Greater crime rate, or better communications?

[hyphenate]

I've been lately seeing more and more instances of different kinds of crimes, in particular, the kidnapping and then sexual abuse or simply sexual servitude of young women around the world.

My conclusion? It's not more instances, but better communications around the world. We've had the Josef Fritzl incident in Austria, Elizabeth Smart. and many others over the recent years.

But the truth is, these kinds of crimes are lurid and appeal to the darker side of human beings, similar to the days when everyone would gather in the town square to watch someone being hanged, guillotined or burned at the stake.

We've talked about how many conservatives always say that things like pedophilia, murder, sex crimes, and such only got worse in the last 60 or so years, but the truth is that all these things have been going on for hundreds, if not thousands of years. In some cases, laws have put a kibosh on many of them, and in other instances, things have had a stigma attached to them to a point where they simply aren't tolerated anymore, which is why they get a lot of publicity when they do happen.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news in general, but the conservatives are wrong, and the fact is simple: human beings haven't evolved THAT much since the beginning--we've just become hyper-aware of things which we consider wrong, and therefore make those things more visible to shine the light on the things we consider wrong.

[Kennah]

1. Whitechapel Murders (1888-1891), Andrew & Abby Borden (1892), Wineville Chicken Coop Murders (1928)

All quite horrible, even today.

[Posteritatis]

2. Crime's been on the decrease for decades, but the news has people convinced otherwise. (nt)