There's a major difference between 'unsafe because of high crime rates' (the actual case in some places) and 'unsafe because an entire mob of random people will manifest out of the ether, drag you from your car, and beat you up' (the nonsense part). The latter has been seeing increasing use lately as part of the endless barrage of 'all of (city name) is a flaming ruin constantly prowled by antifa supersoldiers' claims against the ongoing protests in several cities.

It doesn't have to be "constant". It's enough to happen to you once to cost you tens of thousands of dollars, or your health, or, if you're very unlucky, your life. I've seen photos of people with firearms drawn stopping motorists at protests. You can talk all day about how it doesn't happen, but I've seen photos and videos of that happening. There's no way I would go to such place for $20/hr (Uber's average wage in SV, for example). It's just not worth the risk.

Exactly, it's simple risk assessment. As much as people try to stay politically correct nowadays, it doesn't remove the most basic system we have, called survival. Life experiences and situations, creates these "stereotypes", and becomes widespread, because they are actual issues people try to avoid talking about, to not come off a certain way.

  Are HN posters really so sheltered that they don't know that this is a reality in many major American cities?

Man the irony here is really lost.

In what American city will you get dragged out of your car and beaten? Somewhere cartel controlled in south America, maybe, but that would be a pricey uber coming all the way from the U.S.

How about Portland? https://nypost.com/2020/08/17/blm-mob-beat-white-man-unconsc...

I can tell you from personal experience, much of the reporting on chaz/chop has been exaggerated. While any given incident may be accurately reported, the media selects the worst incidents/angles then tries to pass that off as the standard experience.

The incidents reported are reality, however that doesn't mean the picture being painted isn't misleading.

Here's one exaggerated incident: https://nypost.com/2020/08/17/blm-mob-beat-white-man-unconsc...

They exaggerate that the mob dragged a man out of his car, and they exaggerate that he was kicked in the head and rendered unconscious. In fact, they exaggerate so much that they had to take him into the ER. To me, it paints a completely misleading picture that in Portland you could be run off the road, dragged out of the car and beaten unconscious. Surely if reported properly, they'd notice there are thousands of people in Portland who weren't beaten senseless that night, so we'd better focus on that.

I take it your experience in cities is extremely limited.

I really don't know how you got that from me being the one who's warning you things can go sideways. If you've only had good experiences in cities, if you've never been mugged, if you've never been scared, or seen someone else in such a situation, it's you who has the limited experience.

Not that I want you to have a bad experience. Not that all cities are so bad, or that you're guaranteed a bad time everywhere. There's plenty of good left. But it's easy for someone who doesn't have their wits about them and doesn't know where to avoid to end up in the wrong place and have things go sideways. Don't be that person.

I've lived in this city my entire life and the vast majority of scary experiences have happened to me downtown. Which suburb do you live in?