Why is America so violent?

[Stringer Bell]

I'm so happy I'm living in Asia. No racial explosions, crimes, violence or 'knockout games' of any kind. It's usually expats and foreigners, namely Russians, Americans, Blacks and Brits or Aussies causing trouble here.

The only violent country in Asia is the Philippines and the messed up Islamic Asian countries, such as Pakistan and Afghanistan, and India (perverted Indian men raping woman).

This is a LIE zboy. The Chinese commit the most heinous crimes in China with a prime example of this being these knife attacks the Chinese Goverment tries to keep out of the western media. A group of ten knife-wielding assailants attacked passersby at the Kunming Railway Station in the southwest of the country on Saturday night, killing at least 29 and wounding another 130. Very Blood thirsty

What do you have to say about all this?

[wanderlust]

A lot of frustrated people. Societies with significant sex imbalances (more male than female) tend to see violence increase. This would include the US, China, and India.

High levels of economic stratification tend to exacerbate the issue.

- Culture can contribute - saving face, honor killings are a part of life in the developing world, ghetto/gang culture in the US, focus on instant gratification and the short term, high alcohol consumption

- Groups of people who are at odds with each other living in close proximity (ethnic, racial, religious)

- Competitive societies where people can't stand to lose

- Urban settings it's often easy to get away with things

US has all of these things, but the problem is only prevalent in certain places.

[Traveler]

I don't believe the claim that white people are inherently more violent than Asians is true for all white populations. Switzerland and Iceland have lower murder rates than many Asian countries and their populations are almost all white. The most violent white people live in Eastern Europe. Russians were continually attacked, invaded, and enslaved (the word "slave" comes from the word "Slav") by Mongols, Arabs, Turks, etc. throughout their history so I think they learned to be more violent as a way to survive. There inhabitants of Western Europe were sheltered from a lot of that.

As for America, is it more violent? I think a lot depends on where you live the US. Big cities with lots of diversity tend to have high violent crime rates. Other areas of the US are actually very safe.

[wanderlust]

Where I live is like you described, Traveler - little diversity and very little crime.

Elsewhere I've read that Thailand has gun violence nearly similar to US levels (non-gun violent crimes are probably similar). A Thai woman told me once about the boys from the polytechnic schools where the trades are taught, how they will fight other boys from rival schools, sometimes with guns or knives.

There's a lot of stuff that Western visitors to Asia normally don't see, but it's still there.

Overall the US might be one of the more dangerous countries in the West but the problem is probably worse outside the west.

[zboy1]

Haha, you guys with the contrarian views....Anyway,

Well, all I know is I feel safe working home late at night, without any fear in most Asian countries. I can't say that in the States, even in predominantly White neighborhoods. I frequently took a swiss army knife with me, whenever I went anywhere, whereas in Asia, I don't feel the need to do that.

[zboy1]

I don't believe the claim that white people are inherently more violent than Asians is true for all white populations. Switzerland and Iceland have lower murder rates than many Asian countries and their populations are almost all white. The most violent white people live in Eastern Europe. Russians were continually attacked, invaded, and enslaved (the word "slave" comes from the word "Slav") by Mongols, Arabs, Turks, etc. throughout their history so I think they learned to be more violent as a way to survive. There inhabitants of Western Europe were sheltered from a lot of that.

As for America, is it more violent? I think a lot depends on where you live the US. Big cities with lots of diversity tend to have high violent crime rates. Other areas of the US are actually very safe.

Iceland, Switzerland? I don't disagree, although the rest of Europistan is a different story...

[zboy1]

Where I live is like you described, Traveler - little diversity and very little crime.

Elsewhere I've read that Thailand has gun violence nearly similar to US levels (non-gun violent crimes are probably similar). A Thai woman told me once about the boys from the polytechnic schools where the trades are taught, how they will fight other boys from rival schools, sometimes with guns or knives.

There's a lot of stuff that Western visitors to Asia normally don't see, but it's still there.

