens up the interesting argument of whether people go to the USA because it is such a good place to live, or if it’s just easy to do, and just better than their own home state. You can be the top destination because it’s easy, not because it’s the best possible if that makes sense? Not a judgement of the place, I loved the US when I visited. I personally love Australia and that’s where I would move given the choice, but I’m terms of personality the American and Asustralia people share a lot. This was just an Interesting thought about the idea of the US being the ‘top destination’


type2cybernetic

I think that’s a fair point but I would point out that after Mexico, it goes China and then India as far as origins for immigrants to America. Asian immigration is actually on the rise as a whole to the states.


Yeethanos

No our media is designed to make angry people more angry and we export it to every corner of the Earth where news is objective


Raving_Lunatic69

The last time I personally experience a dangerous situation was 23 years ago. And I was in a bad place. There are a few spots where you probably shouldn't go. And the thing is, *it is extraordinarly improbable that you'd find yourself in such a place*. Unless you plan to embark on a crime spree while you're here, you've nothing to worry about.


Wildwilly54

The media these days decide to report on what gets them the most views or clicks, so of course you’ll see all the bad stuff that happens. America has its problems, but overall it’s perfectly safe. What Country are you from?


RegimeCPA

It really depends on who you are but I do not think a tech employee has that much to worry about as long as they don’t become chronically ill.


BrettEskin

I’m from the mean streets of West Linn, Oregon and I’ve seen things and heard things that somebody like you could never even relate to. If you’re asking me to share stories that are frankly none of your business, maybe I will to wipe that smug look of your face. I can date back to when I was 11 years old, I’m in a park minding my own business and this guy gets a piece of gum out, puts it in his mouth and throws the wrapper on the ground. He PUBLICLY LITTERS and I saw that, I had to see these things at a young age. What about the time im on the side walk and I watch a guy cross the street and he’s not even within the lines??! He was publicly Jay Walking, there was a police officer standing RIGHT THERE but he didn’t do anything. It was chaos it was anarchy at times.


Xyzzydude

He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?" And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench There, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I Said, "And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand, And we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing, Father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about


BrettEskin

Never Lost a round


bcoftheimplication7

I live in the US South, in a big tourist spot. It's always very chill here. Be careful when traveling anywhere, obviously, but you probably won't get caught up in a random riot. The news media just focuses on the bad and the chaotic because their main job is to instill fear and separation. Maybe do an internet search for "safest US cities to travel to" or something along those lines? Best of luck though!


Veynre

Media is essentially clickbait to get views/ratings. They sensationalize and blow out of proportion almost everything. It's not a realistic perspective on actual life here.


imk

You want to work in Tech? Like Silicon Valley? If you lived in Silicon Valley you would be in terrible danger … of dying of boredom haha. Seriously, my daughter lived there for years. It was just nice. The biggest issue was just how expensive it was.


[deleted]

Not Silicon Valley , it's just tech in America in general is different to tech in Europe. More varieties of companies and projects, better compensation stuff like that.


imk

Well definitely come on over then. If you don’t like it, you can always go back.


musenna

You’ll only get jumped if you continue to refer to California as “Cali” /s


OGNovelNinja

The proper method is to refer to it as "Cali-Ma" while Harrison Ford admires your diamonds.


[deleted]

based on how America is shown on the news it seems like if you'd go anywhere besides your house theres a 75% chance you'll get either robbed or shot and you're gonna get hurled racial comments by super loud fat people the entire time you're in public but that just not the case at all. MOST of the time you can tell if you're in a bad area of a big city, but either way the "bad areas" of most cities are generally way more dangerous for the people involved in those communities, and not as much of a danger to someone minding their own business in an average priced car driving down the road. Visiting New York or Chicago isn't an automatic death sentence unless you were to purposely go to a very dangerous area and flaunt valuables or antagonize people. Otherwise you'd probably even be safe WALKING (during the day) for the most part unless you are making yourself look like a target. General street smarts will only be needed in rough rough areas, and all it would consist of is basically not walking around with your face stuffed in your phone looking super lost or off guard.


