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Comment by labrador | Hacker News Reader

People in big cities get mugged, sometimes violently. This happened in Republican led cities when I was young. It happens in Democratic led cities now. It happens in London. It happens in Moscow. You can have policy differences with the government of San Francisco, but please don't capitalize on this tragic death to advance them. It's exploitive and disrespectful to Bob Lee's family. I know I'm whistling in the wind, but I needed to say it for myself.

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China, Korea, Japan, has some of the largest cities in the world and violent crime is extremely rare in those cities. Crime was never on my mind when I lived in Tokyo. “Big cities” isn’t the cause.

This is mostly a cultural thing, isn't it? Isn't that even more difficult to import?

My friend is in Japan right now and we just had a discussion about how shame is a tool of social control. I was even reminded of the old 80's introduction of the concept of "toxic shame". Obviously a lot of Westerners have no shame and are proud that no one controls them and will declare it loudly to your face.

It happens in all multi-cultural/diverse settings, everywhere. This is a fact of life. Homogenous nations tend to be the safest.

Yes, lived in Seoul (~20 million in metro area) for over a decade and never once feared for crime any time day or night.

Demographics in Tokyo are different than in SF.

Don't you know we can only compare the US to Europe???

Homicide rate is 5-10x larger in US than Europe.

Gonna go out on a limb and say that a US vs Europe comparison on crime rates is not going to show the US in a good light either.

Yep, it's white people.

It actually is. White people who allow all sorts of crime and antisocial behavior in the name of equity.

On the other hand, a good time to debate about how to make our cities safer is now. Today. Bob Lee's tragic death can be a catalyst. The loss must be immeasurable to his family. Wow. That doesn't mean we should throw our hands up and say violence happens everywhere. I think spurring us to action would be a small positive in a sea of tragic loss. It's not at all commensurate, but it's something.

It’s not every day that a big tech exec gets stabbed and killed. It’s like a bank exec getting mugged in nyc, it just doesn’t happen.

I don't recommend anyone walk alone at 2:30 am in any big city. Get an Uber.

That's only because SF isn't safe, esp relative to rent price. I regularly walk alone at 2:30am in nyc in most neighborhoods.

A lot of it is about how many people are around (and how you fit in). I have no problem walking in many areas of Manhattan late at night though try to stick to busier streets and avenues.

All the deserted streets in Detroit? Not so much.

As we heard all day yesterday, nyc has the most massive and powerful police force in the world, which is understandable since it is a target of terrorists. It also takes an awful lot of money to live there. Must be nice. I dream of living there myself one day, but my time and money have run out.

SF rent is pretty equivalent?

And note that SF spends $604 on policing per resident, vs NYC's $626 on policing per resident

Do you comment something similar on school shooting threads too?

What about this? What about that? Tiresome.

The countries biggest cities virtually all have Democrat mayors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mayors_of_the_50_large...

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