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It’s a mass of irony for all the world to see
It’s the nation’s capital, it’s Washington D.C.
Yes. Great news that DC is keeping it real with a high murder rate and violent crime rate. Though it IS down a lot from the height in the 90s.
So is this actual irony, or is it rain on your wedding day?
As someone who mostly grew in DC, I can’t say I share Xeni’s nostalgia. I never saw much of the redeeming weirdness of other ghettos like one encounters in NYC or SF or LA.
That said, I read her remarks more as acerbic irony on the bullshit promises of DC city politicians than an endorsement of the practical fear of violence so prevalent in the nation’s capital. DC has a surfeit of law enforcement agencies, and their iron fist has failed to bring peace in decades of systemic poverty and violence. Yes, as you say, the murder rate is down. But that’s mainly due to the decline of the crack epidemic, which has far more to due with economics than good police-work,
Well, sure, because police don’t stop or decrease crime (or even effectively punish criminals, other than on an individual level). Crime is almost entirely caused and cured by economic conditions. Cops just exist to keep the rich from being eaten by the poor - “La majestueuse égalité des lois, qui interdit au riche comme au pauvre de coucher sous les ponts, de mendier dans les rues et de voler du pain.”
Most people would steal or murder in order to feed and clothe their loved ones, after all. To quote Anatole France once again, “Innocence most often is due to good fortune and not virtue.”
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