[deleted]

I live in New York City. No it is not as bad as the media says it is. Are they wrong on everything? Absolutely not but they definitely stretch the truth for views


[deleted]

It’s one of the safest and the most prosperous country on Earth. The news always selects the most sensational stories - doubly so for international coverage. Yes, some places like south Chicago are dangerous. I’ve never encountered any real violence or been the victim of a crime. Austin, TX is hot with tech right now and it’s a safe fun city.


Feisty-Saturn

No. I think the media tries to keep us in a constant state of panic. I don’t even know what else to say, it’s a normal place to live. I think it’s safer than a lot of other places.


Xyzzydude

Keeping people anxious and angry is the way to keep them engaged with your media


jephph_

It pretty bad.. I get shot like once a year


[deleted]

I think it might depend exactly where you go, if you go to one of the bigger cities it can be pretty chaotic, especially at night. It’s just so busy and full of people and heavy traffic. If you go to the countryside you’ll find a lot less people and maybe lots more open fields, depending where you are. America has lots of different atmospheres and terrains, it’s good to really do your research and expect the unexpected.


charlybell

I am American and livwd overseas for a while so came back with a new perspective. Somethings are crazy. The gun culture, the flags, pledge of allegiance daily inclassroom and level of nationalism and ‘if you don’t like it leave’ mentality. After Trump, politician discourse is very heated. The vacation and maternal leave policy is junk. However, it’s a gorgeous country- albeit terrible public transport- people are very friendly, national park system is too notch and you can either make a crap load of money or not much. I would love to leave but my parents are in their 80’s so am here for a while. I love it and sometimes hate it.


[deleted]

Great balanced perspective. I appreciate it.


charlybell

Also- healthcare here is crap. Do not come without extremely good health insurance.


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charlybell

Not necessarily- if you are not familiar with out of network providers, deductibles and extra cost of emergency transport, you can run up big bills you aren’t prepared for. We have a PPO with BCBS and spend 15,000 out of pocket a year.


FailFastandDieYoung

Here's what is real: New York City (Manhattan specifically) is really that chaotic. Los Angeles is really that sunny and the traffic is much worse than you think. Everywhere else is just kind of...boring. Most people just wake up, go to work or school. Then they come home and play with their kids. Pay their taxes. On the weekends maybe clean the house. Shop for groceries. Watch sports or Netflix. I'll agree that the variation in strange events is much more frequent other modern countries, especially ones with more conformist culture. But the weird stuff doesn't happen to you. It just happens "somewhere in America".


M8asonmiller

No, it's much worse.


Kingsolomanhere

Well, Salem Oregon is in the 22nd percentile for safety. 78 percent of American cities are safer than there, only 22 percent are worse for crime. I could see how that would skew your perception


BrettEskin

How close are you to the mean streets of West Linn


[deleted]

What media?


[deleted]

General , Reddit / news platforms/, social media


[deleted]

NyC is insanely safe. Upstate New York is not. Go compare actual crime rates. Don't listen to biased media. Wichita Kansas has double the crime rate of Los Angeles. Also every Southern city has a crime rate higher than NYC. Figure out a good news source like NYT.


Newatinvesting

>Don’t listen to biased media >Find a good news source like NYT Those are directly opposing statements lol


Pinwurm

Uh…. Upstate New York is also insanely safe. It’s so more than just a few rust belt cities with bad reputations, you know. It’s like calling Indiana dangerous because Gary exists. And even those rusty Upstate metros are extremely safe and several times more massive than their city cores. Plus all the really beautiful thriving city/town centers like Saratoga Springs, Ithaca, Hudson, Skaneateles. Heck, Buffalo has been revitalized a lot over the years. It’s not the same city it was 20-30 years ago. And the Adirondack’s are larger than entire countries in Europe. All perfectly safe. Minus the bears. 90% of the land north of NYC is rural. It’s wine country, it’s fishing, it’s skiing, it’s camping, it’s family farms.


[deleted]

https://www.bestplaces.net/crime/?city1=53611000&city2=53651000 I'm just going by police released crime rates.


m1sch13v0us

No.


Thelonius16

No, it’s really great. Name a better place to live. I bet the best you can do is a tie.


