Old people are too trusting

[TW]

Of course Ted Bundy seemed like such a warm and friendly person too.

Sometimes initial perceptions aren't in the slightest bit accurate.

One of the things that I can say is that many of us, my age, remember the days when we could leave the doors on our homes unlocked when we went places, kept the car keys on the visor of the car, and actually in the ignition during the day, and weren't afraid to allow our kids to take the four block hike down the street to the playground.

We also remember when they didn't need cops in schools, and being sent to the principal because you got out of line, was intimidating.

I remember, when I was a cop, a patrol officer stopping at a house, where movers were hauling the furniture out, and putting it in a moving van.

He talked to the guys who worked for this well known moving company, and even brought them coffee from a convenience store/gas station down the road. They seemed so nice.

Two days later, when the people who owned the house came back from vacation, and found their expensive furniture, and paintings worth tens of thousands of dollars had been stolen, the cop felt a little bit foolish.....

In other words, we can remember a kinder, warmer, more trusting society. Sadly, that's all changed.

But it does account for one of the reasons older people are more trusting, and maybe "too trusting" in some cases.

[WhatUSaid]

DTA.

[thegreenmeanie]

I still leave my doors unlocked, and windows down in my car. I am not saying that times aren't different, after all I wasn't around in the times you are talking TW. However I truly feel a lot of the fear in this country is manufactured by the media and Hollywood. Especially when you live in suburbia.

[TW]

Good luck in that, and remember that home invasions alone have grown astronomically over the years. Also think about crimes like car-jacking, and even parking lot armed robberies in malls.

Trusting is one thing, foolish is another.

[thegreenmeanie]

I guess we'll see.

Look at Canada's crime rates and violent crime and look at ours. There is something in these equations that is helping to cause us to be a violent society. I seriously doubt its people thinking they can take advantage of me because my door is unlocked. I think its the crap they see on TV and movies and the stories that are reported every night on their news.

[TW]

Here's a few stats on crimes where often trust comes into play. Home invasions, often perpetrated by people identifying themselves as meter readers, etc.

Property Crime Facts (According to the FBI in the US: http://www.fbi.gov):

* One property crime happens every 3 seconds.
* One burglary occurs every 10 seconds.
* One violent crime occurs every 20 seconds.
* One aggravated assault occurs every 35 seconds.
* One robbery occurs every 60 seconds, or 1 minute.
* One forcible rape occurs every 2 minutes.
* There were over 2 million burglaries in 2005.
* An increase in burglary offenses was the only property crime to increase in 2005 compared with the prior year data.

Home Invasion Facts:

* According to a United States Department of Justice report:
o 38% of assaults & 60% of rapes occur during home invasions.
o 1 of every 5 homes will experience a break-in or home invasion. That's over 2,000,000 homes!
* According to Statistics Canada, there has been an average of 289,200 home invasions annually over the last 5 years.
* Statistically, there are over 8,000 home invasions per day in North America
* According to Statistics U.S.A., there was an average of 3,600,000 home invasions annually between 1994 and 2000.

[thegreenmeanie]

I don't doubt it happens frequently, and I never said a trust factor doesn't play a role, I just feel there is something bigger going on. I hate how we have become a society programmed to be afraid. Also whats interesting is that most rapes occur by people the victim knows. This goes back to the media too, every time we see a rape on TV it is some women walking through a dark parking garage or something. Anyways so I wonder if some of those home invasions were from the people they knew as well? That definitely plays into the trust thing you guys are talking about, but also reinforces my thought of maybe the fear of the stranger is over exaggerated. Regardless we do have some issues going on in this country, and I don't think our best approach is to lock ourselves away from society, but of course be cautious.

[amoeba15]

Sorry for entering this discussion soooooo late.

I have lots of friends in their late 40's and early 50's who live in southern states and their mentality is to leave their home and car doors unlocked. However, in the Northern VA/DC area, anybody who leaves their homes and cars unlocked are a victim of their own creation.

