- This is not a free country. And it’s not a democracy. Political dissidents are swiftly and brutally repressed. The all-powerful state has a low threshold for disagreement.
- There is virtually no crime here. I feel safe on the streets at any time of day or night, in any location. I don’t fret for the personal safety of the eight Susquehanna students who walk in Macau and travel to other Chinese destinations.
Obviously, these are related, but I don’t know how much. I’ve observed essentially the same thing in the United Arab Emirates, although dissidents there don’t seem to be treated with such brutality as we see here. However, there are countries where people are both free and pretty safe walking around, for example in Scandinavia or The Netherlands. Thus political repression doesn’t appear to be a necessary condition for personal safety.
I’m thinking about this because I don’t feel safe walking around in U.S. cities after dark, or – in some neighborhoods – even in broad daylight. Poverty, racial tension, drugs, general hopelessness and a tough street culture all contribute to a social milieu in which personal safety is at risk, most especially for those who live there. While I look forward to returning to the land of the free, I don’t look forward to that feeling of apprehension when I park my car or get off the bus in an unfamiliar neighborhood.
