Living down to expectations

Why is it that Tokyo, the Tenth largest city in the world (New York being the 11th), is 1000 times safer than Houston (94th)?

I would happily (And I have) walk around 99.5% of Tokyo after dark and never even think about being robbed or beaten or anything of the sort... I don't think you can say that of even the smaller Metropolises in America (I can think of almost 10% of Denver that you don't want to go into after dark... )

I pondered this for a long while and it suddenly came to me: We all live exactly to our expectations: By this I mean, we either live up or live down to our expectations.

This of course, does not cover every single human being without exception, but it does cover the majority. I say this specifically for those of you who pick nits with me :)

Now, that disclaimer said, Let me explain:

In Japan, people are assumed to be good folks. Companies treat people like honorable folk; police don't carry guns and seem to have the primary job of getting cats out of trees, and giving directions; there is not a single speed trap within 100 miles of my house (I'm guessing they are somewhere, but I haven't found them). People here are assumed innocent.

In America, counterpoint, I think people are assumed guilty. To prove my point, ask any officer for directions and see if he/she doesn't put his/her hand on his/her pistol or at least look at you with the "Cop Glare"... This is an easier experiment if you are male, and not a cute lady. And certainly not a cute doctor lady (Just stopping you before you get started m'dear :) ) Companies in America have rules set in place that cannot be bent because they don't want to be taken for a ride by their customers, and thus we have thousands of odd hurtles to jump through just to do the simplest things. Hospitals treat everyone like they have Ebola and have been using Heroine for the last 40 years, and your neighbors carry shotguns.

I'm not saying it's not justified, I'm not saying it isn't the right course of action. I'm just observing. But I do believe we live down to this. People who are assumed guilty become guilty. People who are assumed innocent become innocent.

Here, people are still assumed innocent, and the entire place is shocked when someone takes a gun and waves it around. Though you can't own a gun here, that's very much a "The Japanese people have decided to be peaceful and thus we will not have guns." Sort of statement, not "YOU CANNOT HAVE A GUN!" Which may seem like the same thing, but it's not. Everyone is assumed to not have guns here. And so they don't.

Does this prevent people from getting guns? Of course not, Does it mean that no one here has a gun? No. But we don't have even a millionth of the gun crime of America.

I'm not saying it's bad to own a gun, either... I know at least Dad would argue with me there, that's not the point of this post; it's simply that I have noticed that when you assume your populous is dangerous, they become dangerous.

I think things changed for America during the 70s and 80s... probably as a direct result of Vietnam (For the record, we owned guns before the 70s... this is to reinforce that I'm not posting an "Anti-Gun" post, just using it as an example :) ). We started to change slowly. Started assuming the worst in people instead of assuming the best. Now, it's a given. Strangers are not to be trusted, someone is always lurking in the shadows, and we are all a little scared.

It's starting here too. Japan is starting to "lose it's innocence". More people are taking advantage of the systems here, and so the systems are changing as a result.

I'm even part of the problem: I drive way over the posted speed limits all the time, because I know that the police aren't watching.

Of course, I've always felt that speed limits were too low everywhere, but that's no excuse for breaking the law.

Many people do that, but the police haven't gotten to the stage where they feel like they need to "Watch" everyone... so though we don't feel watched, we do take advantage of it.

And the accidents will rise, and somewhere along the line, they will start to watch... And things will change.

It won't be long before Japan will be just like America, and I won't feel comfortable wandering the 10th largest city at night.

Yes, this is kind of a depressing observation. But keep in mind that we are the same humans, Americans, Japanese, British, etc. With pretty much the same lifestyles (The fact that the Japanese eat things that frighten small children isn't enough of a difference to change their humanity... though it does often make me worry about my dear friends...). And we are the same humans that we have been for thousands of years. Nothing has changed except the way we have been treated.

So why is Chicago so much more dangerous than Tokyo?

Something to ponder, that's all...

---Me.