Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
When I write about threats to press freedom in Turkey, inevitably friends are concerned, and often write to ask whether I'm safe in Turkey. No, I'm not. None of us are safe anywhere. There are only degrees of risk and probabilities. What I worry about most in Turkey--still--are car accidents and earthquakes. These are two huge, very real risks to the safety of everyone living there. I do my best to take the precautions I can, but if I find myself in the wrong building or on the wrong sidewalk at the wrong moment, not much I can do.
Foreign journalists in Turkey are usually left alone. An American was deported not long ago, but basically, a foreign journalist in Turkey is not on a danger assignment--it is not like working in Iran, or, of late, Egypt. I know a lot of incredibly brave journalists who take on extraordinarily dangerous assignments. I'm not kidding myself that I'm one of them.
But let me tell you something. Since I've been in Washington, I've been warned by almost everyone with whom I come into contact that I'd be taking my life in my hands if I went for a long walk at night by myself anywhere in the city. And this seems simply to be taken for granted: You cannot go for a walk by yourself at night, the crime rate is too high.
The statistics confirm the simply appalling anecdotal evidence: This city just isn't safe. If I were reporting from a foreign city called "Washington, Middle East" with crime rates like this, and if I reported--accurately--about the risk to ordinary citizens in this dangerous foreign city, you'd be extremely worried about me.
This is not true in Istanbul.
I like having the freedom to go for a walk in the evenings if I feel like it. I don't have it here--in America's capitol.
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Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
I sympathize, Claire - it's one of the things I really did not like about living in DC. I walked home every night, a 3 mile hike through reasonably good neighborhoods, ending up on a dark street off a neighborhood "in transition" where the parks were always full of men sitting around drinking. I got used to it.
But then I'd go a party somewhere else in town, and when it came time to get a cab the host would plot you a route to a main thoroughfare - this block's okay, this block's bad, don't go here, take a right - and I would wish they'd color-code the sidewalks so newcomers could take the best route without getting their head knocked in.
Jun '10
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
I find, if you dress like a unkempt drug addict, like I normally do, muggers assume you have no money--good assumption in my case--and leave you alone. Women might have other factors to deal with.
Dec '10
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
Istanbul doesn't have a Democrat mayor. That should explain it.
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
This was true a quarter of a century ago when I went to live in Istanbul. There was virtually no crime -- in part because a great many women stayed at home, and they saw everything that happened. No surveillance cameras, but plenty of surveillance nonetheless. The other factor was Islam. Whatever criticism one might wish to make of Islam, it pretty effectively imposes a moral code.
May '10
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
I just hope you don't get crippled by a State Department limo like that Treacher guy.
(and man, wish y'all would quit pretending it's "Istanbul").
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
If you get a chance, Paul, click on that last link in my piece--it's an article I wrote for City Journal about why crime rates are so low in Istanbul. I mention just what you observed (and a few other things, too.)
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
Kennedy Smith:
(and man, wish y'all would quit pretending it's "Istanbul"). · Feb 19 at 11:20am
That's nobody's business but the Turks.
Oct '10
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
Safety in large part is matter of common sense and timing... One does spend most of the time in Mexico, just not the part where the narcos like to play. It also helps not to look like a potential victim or present yourself as one.
Had visited D.C. years ago in late November, so cold one thinks the thugs were not even willing to venture out...But that was then..
Jun '10
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
Had to laugh about your confusion about the bars on the windows at the police station. I had exactly the same reaction when looking at the barred up Russian FSB headquarters in the city I lived in. If the FSB couldn't keep people out, then for god's sake, who could? You've now made me realize that, perhaps, I had been looking at the situation backwards all along.
Though the criminal statistics in Russia are rather horrid, I still felt reasonably safe walking around at night since so many other people were, too. I have to assume that Istanbul is pretty busy 24 hours a day, so the "safety in numbers" factor could play a part. (somehow I think we have chatted about this before) Anyway, I can very much appreciate the vigilante attitude and cultural shame utilized in Turkey. I think we could use more of it here in the U.S.
