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Comment by memish | Hacker News Reader

A mix of stockholm syndrome, aggressive gaslighting, denial. It's not just SoMa or the Tenderloin either. These are some of the recent local reports on Chinatown:

Shop Owners Forced to Take Extra Precautions as Thieves Hit SF Chinatown Businesses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSwlSQf0LkA

San Francisco Chinatown Camera Shop Owners Fight Back Against Smash-and-Grab Robbery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idy30hxat7M

Community Group Hands Out Pepper Spray To San Francisco Chinatown Businesses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNsc3j1-d1I

Volunteer Foot Patrols In SF's Chinatown After Shop Owners Fight Off Robbers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTPYhey3ea4

Yet we keep hearing that this isn't happening. Things are fine. It's exaggerated. Even in this very thread. I can't help but think of this quote, "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."

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I am constantly gaslit about this on r/sanfrancisco.

People say “the data” show that crime is actually decreasing! It’s bizarre because the data I’m collecting with my very own eyes is staggeringly contradictory. The amount of crime I witness daily is heartbreaking and sometimes frightening.

I understand the knee jerk response, which is to defend your home, but the moment I propose the data are being manipulated/spun, I’m called a conspiracy theorist. There’s a concerning lack of curiosity, critical thinking, and skepticism when it comes to this topic.

The only explanation I have for the discrepancy is the normalization of crime. We have gotten so accustomed to theft, assault, drug use, public camping, illegal immigration, and property damage that we no longer count these as crimes. I’m not saying it’s a conspiracy. I’m saying our standard of living has shifted down dramatically and we have adjusted our metrics down, too.

There’s a theory called the Normalization of Deviance [1] which I think offers a pretty good explanation even though it was originally used to describe a spiral of tolerance for unethical behavior in corporations. The principle makes sense in social constructs too.

[1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalization_of_deviance

It seems like a categorical error to compare illegal immigration to theft, assault, and property damage.

Crime is crime.

I doubt if it's immigrants committing the vast majority of these petty crimes and pooping in the street. Fix the 80% problem first.

I am not saying they are committing the assaults, theft, etc. I’m saying that it is illegal to be in the US without documentation. It is also illegal to get forged or stolen documents and work.

>I am constantly gaslit about this on r/sanfrancisco.

The mods and too many of the members believe that discussing actual crime would make San Francisco look bad in the eyes of "Trump supporters"/"Rethuglicans", so must be suppressed. (Check out the subreddit's rules sometime.)

Is it because from be isn't being reported?

Yeah, that’s what I’m suggesting when I talk about the normalization of crime. I have been victim of about a dozen crimes since moving here 2 years ago, but only reported 3. At a certain point it just became a hassle with no upside other than helping compstat collect better data. Talk to any San Franciscan about crime and you’ll realize that people have become so accustomed to it. I think that there’s very little reporting for that reason, so the stats don’t reflect the reality. Additionally, many crimes have effectively been decriminalized here, so I think that has totally skewed the stats when compared to other cities with stronger enforcement.

I’m really not sure, it’s an emotional subject, especially after the home invasion, but I feel entitled to be skeptical and angry about how dysfunctional the government is here.

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