Originally it was going to be “over the last twenty years” but I decided to be more flexible.

A lot of discussions about how society has changed or how the world is different always circle around to smartphones, social media, “no one talks to each other in person, they’re on their phones always” and the like.

Outside of those topics, what else has changed, by your perception?

  • forrgott@lemm.ee
    0·
    11 days ago

    Nobody thinks my country has a history of way too many kidnappings, but America has the market cornered on propaganda.

    I wanna say that mindset has no discernable effect on the number of crimes committed, at least when they reviewed the statistics years later. That’s what I heard anyway.

    • throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      11 days ago

      https://web.archive.org/web/20130827102200/http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2013-08/23/content_16916550.htm

      When children are abducted in the US, the vast majority of cases involve family members. At around 200 per year, true kidnappings in which children are taken by strangers for molestation, murder or ransom are relatively rare. Those held for ransom are usually the children of wealthy families, with resources to match demands. In stark contrast are the poor, often uneducated families of an estimated 70,000 children who go missing in China each year for forced labor, adoption or prostitution.

      The number of children who go missing each year fluctuates wildly depending on the source. Earlier this year China National Radio estimated that 200,000 children are abducted in China each year, but the government officially estimates that number to be 10,000. For the purposes of the film, Custer consulted independent contractors who estimated that 70,000 children are lost each year.

      My mother told me that girls get raped and sold into prostitution, boys get organs harvested. Government like to hide the real stats, perhaps the fear comes from hearing stories go around. Free press is not a thing where I was from.

      Fears tend to linger, even with migration to a different country.

      • forrgott@lemm.ee
        0·
        11 days ago

        Interesting. I appreciate the link.

        Funny how the US numbers reported are only for a very specific circumstance - possibly taken from conviction rates for such crimes? But anyway, with no data on family/close friend kidnappings, that stat is basically useless isn’t it.