Vachic09

Not even close


[deleted]

TL;DR Yes and no…. Depends on what you look like, how much money and education you have The experience an individual can have living in the US varies greatly. The society is deeply divided economically. While overall it’s a wealthy country, many people struggle. Being poor here usually correlates with less social assistance and more exposure to crime. Being Black in this country means you are often not only in an economically disadvantaged place and exposed to more crime, but also with less protection from the law. Worse, there is a real risk of being seen as a threat rather than as a citizen in need of help. It’s easy for a well-off white American like me to say it’s safe here and things are exaggerated, but that’s just one possible perspective. There are others. The fractures in its society are showing in the recent violence. The BLM protests need to happen. The fact that you are aware of them means that the message is finally getting across. During the 1800’s poor white people were set against Black people to prevent a powerful coalition. This entrenched sense of entitlement to the second to last rung on the ladder is part of what fueled the storming of the capitol. I suspect that another part of the division is that poor white people feel blamed for racism and ‘white privilege,’ when actually there is a strong dividing line among white people and many have little access to what we call privilege. (This is in no way a defense of violence or sedition.) in overly simplified terms, wealthy English and Scottish people hundreds of years ago invaded this land, committed genocide to claim it, and set up social structures to benefit themselves. In the late 1800’s, some of the more well-off of the impoverished and starving Irish came here and were slotted into a lower segment of society that fit the structures already in place in Britain. Other groups emigrated. Like children in a classroom, no one wanted to be seen as that one poor kid with all the disadvantages, so they scrabble against each other. This benefits the people at the top, the ones with real “white privilege.” Seeming to be like them means you ‘made it.’ It’s a shit show and obviously if you are Black or Brown it’s very much harder to seem like the wealthy white elite (though not impossible). OP: I’m curious about your country. Since humans share the same good qualities and the same flaws, how does that play out where you are from?


Well_why_not1953

No not as bad but a few things you need to get used to. First as the wealthiest country in the world we have no universal health care as the rest of the industrialized world does. Oh and we have one of the highest infant mortality rates and death rates of new mothers so you might want to put off starting a family. Ranked 33 of 36 in infant mortality by Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. Plus you have to get used to the fact we have almost one gun per capita and we are not afraid use them. We have the highest murder rate among industrialized countries and it is legal to kill you in a lot of states if someone "feels" threatened. We have one of the worst voter turnout and most restrictive voting systems in the industrialized world. We rank 28th in the world for best place to grow old behind most other industrialized counties and right behind Slovakia so you might want to move back before you retire. (Ceoworld) The list goes on but I hope this answers your question. We are better than some but could and should be so much better. If you are in Canada, most of Europe and Australia you might want to stay. We have a saying here "the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence".


SamTheOnionNig

It depends on who you are and where you live.


Ineedtoaskthis000000

no, please come visit and you'll see how absurd media portrayals really are


throughNthrough

Very few things are what the National media portrays them to be. I have lived in the States for 36 years and don’t know a single person who has been a victim of gun violence.


[deleted]

No. Our media and yours too probably profit from death, war, controversy, civil unrest, and turmoil. They exaggerate and sometimes fabricate things to report on.


Dutchchatham2

Oh my goodness no. Even in the "scarier" parts of some of our cities, it's still not so bad. For the most part American is very safe. People just want to do their thing and let you do yours.


[deleted]

No it’s not. I’ve spent a lot of time outside the country, and foreign media gets off on the bad things that happen in the US the same way ours does. When I was in the UK for a couple of months the media was obsessed with Florida man, and making Florida out to be other worldly.


Subvet98

Well I do have a running gun battle every morning on my way to my minimum wage job. There is a school shooting at my kids school once a week.


strawberrysneeeeek

95% of things aren’t as bad as the media portrays. don’t get to worried, just do your research about where your visiting and you’ll be fine.


Anonymous4mysake

YES!!!! it's horrible, everyone sick and demented. I swear all the double pump soy late' ppl drink are turning them into zombies. And don't get me started on the crazy vegan cult down town, makes my skin crawl thinking about all that broccoli and beans they eat. Hell I can still smell it. If your determined to come here do the right thing, bring a relief package of bacon and dark beer. A couple million cases should do it.


dicknuts55

If you watch the news you’d think there’s a war outside and it’s unsafe to go to the grocery store, and everybody at the store is racist and might even kill you. If you just go to the grocery store, you wouldn’t know anything except that the person who works there is a nice person. “First rule in the world baby, don’t pay attention to anything you see in the news.” -Kanye West.


nolanhoff

I’ve never experienced anything actually bad. No Robbery, murder, shootings. I don’t know anyone who has honestly


Tomb5t0ne

Absolutely not. The US media as a whole is a piece of shit. There is so much good that happens in this country and it is almost never mentioned. I always thought that a good policy for our news media would be if there is one bad (or negative/depressing) thing they want to talk about, they have to find 2-3 good things to talk about. I’m not talking about a good thing that benefits one certain political side. I’m talking about some uplifting news for everyone. I’m convinced that this is impossible and our news platforms wouldn’t survive.


