It wasn't a thread, it was comments by a few (or a couple of?) people who were saying that there is in reality not as much crime as everyone says, that it's more dangerous to live in the US (generally - then the discussions about specific cities and areas started) and other such things.
I think there were a couple of obviously Argentinos (one of which seemed to be a serious Kirchnerista) who were probably the most vocal.
I remember when this forum was full of people saying "BA - love it or leave it" as recently as a year ago whenever anyone said anything negative. Many more locals were active and acting in a defensive manner. The rest of us were looking to blow off steam for what to us was a combination of frustration and enjoyment of life here. A mutual sharing of frustrations that therapeutically helped us (I know it did me) manage the worse parts of living here.
Now, I think a lot of us are discussing these things in a slightly different light, because we're worried. Not scared s**tless or anything like that (at least not most of us). Those who visit or even are here for a year or so with intentions of moving on somewhere else or returning home, como sea, do not feel the same urgency as those of us who have lived here longer, or perhaps those who have lived in other places and have some experience of the possibility of bad things happening.
The truth is, I don't really feel unsafe walking the streets, even at times like 4:00 am when sometimes I come back from a buddy's house, or dinner, or something. I know others who do - because they've been robbed countless times. I never really figured I was a big guy (almost 5'11", about 210 pounds), but maybe here, where I've noticed that I am a bit above average in height, I'm seen as a big guy not to be messed with? I doubt it, particularly if a group want to assault and rob me. But only a very few times have I even felt that someone was following me. I've never had any close calls that I know of.
I've seen a few comments here and there about "naw, in this day and age that can't happen" when I or someone else has mentioned the possibility of Cristina installing herself as a dictator, for example. I honestly don't know how likely it is, but we watched Chavez install himself as such, while I was living here, we watched the Paraguayan congress oust a sitting president because he wouldn't play the game the way the Colorado Party wanted, etc, etc. We've watched a lot of kooky things happen here as well.
I don't know what's going to happen, and that's part of the problem. The unstable-feeling environment that the government has created here causes uncertainty for everyone who is paying attention. Many of us have had experience with how the system works here at its best (which often is not very good) and some of us have seen caught thieves either released before going to jail, or shortly thereafter. We've seen verified reports that murderers who have committed heinous crimes are released during trial and very shortly after sentencing to attend "Kirchnerista" rallies and disappear into buildings for hours or an entire night, with no guards. We know there are really relatively few police that for the most part can't be trusted in a pinch situation anyway, a large poor population in many scattered villas that can cause problems in unstable situations (imagine a few hundred thousand poor, hungry people looking at the "rich"...which here includes me and many [most?] of us as well, whether we think so or not).
I want to be able to get out before things get really bad. I don't have any desire to live under a repressive government. Indeed, I tolerated much of life in Argentina because for the most part the government left one alone, until recently, and the way things were was part of the price of not having Big Brother looking over your shoulder every minute.
I don't have a desire to feel unsafe on the streets. I already worry about the latter, given how many people I know DIRECTLY who have been robbed and assaulted, both on the streets and at home. I don't want to start experiencing it myself (selfish bas-tard that I am!).
That's why
I talk about these things. Partly to discharge my feelings, partly to warn others that are thinking about coming here to really understand the situation before they come. This may be the "Paris of South America," but everything in this world is relative. A lot of people who haven't been here, or have made a few short trips, don't often understand that.
Having said all that, I almost didn't post here too, because the subject is starting to get beaten to death, I think. But I wanted to put out why I, personally, post at times in these threads about crime.
I don't care if BA is rated the most dangerous, or the least dangerous, in SA or the rest of the world. I know the US is safer in general, with obvious exceptions (where a lot of the crime in poor areas is between the inhabitants themselves) and don't feel like discussing or comparing that because it makes not one whit of difference about what's going on here.
Maybe the crime threads can take a rest for a bit, and in another month or a few weeks we can compare notes again and see where we are
The political threads now - things happen so fast here that it seems like there's always something new to talk about (or refute in some of the extreme cases, maybe!).
