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Why Can Many Rural People Be So Paranoid Of Crime? (Story) (lake, houses)
I can't speak for other rural people but, if I have any paranoia regarding criminal nature, it's derived from having lived in large urban areas before coming out to rural America. However, I have found little differences in people no matter where you find them. There are simply less of them in a rural setting.
Retired from city six months ago. Rural paranoia/daylight paranoia here beyond normal city-style Gift of Fear intuition caution. Went Googling for phenomenon. Psyche squad seems to think city is worse. All I can think is they've never studied my neighbors. If we could afford to move back to city, even suburbs, I'd do it in a heart beat!
Last edited by NewRuralist; 12-13-2018 at 05:48 AM..
Reason: adding sentence
I can't speak for other rural people but, if I have any paranoia regarding criminal nature, it's derived from having lived in large urban areas before coming out to rural America. However, I have found little differences in people no matter where you find them. There are simply less of them in a rural setting.
There are fewer criminals around, but when they’re bad, they’re really, really horrible. Good thing so many homeowners are prepared to use deadly force against them.
It's not that major crimes are a common problem. It's that at my place you're entirely on your own when they do happen. No neighbor in shouting distance. Hardly any cell signal at my cabin, and forget about the police coming out there in any reasonable amount of time (in winter if there's snow they'll be needing to literally drive to the end of the plowed town road, then unload a snowmobile to get the rest of the way in).
I'll second that post.
I live in a town just under 900, off a private dirt road with 8 other homes, my driveway Is 1/2 mile long, and my closest neighbor is over 1/2 mile away.
I have lived in small town America, and in big city America. I am back in small town America in my late 80s.
Some things I have noticed over the years.
People moving from the big cities to small towns, have a hard time understanding small town America. They are used to seeing or hearing a police car every few minutes in the city, and in the country may not see one for days. This lack of seeing police seems to make them feel less safe, and afraid. In our town of 2,000 people, I may go months without seeing one on patrol, and like most long time rural dwellers realize that as they do not see a police car for days, means they are safer from other people endangering them, and there is nothing for the police to be out on patrol to look for.
In rural America most homes will have guns. But they are not in the home to protect the occupants, but there because they are hunters for deer, ducks, etc. Those people will know how to safely handle a gun, and can hit what they shoot at, so are not going to be the ones that panic shoot someone.
A true story of when I was young. I lived on a ranch 2 miles out of our small town. A man moved from the big city, to our rural area. Some co-workers were going hunting, and he got himself invited to go out with them. They separated, and went look for game. Suddenly he was shooting and shot several times. They went to see what he had shot. When they got there, he told them, he had not seen a deer, but he had several good sound shots, but apparently had not hit the deer that was making noise in the brush. The old timers realized he was just another crazy city hunter, and it could have been one or more of them he heard make some noise in the brush and took a shot at. They told him to go over to a big clump of brush, as he may have better luck there. They then all went to their cars, and left him out there 50 miles from home on a little used narrow state highway. They went to another area where it would be safe to hunt, away from this guy that shot blindly when he heard a noise. He did not get home for 2 days, and no one ever took him hunting again.
City people moving to rural areas, often have a hard time adjusting. They simply do not understand the culture in the area, and are not really wanting to fit in. They often start campaigns to bring in changes, so the rural area is like the cities they are fleeing. This makes them very much hated by the locals, that do not want the changes made in their area.
As another poster said, it isn't the fear of the crime itself, moreso the fact that they are on their own if something happens. Where my parents have a farm in rural Upstate NY, at night there is only one or two county sheriff's on duty for the whole county, other police response would have to come from the State Troopers, and that's another hour wait if you're lucky. Also, the drug markets in rural areas are a moneypot for dealers. What sells for $10-$15 dollars on the streets of NYC can go for $40 or $50 dollars in rural areas of Vermont, for example, due to the scarcity of supply. I learned all this in 6+ years of working in the Department of Corrections at the prisons. This drives a lot of the city thugs into the small towns and country for the purpose of making that easy extra money. Crime is also a lot easier to hide in the country. If the nearest neighbor is a quarter mile away, they aren't going to hear or notice someone breaking into my house.
In a small town or rural area, when crime happens to someone you likely know them. That makes it personal and if it can happen to someone you know the odds of it happening mean nothing as those same odds for the one who experienced it and whom you know. Its real in a small town not a city story or stats in a city where you do not know a victim.
I have an honest theory about this, I live in a city but drive and work in rural markets. City customers are desensitized to human interaction and are much more willing to converse and discuss with you. Rural customers are very sensitive as they do not interact on a daily basis. They hear a terrible story about a robbery and 1 assume it to be truth, and 2 don’t receive positive or daily human contact to disprove the idea. Simply put, rural customers are generally mich more sensitive and require more attention than most of my clients from the city.
I have an honest theory about this, I live in a city but drive and work in rural markets. City customers are desensitized to human interaction and are much more willing to converse and discuss with you. Rural customers are very sensitive as they do not interact on a daily basis. They hear a terrible story about a robbery and 1 assume it to be truth, and 2 don’t receive positive or daily human contact to disprove the idea. Simply put, rural customers are generally mich more sensitive and require more attention than most of my clients from the city.
My experience is the opposite.
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