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02 May 2009 10:27 am
Running From And Towards Death
Reihan Salam reviews Mark Kleiman's new book on crime:
46,000 Americans die every year on the highways. In contrast,
17,000 die from criminal violence....In some sense, the
decision to avoid crime by fleeing cities in favor of auto-dependent
suburbs is irrational: The move actually increases your chances
of dying prematurely. That crude calculation ignores the angst and
anxiety...No one
wants to live in fear. And for any number of reasons, the fear of an
impersonal auto collision can't match the fear of the indignity of
being mugged, or for that matter being stabbed or shot dead. The
millions of middle -class Americans who fled inner cities were fleeing
this psychic turmoil, and it's hard not to sympathize with them. This
fear also led to an explosion in the ownership of personal firearms and
a climate of political and cultural polarization that is still with us.
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