{"id":80196,"date":"2021-12-02T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=80196"},"modified":"2021-12-02T08:03:34","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T14:03:34","slug":"the-odds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=80196","title":{"rendered":"The Odds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I live in the Midway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When people think of the Midway, they think urban blight – and they’re not wrong. .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South of Thomas, anyway. So far. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve lived here a long, long time. I’ve been on the rollercoaster – the worst of the “Murderapolis” years (where Saint Paul was also beset with violent crime as well, although as usual to nowhere near the level of Minneapolis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve got no intention of going anywhere anytime soon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And most of us live here without much incident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And throughout the cities, most of us do. Some places it’s harder than others; I know people in North Minneapolis who’ve learned to tune out gunfire that’s not too <\/em>close, sort of like infantrymen who ignore artillery shells that are passing overhead. Other places it’s harder for reasons that go beyond ambient crime; people stuck in the “George Floyd Autonomous Zone” or whatever they call it these days, or Powderhorn Park last year, where external forces change the neighborhood, against the neighbors will or not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for the most part, we live here, more or less like we did five or ten or 25 years ago. Maybe a little less retain, maybe a little more careful at stoplights – but life goes on, the changes slow enough, riots notwithstanding, not to raise any particular alarms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But things are <\/em>worse than they were five years ago; the numbers don’t lie. VIolent crime has skyrocketed. In Minneapolis, they were at 82 homicides so far this year. That was the total in 2016…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…for the entire state of Minnesota. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So life goes on – but all is not <\/em>well, and all is not <\/em>what it was five years ago, when Minneapolis had very low <\/em>crime by urban standards, and carjacking was something you read about in Chicago. .We carry on – but we’re aware that property crime is a third above the national average; violent crime, double the national rate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

IShiny Happy People: <\/strong> bring it up because Ive been beset by a small plague of Shiny Happy People lately. Overwhelmingly young women in their late ’20s\/early ’30s, visibly and vocally members of “progressive” Christian congregations, resisdents of third tier suburbs, who declare “Don’t believe all the apocalyptic hype; I’ve been to Minneapolis (or Saint Paul), a bunch, and it’s still pretty awesome”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The message comes with an. implied “Tut tut, all you big angry white men; if lil’. ol’ me can take in a show, I don’t know what you’re jabbering about”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll meet ’em halfway. I’ve stopped bothering responding to hysterics from Orono and Landfall and their Mad Max fantasies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a quick note to the Shiny Happy People, the “progressive” evangelical tourists who drive in, proclaim, and drive back home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On any given day in Minneapolis last year:<\/p>\n\n\n\n