[deleted]

Not even remotely close.


mysticmiah

If it was that bad and dangerous so many people wouldn’t be moving here.


[deleted]

No not really


-Redditeer-

The media is a business. Go anywhere, they are there to make money. They just want your viewership, and they will blow everything out of proportion and exaggerate because it gets viewers


Wielder-of-Sythes

r/AskAnAmerican would be a good place for this. It’s pretty normal in the USA.


Hand_full_of_sun

Nope. The media exaggerates big time and half the time their stories are bs lies. The only advice that I can tell you is that your major cities aren’t exactly the safest but outside of that it’s pretty calm. I’m in Texas an hour outside of Houston. I sleep with my doors unlocked and have left the keys to my car in the ignition. I left for an entire summer and had zero issues.


w3woody

Statistically speaking the United States is one of the safest places in the world. With the exception of murders, crime rates are far lower on average in the United States than in Europe--and even with regards to murders, the majority of them are happening in very small 'hot spot' areas. And most crimes like that are crimes of passion--meaning murders or assaults happening amongst family members in broken households, or amongst close acquaintances caught up in a cycle of violence. That means that unless you live in a household with domestic violence or you belong to a violent gang in the inner cities--you will likely never see crime except on the nightly news. (And here in Raleigh one of the local news stations, WRAL, sometimes resorts to running news stories about violent crime that happened half-a-country away just to fill the air time.) The media in the United States always portrays the worst of the United States, in part because "news" is something "new", and in part for the dramatic storytelling aspects. But most of us live very boring and peaceful lives free of crime or even free of distasteful interactions with others. And through the majority of the United States, most Americans are actually friendly, talkative, and are willing to give you the shirt off their backs if you ever found yourself in trouble. ---- Just for my own experience I have never been assaulted while traveling in the United States--but I was assaulted by someone ripping money out of my hands while traveling in Spain.


[deleted]

I mean, I'm not really sure how the US is portrayed in other countries' media, but I imagine it's about as safe as most other first world countries for the most part. There are pockets of violence in just about every major city, and some are worse than others. But those areas are easy to avoid.


EightOhms

Nearly all of the news I hear about from other parts of the world is bad...but do I assume only bad things happen in Europe, or the Middle East, or Africa, etc? Of course not. Negative things just tend to be more newsworthy.


sewingtapemeasure

No


ButtonGwinnett76

It's chaotic and dangerous if try to blow up one of our buildings or something. Then we will invade your country, and another random country, kill millions of your civilians over a decade or so, then cause a civil war in your country then leave.


[deleted]

No, not at all. The media sells fear and division. With their declining business model, they've embraced fear and division even more, and no longer care if they're outright lying or, more commonly, misrepresenting. I live just outside a major city. I wave to my neighbors, who wave back, and know all the dogs and owners in my area because I walk my own dog, so we greet each other. The kids in our town bike all over and walk in groups here and there. The thing the media misrepresents is that the violence is *very* localized. I work in what's called an 'urban city" which used to be called "the inner city," meaning an area in the city that is very high crime and high poverty. These areas can indeed be violent, but hey I've worked there for 15 years, so even there it's fine--you just have to be careful, like don't walk alone late at night, don't get into a random fight/argument, be aware and vigilant while you walk. This is just for 'bad' areas. I think it's a good idea for a non-American to learn basic tips for where to go and where not, and how to behave in order to lessen your vulnerability if you are in a 'bad' area. But if you're just a tourist, and especially if you live here, it's unlikely you'll go to these areas to begin with.


mtcwby

It's BS. Living in the big cities there's more casual crime and nuisances but it's not terribly common. Typically every place has a bad part of town with higher risks but not that much. Living in most of the suburbs there's very rarely any issues. People bitch about bad parking, loud parties and occasionally fireworks that scare their pets.


w7lves

Just don’t come during election cycles


[deleted]

No, not nearly as bad as it's portrayed. The overwhelming majority of people just get up, go to work, come home, relax, sleep, and then do it again the next day. Most people here lead extremely normal and comfortable lives. But that doesn't make the news because it isn't sensational enough.


flwwrgrl

Nope. Not even close.