Overall the US might be one of the more dangerous countries in the West but the problem is probably worse outside the west.

Thailand is a crime filled country due to all the illicit activities and drugs there. Same for the Philippines, but that is not indicative of the rest of Asia. If you really believe Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Malaysia or Singapore are violent, crime filled countries, well...I don't know where you guys get that information.

I think some of you guys really need to travel, rather than commenting from the States or other Anglo countries.

[wanderlust]

I have travelled, not just commenting from the US.

Those countries you mentioned, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, would be quite safe compared to the US. I can't say about Korea for sure, I imagine Malaysia has more problems than those first three countries. I used to chat with a Chinese girl who told me how it wasn't safe for her to go out walking at night, weirdos would follow or harass her. Actually she may have been saying it wasn't just night. She wasn't stunning either, just a regular woman.

A lot of places the arm of the law isn't as long as here, so the published rates aren't indicative of the full extent of the problem.

[OutWest]

Haha, you guys with the contrarian views....Anyway,

Well, all I know is I feel safe working home late at night, without any fear in most Asian countries. I can't say that in the States, even in predominantly White neighborhoods. I frequently took a swiss army knife with me, whenever I went anywhere, whereas in Asia, I don't feel the need to do that.

Reality. If you filter out the black and Mexican crime/murder rates, the Asian and white populations are very safe areas, with a murder rate lower than some Asian countries and not too far from rates in Singapore.

[Wolfeye]

zboy1: A Swiss Army Knife? You realize that's not going to be anywhere close to optimum for self-defense, right? I mean if you have it open in your pocket & have your thumb on top ("icepick grip"), you might be able to get something done- otherwise, it's not a good pick. Maybe it's that a lot of nations have pain in the ass knife laws?
[Not trying to make fun of you, but just realize that there's potentially a lot force on that blade in a confrontation (not unlike stabbing a ham that was thrown at you- the movement while the blade is buried is a big problem that might lose you that blade when dealing with more than one enemy).]

[Yohan]

Thailand is a crime filled country due to all the illicit activities and drugs there. Same for the Philippines, but that is not indicative of the rest of Asia.

If you really believe Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Malaysia or Singapore are violent, crime filled countries, well...I don't know where you guys get that information.

I think some of you guys really need to travel, rather than commenting from the States or other Anglo countries.

It is true that Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and also Malaysia/Singapore are very safe countries.

My second home is in Thailand near Pattaya, I never had any problem there, too. Most crimes are between midnight and early morning, often connected to drugs or in bars wth drunk people, disputes among foreigners and locals etc. and this is the time where we are in our home, a well guarded condominium building.

There are however some areas in Thailand, which are dangerous, some Muslim cities in the south, some border areas to Cambodia and to Myanmar.

Don't go there, but otherwise?

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Philippines is another story, it cannot be compared with Thailand, there is plenty of street criminality going on, youth gangs, street children etc. Every target will be attacked, local or foreign does not matter.
It seems however Filipino people are now fed up with all these annoying criminal activity everywhere and the new president is a guy doing something about it.

[Wolfeye]

I think Asian countries tend to be somewhat less violent is because their cultures are somewhat different- for one thing, if a bunch of people (from other parts of the world) where starting shit, they'd likely "discriminate" against them.

I think the Arabs & Blacks tend to have a lot of violence for a lot of reasons, but if you look at how f***ed-up some of those countries are, it's not really a surprise that they bring it with them. Something posted by Cornfed a while back was actually insightful on that subject with the blacks (surprised the shit out of me & while I didn't agree with it, it still made good points about things that are fairly common).

The middle easterners just seem to be f***ed-up from all the inbreeding, cruelty, and generally suppression that goes on in those countries. I'd dare say that blacks might be more inclined to be against shit like that, even if they were impulse-based creatures like the article was saying. There's a shocking level of cruelty from the middle east & while other people from other areas might be like that from time to time, it seems to actually be a fuckin' pastime for them in the middle east.