Edited on Feb 19, 2011 at 1:43pmJun '10
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
I was also amused by your mention of the Turkish women who don't work and have nothing to do but nose into their neighborhood's business. In Russia, both father and mother work, so children go unattended frequently. The babushkas (literally means grandmother in Russian but also applies to old women, in general) become the social regulators in society. Every Russian I seemed to know recounted the impact of having to pass muster with the babushkas sitting on the benches outside the apartment buildings they lived in, whether they were related to the women or not. Any poor behavior would surely be reported.
Jan '11
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
Remember this?
As far as I know, these days, DC is relatively safe as long as you stay away from SE. I've never felt endangered when taking a walk in the Enclave, but I was always somewhat near a hotspot like Adams Morgan, Dupont and Capitol Hill.
Oct '10
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
IE, Dave, Anyway, I can very much appreciate the vigilante attitude and cultural shame utilized in Turkey. I think we could use more of it here in the U.S.
Note, that type of thing did exist in the U.S. for a long time. Society did self regulate in a manner of speaking. The have been some horrible examples that were used to dilute and punish citizens here taking any action whatsoever. Unjust actions are never an excuse, save one should be free enough to enjoy life unmolested.
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
By the way, I just corrected the title of this post--no one noticed it was backwards, did they? Odd how the eye compensates and the brain makes sense of things without us being at all conscious of it.
Jul '10
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
Nah, we just figured you had the post backwards & that would've taken to long to fix.
Jul '10
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
I thought you were highlighting a cogent irony with a thoughtful transposition and awarded two bonus points for style. Now I gotta scratch those out.
Jul '10
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
fullfrontal: Remember this?
As far as I know, these days, DC is relatively safe as long as you stay away from SE. I've never felt endangered when taking a walk in the Enclave, but I was always somewhat near a hotspot like Adams Morgan, Dupont and Capitol Hill. · Feb 19 at 1:51pm
Capitol Hill is called the game preserve locally. It is bounded to the west by Congress and everywhere else by other varieties of hard core criminal. One family that moved in a few years ago came home a month after moving in to discover the place stripped of their belongings by burglars, looked ready for new owners.
When we moved from the Maryland side to the Virginia side, we reduced our chances of car theft 8 fold, and radically improved our children's educational opportunities. Given the quality of governance, if Washington had a mortal economic base rather than undying government, it would look a lot like Detroit by now.
Edited on Feb 19, 2011 at 3:23pmRe: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
If you get a chance, Paul, click on that last link in my piece--it's an article I wrote for City Journal about why crime rates are so low in Istanbul. I mention just what you observed (and a few other things, too.) · Feb 19 at 11:30am
Will do -- but, alas, not today. I am swamped with grading and -- horrors -- income taxes.
Dec '10
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
As for Washington DC, restrictive gun laws that only the law abiding follow equals more crime. It's that simple. Read your John Lott.
Istanbul...I don't know. Don't they cut your hand or your head off if you screw around too much there? That would sure keep me on the old straight and narrow.
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
Funeral Guy: As for Washington DC, restrictive gun laws that only the law abiding follow equals more crime. It's that simple. Read your John Lott.
Istanbul...I don't know. Don't they cut your hand or your head off if you screw around too much there? That would sure keep me on the old straight and narrow. · Feb 19 at 4:39pm
Neither. The death penalty has been abolished, and the legal system is completely secular.
Dec '10
Re: Why I Feel No Safer in Washington D.C. than in Istanbul
Let's be realistic. I grew up in in D.C,, when it was so bad, in the 60s and early 70s, that it was the murder capital of the world. I was in Trenchtown, literally, in Trenchtown, when Trenchtown was burining and Bob Marley was safely in Miami. I lived in Vientiane in the late 1960s, while the rest of you were in comfortable suburbs, somewhere. I lived on Soviet fishing vessels in the 1980s, while the rest of you were contemplating the USSR.
Claire is doing it, now, and I am worried about her. There is not a thing she can do, to protect herself, in that part of the world. Come home, please, Claire.
I was the son of the First Secretay of an embassy, not some hippy, but I was beaten to a pulp with rebar, against a fence. Ordinary Jamaican citizens eventually saved me. You think you are tough, because you take some martial arts classes? I started judo when I was eleven. Let me tell you something; I don't care what you think your personal skill is; there is a limit to the number of people that you can handle.
Get out.
Please.