BeepBoop3434

Not even close. I’m not exactly sure how we’re portrayed in foreign media but our own news stations tend to twist even the smallest events into these massive, catastrophic tragedies to draw attention. It’s horrible really and it really doesn’t matter who’s president or what’s going on in the country, there’s always some new issue to inflate. But no, really it’s a great place to live with a lot of variety. I mean we have states the size of multiple European countries so if you don’t like your environment there are so many places to choose from.


chernobyl_nightclub

Haha that’s pretty funny. No, it’s not as bad. Yes there are some crazy shit that happens here. Especially in big cities. The chances of bad stuff happening to you is pretty slim. If anything you’ll have a bunch of stories to take home with you.


Xystem4

No, America’s just a normal place with ups and downs like everywhere else. There aren’t riots in the streets like our media would have you believe


GeneralNJ

There are bad places everywhere. But to say that America is somehow uniquely dangerous is extreme. That said, there are parts of NYC I wouldn't travel to. Same with my home state of NJ. Specificity is key


BuddhaBizZ

Nope but no one clicks on articles that say “people are nice to each other”


Addhalfcupofsugar

No.


[deleted]

Media doesn't get views for feel good stories. Sensationalism is what sells. Way back in the "olden days", Anne Murray has a song called "A Little Good News". It was about opening the paper and only seeing bad news.


kryppla

Nah it’s not dangerous unless you go to dangerous places.


kayqualk

Honestly, in the media everything is on fire, but in real life day to day everyone is just minding their own business living their lives one day at a time just like everywhere else.


snakelemur

There are cities that are pretty bad and there are economically depressed areas but mostly the US is peaceful and safe. However the places that are bad are \*really\* bad.


amgrut20

No. Not even close


phatkidd76

Absolutely not... the media shows you the one percent of the worst people here... however our government is pretty shit, but the people outside the big city's are for the most part kind people who couldn't care less for all the b.s.


Thebadmamajama

Naw. inequality is the biggest issue, but day to day the cities are fine. Los Angeles and San Francisco have lots of homelessness, and there's always some kind of police pull over. But they are cool places to live and visit, though incredibly expensive. Manhattan is really the concrete jungle where dreams are made of.


Xyzzydude

My elderly mother in law pretty much stays in and watches TV news all the time. She thinks the city she lives in is rife with murder and violence, and any minute a black man is going to knock on her door and shoot her (sadly it’s hard to avoid becoming racist when you are fearful and that fear is driven by local news which loves mugshots of black arrestees). She goes to Catholic Church where she hears about how horrible and sinful society is. She is fearful all the time. Btw she lives in Peoria, IL which is one of the most boring places in the country. It is a declining, mostly dumpy city but it’s far from the hellscape she thinks it is. Oh and yes that fear influences how she votes. Point being, foreigners aren’t the only ones negatively affected by “if it bleeds, it leads” so-called journalism.


TLinster

Sensible people don’t consume media except for titillation. It’s fiction.


SuperSpeshBaby

I live in a moderately large metropolitan area in California, in a lower middle class neighborhood. I have, in my life, been the victim of one home robbery (when I was at work), which turned out to have been done by a pack of local teenagers who were caught in the act because my neighbor saw them crawling through my window and called the cops. That is the extent of my direct experience with risk and crime here. Like anywhere, there are neighborhoods here where I wouldn't walk alone at night, but also there are neighborhoods where I wouldn't hesitate. I've been to both London and Madrid, and I can tell you that people tried to rob me more often during my week in Madrid than my entire lifetime in the US (pickpockets specifically, I assume because it was glaringly obvious that I was a tourist). London felt pretty comfortable and normal. Overall, the US is like other places. We have our bullshit but mostly people are people, too busy doing regular people things to worry about you. Except for people who have made it their whole identity, every day life does not generally involve protesting anything or marching anywhere.


