7 ms·

That's great; in general, people should be, and I'm not looking down on them for doing so. However, property crime is absolutely irrelevant when presented with

That's great; in general, people should be, and I'm not looking down on them for doing so. However, property crime is absolutely irrelevant when presented with the news of someone's murder, yet so many people here are quick to conflate them as somehow equivalent vis a vis personal safety, etc. (Sidenote: I personally don't understand anyone thinking that property crime is "scary". Your car is not your kid. Your wallet is not your body. Your house is not your family. These things are not in the same class, and a loss in one category is not the same as a loss in the other. I'm not sure how one could argue otherwise, but it's apparently a widely-held worldview.)

vkou 3y ago
A burglary is much scarier than someone stealing shit from your car, because someone invaded your living space in the latter. It's a much more serious invasion of your privacy than a broken window smash and grab. The point I made in the sibling point stands, though. At 55th in the nation, SF does not have a high burglary rate. It has a high larceny (stealing from stores, cars, etc) rate.
- Vervious 3y ago
  Btw, I think technically if the car is locked, it's also classified as a burglary
- cemerick 3y ago
  I'm not comparing e.g. burglaries to car thefts, but the category of property crimes to the category of violent crimes. The former range from unfortunate nuisances to unpleasant material losses (depending on how well you've scoped your insurances); the latter can be life-shattering tragedies.
bigtex88 3y ago
[flagged]
- cemerick 3y ago
  Your "legitimate question" is insulting to me and to those who actually are autistic. Everyone on HN is so nice. No, I don't think being pickpocketed (or having my car stolen or whatever) is "equally as scary" as if my daughter were assaulted or kidnapped. I'd be ashamed to think they're equivalent, lest my daughter believe I view her as valuable as a hunk of steel or a wad of cash. > Property crimes lead to a generally dangerous living area and people don't like to live in dangerous areas because it necessarily leads to more violent crime. This is deeply incorrect. As has been repeated and cited over and over, violent crime in e.g. SF is not particularly high (lower than most other US cities), while its property crime rate is outrageously high.
  - bigtex88 3y ago
    I really don't understand your viewpoint here. You seem to be implying that property crime is fine and dandy and no one should really be worried about it because "having a child assaulted is worse!". Again, a bizarre world-view, hence the autism question. Just because they're not emotionally equivalent doesn't mean that property crime isn't bad. SF has a massive issue regarding petty crime. It leads to a more dangerous city overall.
    - jjulius 3y ago
      >Just because they're not emotionally equivalent doesn't mean that property crime isn't bad. In sticking with the autism question - are you? OP has yet to state that "property crime isn't bad" yet you've commented repeatedly to imply that they have, among other things. "Not as bad as" != "Not bad"
- dang 3y ago
  You've unfortunately been crossing into personal attack and name-calling repeatedly in your HN posts, as well as breaking the site guidelines in other ways. We ban accounts that do this kind of thing, so could you please stop? If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
DharmaPolice 3y ago
People (on the whole) aren't afraid of losing stuff. They're afraid of someone coming into their home or grabbing them on the street and things going south. If you somehow had a device which 100% guaranteed your personal safety (but somehow still allowed theft) then (for most people) most of these crimes would merely be an inconvenience/irritation on the same level as low level credit card fraud (where you lose no money but have to get a new card).
- Jackpillar 3y ago
  "They're afraid of someone coming into their home or grabbing them on the street and things going south" Luckily, this isn't a real thing that happens.

vkou 3y ago

A burglary is much scarier than someone stealing shit from your car, because someone invaded your living space in the latter. It's a much more serious invasion of your privacy than a broken window smash and grab. The point I made in the sibling point stands, though. At 55th in the nation, SF does not have a high burglary rate. It has a high larceny (stealing from stores, cars, etc) rate.

Vervious 3y ago
Btw, I think technically if the car is locked, it's also classified as a burglary
cemerick 3y ago
I'm not comparing e.g. burglaries to car thefts, but the category of property crimes to the category of violent crimes. The former range from unfortunate nuisances to unpleasant material losses (depending on how well you've scoped your insurances); the latter can be life-shattering tragedies.

bigtex88 3y ago

[flagged]

cemerick 3y ago
Your "legitimate question" is insulting to me and to those who actually are autistic. Everyone on HN is so nice. No, I don't think being pickpocketed (or having my car stolen or whatever) is "equally as scary" as if my daughter were assaulted or kidnapped. I'd be ashamed to think they're equivalent, lest my daughter believe I view her as valuable as a hunk of steel or a wad of cash. > Property crimes lead to a generally dangerous living area and people don't like to live in dangerous areas because it necessarily leads to more violent crime. This is deeply incorrect. As has been repeated and cited over and over, violent crime in e.g. SF is not particularly high (lower than most other US cities), while its property crime rate is outrageously high.
- bigtex88 3y ago
  I really don't understand your viewpoint here. You seem to be implying that property crime is fine and dandy and no one should really be worried about it because "having a child assaulted is worse!". Again, a bizarre world-view, hence the autism question. Just because they're not emotionally equivalent doesn't mean that property crime isn't bad. SF has a massive issue regarding petty crime. It leads to a more dangerous city overall.
  - jjulius 3y ago
    >Just because they're not emotionally equivalent doesn't mean that property crime isn't bad. In sticking with the autism question - are you? OP has yet to state that "property crime isn't bad" yet you've commented repeatedly to imply that they have, among other things. "Not as bad as" != "Not bad"
dang 3y ago
You've unfortunately been crossing into personal attack and name-calling repeatedly in your HN posts, as well as breaking the site guidelines in other ways. We ban accounts that do this kind of thing, so could you please stop? If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.

DharmaPolice 3y ago

People (on the whole) aren't afraid of losing stuff. They're afraid of someone coming into their home or grabbing them on the street and things going south. If you somehow had a device which 100% guaranteed your personal safety (but somehow still allowed theft) then (for most people) most of these crimes would merely be an inconvenience/irritation on the same level as low level credit card fraud (where you lose no money but have to get a new card).

Jackpillar 3y ago
"They're afraid of someone coming into their home or grabbing them on the street and things going south" Luckily, this isn't a real thing that happens.