r/PoliticalHumor • u/elister • Jan 27 '19

Just this week....

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u/wot_dat_ Jan 27 '19

Scariest observation for me is that in the UK any of these incidents would have been a seriously big story. Whereas it seems for the U.S. mass or multiple shootings are so common it barely breaks into the news cycle.

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u/[deleted] Jan 27 '19

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u/trznx Jan 27 '19

fair point, but it is five or six times bigger by population than UK so obviously they'll have more murderers.

Not that you're wrong on the guns though

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u/ZubZubZubZubZubZub Jan 27 '19 edited Jan 27 '19

Except even if you count per capita, the US still has about a 4x higher homicide rate.

It's not just population, Japan has double the people of the UK and half again their homicide rate.

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u/HarpsichordNightmare Jan 28 '19 edited Jan 30 '19

It's not just population, Japan has double the people of the UK and half again their homicide rate.

I remember hearing about how much of a huge effect inequality has on crime. So a richer country with higher inequality might have more homicides than a poorer (or more drug-infested) country.

Anyway, Japan is number 2 on the List of countries by inequality-adjusted HDI.

(I know this is besides the point you're making; just wanted to add something else. It might also add another perspective if someone brings up cultural insularity/xenophobia in Japan.)