Hacker News Reader

Comment by cgh | Hacker News Reader

The US is a big place (note: I'm not American either). Keep in mind that your comment is similar to a non-European reading about far-right violence and recent EU parliament election success and thinking, "When I read stuff like this, I'm really happy I am not living in Europe. It sounds so crazy to a [Canadian|Australian|etc.] person."

View on HN

Should we factor in the largest prison population per capita in the world and transfer of surplus military gear to police to nullify the 'big place' factor?

Yes. The "we're big, these events are outliers" meme is patently false.

My point was most Americans have no experience with these sorts of events despite their apparent pervasiveness, just as most Europeans have little experience with far-right parties despite their recent successes.

Most financially well off, white Americans have no experience, I suspect that's also the demographic of most people on HN. I have friends who come from a poorer background than me and most of them have either been subject to police abuse themselves, or have friends/family who has been abused or even killed by police.

What far right violence? Is there anything happening on a significant scale? What do you mean by "recent EU parliament election success"?

There isn't really SWAT violence/school shootings happening on a "significant scale" in the context of the US either.

Re: Europe — http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/25/world/europe/eu-elections/ etc.

He's referring to the recent success of fascist parties like Front National in France. Other parties are less openly xenophobic, but as so often it's just hidden behind a thin veneer of nationalism.

The far right has been rising across Europe lately[1]. And the far left for that matter[2][3].

[1]: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elinadav-heymann/sudden-rise-o...

[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEKr_sDUPTE&list=UUZaT_X_mc0...

[3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1MYMVfyHi0&list=UUZaT_X_mc0...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com