IF you live in my neighborhood and leave your homes and cars unlocked, you might as well just hand criminals your money.

[TMWight]

Yeah, my wife left her car unlocked when she first moved into my house and her violin was stolen and a credit card. Thankfully it wasn't her old old violin. I live on a corner house and the car was parked out of the garage.

[mag7ue]

Mar 13, 2009 14:38:00 GMT -5 @thegreenmeanie said:

I guess we'll see.

That's a completely false statement. Because even if you don't become a victim of some crime because of your actions, it doesn't prove anything.

It is however, a fact that not taking simple precautions to protect yourself against crime is pretty foolish. If you spend your life not being a victim you're lucky, not smart.

[thegreenmeanie]

If that's how you see it than fine, but I don't think me not buying into the propaganda that is on the news and T.V. correlates to me being any less intelligent than yourself. It's not like I have never locked a door to my house or car in my life it's just not something that comes across my mind all the time. I see things differently than you I guess and it hasn't served me wrong yet. Also I want to make clear that I have stated it depends where you live, me being in a suburbia is much different than if I were in a different part of town. Which would prove what I said.

It is also kind of lame that you take that one sentence and go on about my intelligence instead of joining the conversation and going into all I have said. Thanks for your contribution though.

[mag7ue]

Mar 17, 2009 0:55:00 GMT -5 @thegreenmeanie said:

It is also kind of lame that you take that one sentence and go on about my intelligence instead of joining the conversation and going into all I have said. Thanks for your contribution though.

Well, you used that one statement as if to prove your point, and it didn't. That's why I used that one as a base for my comment. There wasn't much else to say on this topic that hadn't been said already. Sorry, I'll try to be involved from the beginning from now on, so I can be qualified to question statements.

The problem is, you're using the same thought pattern in saying I questioned your intelligence. I didn't say you were a stupid moron, or anything close to that. I just made the statement that if you are never the victim of crime, it doesn't mean you're smart. It's a fallacy of logic to take that to mean I think you're stupid. Follow me here.

[thegreenmeanie]

I never said I was right, I said we'll see if it happens, meaning that I am not going to live in fear. Where I live there is no reason to live in fear, and yes I seriously doubt it is going to happen. It has nothing to do with being right or wrong. If you read the other paragraph where once again I said it has a lot to do with where you live. I also said how a lot of crime actually comes from people you already know, hence rape. The media and hollywood sure don't let you see it in that form though. They always have big black man or something breaking down your door or chasing a woman in a parking garage. There is more reasons than intelligence as to why our crime rates are what they are compared to the rest of the world. That was my whole point. I want us to get away from the stigma that we have to be afraid of everyone and everything. However you feel the need to make judgments off of that. Good for you.

[TMWight]

Mar 17, 2009 11:29:01 GMT -5 @thegreenmeanie said:

I never said I was right, I said we'll see if it happens, meaning that I am not going to live in fear. Where I live there is no reason to live in fear, and yes I seriously doubt it is going to happen. It has nothing to do with being right or wrong. If you read the other paragraph where once again I said it has a lot to do with where you live. I also said how a lot of crime actually comes from people you already know, hence rape. The media and hollywood sure don't let you see it in that form though. They always have big black man or something breaking down your door or chasing a woman in a parking garage. There is more reasons than intelligence as to why our crime rates are what they are compared to the rest of the world. That was my whole point. I want us to get away from the stigma that we have to be afraid of everyone and everything. However you feel the need to make judgments off of that. Good for you.

I would have to agree with what Meanie said. Where we grew up it's not known for crime. It's known for great schools, middle of suburbia, and the nicest malls in town. I think you see more crime in the poorer neighborhoods, these are the neighborhoods that you don't stop for the red light at night. It's geographically for sure.

I would give nothing more than to be back in my hometown but I had to be an adult and buy a house. Worst mistake I've ever made...