As someone who has taught research methods and statistics, let me assure Mr. Mork that you can make inferences and disprove something, but you can not prove anything with statistics. I am sure that the people living around Franklin and Park in South Minneapolis and along 26th in Jordan received a lot of comfort from the revelation that the crime rate for Minneapolis was down 8%. They can take comfort in other Minneapolitans having a safer summer, I know I do. I also would find the suggestion of such as laughable if it did not affect real lives.
After the Iraq War I was struck by the fact that this was not a war compared to Viet Nam. Heck, we lost more men in one day at the Ia Drang, or "Hamburger", not to mention the Tet in 68, than they did in that whole war. Then I remembered WWII vets saying the same to me of Viet Nam. I also remember some old Vet at a VFW looking up and saying, " what happens to one person in their own small world is what matters, for the person being shot at or being actually shot his or her war is just as important and just as big as anyone else's. For the mother who has a child shot, or a loved one killed, her crime statistic matters a little different. Her war is just as great as where 50 women lose a child. It is a world catastrophe for her, and her "world". For the woman being raped in Phillips or Jordan and assaulted in Minneapolis there is little comfort in the fact that Minneapolis has fallen from leading the nation to 10th or 11th for rape rate. For her the rate is 100%! I am sure for the person who had a basement cave in or a river overflow and take their house there is the same feeling about someone living on high ground saying, "You call that a flood? Heck That doesn't hold a candle to a real flood down in Missouri. The mean high-water stages for rivers were lower on average in Minnesota than last year." No statistics do not mean much for the mother who has lost a child. Or for the block that is under siege by crime and gangs selling drugs, and firing shots at night. Do not tell them there is not a crime problem. Their small world is overwhelmed and statistics are meaningless lies that are better talked about over coffee or in a class. Not in the context of their lives and their children! The problem is that many of Minneapolis' residents share Mr. Mork's opinion. If crime and drug selling gangs are not affecting them, and their family, then everything can not be that bad. It is the reason we have combat zones. The "good" citizens of Minneapolis who vote are willing to turn disbelieving faces away from the problem. "Good" people have no other option. Cognitive dissonance will not allow it. No other option but denial exists and still allow them to have a high opinion of themselves. Good liberals especially have a hard time believing that minority and poor neighborhoods are institutionally discriminated against in their own City. Discriminated against because they do NOT get the same protection under the law as the communities of good middle class liberals. I can understand it from those "nasty" republicans but I have a hard time understanding it from my fellow democrats who profess to "Care" about poor people. Causes a little cognitive dissonance on my part also! Until everyone enjoys the same "safe" neighborhood in ALL of Minneapolis, crime statistics are nothing more than a barometer. Not a reality for "We". "We" is all of Minneapolis, not just a few small safe neighborhoods hiding behind and comforted by a statistic! What happens to even the least of my brothers also happens to me. Jim Graham, Ventura Village >"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance > and conscientious stupidity". - Martin Luther King, Jr. TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
