Why Americans feel unsafe abroad when it is more dangerous at home?

Question

Some American travellers criticize other countries for corruption, drug trafficking, kidnapping, etc., but don't accept the fact that there is more danger within the U.S with all this massive killing of children and youths at schools, that gun control is a joke and that every single city has a very serious crime problem. I don't get it...

Answer 1

The premise of the question is flawed. Comparatively, cities abroad (outside of the U.S.) have a much higher crime rate than cities in the United States. For example, According to Urban Audit, Liège has the highest crime rate of all European cities (EU27), with 256.13 recorded crimes per 1,000 population in 2001. (See, Déjà-Vu: Pedophile Murders Shock Belgians, The Brussels Journal, by Paul Belien, June 6, 2006) This compares to less than 7,000 per 100,000 in New Orleans after the hurricanes. (Hat's off to a blogger named Dymphna who made this point in her blog and backed it with sources). So, having traveled abroad, having reviewed the data and based on personal experience the premise that U.S. Cities are more dangerous is flawed.

And, school killings, and the killing of children, unfortunately, happen throughout the world. In fact, in some places abroad you get killed by the government or the local warlord/mullah for going to school. In one Afghan city, local Taliban leaders killed the principal and several teachers for telling the kids that being a suicide bomber wasn't such a good career choice. No country in this world is free from "this massive killing of children" as you state. Whether it is the use of children as soldiers, terrorists, or the inability of European drug makers to find a few spare vaccines for their former colonial subjects' children. In the U.S. it is generally not state sponsored and, in the most recent occurrences, the act of a sick individual.

Why do some American travellers criticize other countries - simple, disgust over the outright, blatant hypocrisy and mind-numbing acceptance of corruption, drugs, theft, dishonesty and lack of courtesy within the culture of a number of countries abroad. Let's add the absence of basic rights for women and children and freedom of religion and speech (de jure and de facto) expressed in a number of countries abroad. How about class structures within certain societies that raise some above others solely by virtue of birth?

No, not every city in the U.S. has a crime problem and gun control is effective within the bounds of the Second Amendment. And, American cities continue to grow with an influx of many welcome immigrants that come here not because "there is more danger within the U.S." But, because it remains a land of promise, growth and freedom far more than in any place I have ever seen or traveled to.

Answer 2

Essentially, it's all about how much in control of your environment you perceive yourself to be.

As a basic coping mechanism, we mentally turn down the volume on the worst of our daily stresses. So when we live in a dangerous area, we assure ourselves that we know how to take care of ourselves, where especially to avoid, etc. Then we feel like we have some control and it's not so dangerous. It helps us get through the day, at least until we're proven wrong.

Put your typical U.S. American in a foreign country and chances are high that they don't know the language, so they're uneasy about trying to communicate. What most don't realize is that there will be different standards of behaviour and etiquette. That discordance can really undermine a person's sense of comfort and it's easy to blame the some aspect of the host culture for it.

Add in the fact that U.S. media puts out a constant barrage of 'We're better than anyone else' and what else do you expect? The U.S. isn't great at reality checks.

Answer 3

Violent crime has dropped considerably in the past decade, school shoots & deaths are still VERY rare given the population(300+ Mil), and lastly, the vast majority of dangerous crime is highly concentrated in areas you can easily avoid(related to the drug trade). The closet thing to violence you'll see(as a tourist) here is a drunken bar fight.

Compared to other parts of the world, the USA is one of the safest....and many non-first world countries are well known for extremely corrupt police forces. This coming from tourist and immigrants from those countries.....While the risk of kidnapping is overblown, getting a shakedown from the police isn't.

Answer 4

I live in the US and
I've traveled extensively (within and abroad) and I don't feel any safer or anymore in danger wherever I go.
Anywhere one goes, there is always going to be some sort of risk....in todays world, no one is really 100% safe .....

I think now in days, Americans fall into a stereotype abroad and it is just not fair.....I went to this one country where I actually was able to change people's opinion about the American people as a whole because they saw I did not fall into a stereotype and I spoke to them about it.

The whole world needs to start looking at a brighter future...and to do that every nation would need to start fixing things within their own country first....

Answer 5

Americans feel unsafe abroad because of the uncertainty. They are unfamiliar with other countries and usually don't speak the native language.