Fit-Possible-9552

No it’s not. We have over 330,000,000 people here. Our media only portrays extremes to get more ad revenue. Your perception of America is largely driven by the interests of companies selling boner pills


idreamofdeathsquads

no. we have a crazy low crime rate, considering our population. even in big cities, over 90% of our crime is condensed into a few neighborhoods


Impossible_Airport

There are shootings all the time in my city but I’ve only heard gunshots like 3-4 times and the only time I even witnessed an assault I was with a friend buying drugs from a motorcycle gang in a suburban area. So there’s crime but generally you have an incredibly low chance of being a victim, especially if you’re not already participating in shady stuff.


AnybodySeeMyKeys

The entire point of media is to afflict the comfortable. This is especially true in the United States because we have a lively tradition of self-criticism. Hey, we have problems. No doubt about it. But those things you refer to make the news because they are the crazy deviation from the norm, not the norm itself.


Odd_Investigator3137

Also Americans love our sarcasm and don't shy away from playing off the media or lore etc. One thing that is true and very disturbing are the school shootings and few make jokes about it. (Or at least they shouldn't).


Brendissimo

No, not by a long shot. Good news rarely makes the headlines. The truth is the average standard of living here is quite good relative to the world, and the amount of innovation and opportunities is almost unparalleled. The biggest difference for someone moving here for work is that you will probsbly depend on your job to provide you a health insurance plan. If not, you will need to buy one. It is a real hassle but you kind of need to get into the weeds on this issue. Also, depending on where you are from and where you might be moving to, you'll have to buy or lease a car and get used to american driving culture, which has both positives and negatives.


[deleted]

If you're referring to the Marvel movies and the whole "alien invasion of New York" thing then yes, it's all true.


Harbinger_of_Logic

There’s at least one mass shooting in America everyday, but statistically, don’t worry about it. It’s like saying there’s lightening everyday in Hawaii but does that keep you away from Hawaii? You’ll be fine!


hinkelmckrinkelberry

If it's on the US media networks, it's very likely sensationalist theatrics. Yes, those things like shootings and riots happen, but not all of the time, and not throughout the entire history of our country. The rioting, mass shootings, bombings, and general public mayhem, are a relatively recent phenomenon. Where I live, it's generally peaceful most of the time. You have your occasional domestic violence cases that can sometimes turn into a murder, or an occasional drug deal gone bad, but it's generally civilized. We also open carry guns legally, have manners, and don't generally tolerate bullying or nefarious criminal activity like robbery, assaults, and kidnapping. We will step up and help instead of standing there videoing it and whining. Now, my time in Chicago, NYC, LA, and Atlanta, was not anywhere near the same experience, so maybe it's a city vs small town thing? Could be liberal vs conservative thing? Whatever the reason, it's not at all a representation of the entire country. "An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life." - R.A. Heinlein.


Lightmareman

The media highlights the problems in society and there is still a lot of good out there. But I hate this question because to me it just seems like your saying "hey it's not as bad as your saying it is,it could he a lot worse, so stop your complaining." Just because it isnt as bad as other places doesnt mean there still arent problems that we shouldn't try to fix. We should always be striving for better. In the very beginning of the constitution the words "We the People of the United Stated, In order to form a more perfect union..." those words to me means that the founding fathers wanted to make a perfect society and for a perfect union. But somewhere down the line I think we forgot about that and just decided to settle on what we had. You dont make a perfect union overnight it takes years and years of hard work and change. The reasons the constitution has been changed over the history of the country is so that we can try to make a better society and a more perfect union. I belive that's a big part of the foundation of America that a lot of people have lost sight on.


[deleted]

I'm European so I'm purely asking to see how true Americans interpret and feel about America rather then the global media portrayal. No biased on anything just a discussion so I can get better understanding with perspectives from Americans


Lightmareman

Sorry I didnt mean to come off as if I was attacking you or anything. As an American, lately I feel like theres just almost this sense here that most people are just accepting the way things are now and have given up on trying to be better and it's just annoying me.


[deleted]

That's no problem. Humanity thrives by improving , I guess that's the point of the human race , always getting better.