Americans just might be too stupid to notice they were pickpocketed and then think no one pickpockets there
Why is pickpocketing and related just like, not a thing in the US?
I call bullshit. This is the country where everybody says, don't confront or they'll shoot/stab you. I bet many other countries have more vigilantism. This is the country, where everybody has guns "to rise against tyranny" and lets a tyranny roam free. This is the country where school shootings are almost a daily event. Majority of these people won't even confront people that litter.
Why is pickpocketing and related just like, not a thing in the US?
I call bullshit. This is the country where everybody says, don't confront or they'll shoot/stab you.
Well, you might have your answer right there. Pickpockets risk getting shot or stabbed, so the risk/reward maths out poorly for them
In 1992, I caught an eight year old pickpocketing my friend. We were 4 18yo males from Texas. So I am holding this kid a couple feet off the ground trying to decide what the hell to do with him. My friends didn't really know what to do either. He was struggling pretty good, but not enough to get free. His mom came rushing over yelling something unintelligible, so I just threw him at her, and they took off running.
How do Europeans react to pickpockets?
warn other people of their presence, publicly shame them
I caught a pickpocket in Madrid with his hand in my girlfriend’s purse. He was directly behind us on the escalator. We just kind of were like “hey not cool,” then had an awkward escalator ride. We were late for a flight, so didn’t really have time to do much anyway.
I have had stuff stolen in Paris. Mostly, you have no idea it happened until they’re long gone.
It usually isn't worth the time to call the police and wait for them while trying to retain the person(s). If the stolen value is under 400 euros they can only get a fine.
I've been in a situation like that. Street perfomance, many a people. Some guy bumped behind me. I somehow quickly noticed a lack of phone. I told my dad, soon as I realised. He went up to the guy, the guy was all like "eh, he dropped it" or whatever. Feels like they just be awkward
I think you destroyed him emotionally.
Thieves in the US will just pull a gun on you and turn it into a robbery. It's simply safer for them to come out of the gate with you at an obvious disadvantage.
Can you draw your weapon before they can pull their trigger? Go ahead, punk. Make my day.
Yeah, this seems to be the most plausible answer here, assuming the baseline claim is true.
It tooke me years to understand that in the US apparently instead of burglars just breaking in, stealing stuff and leaving, "home invasions" are a thing, where people are facing armed robbery in their houses, often including rape. It seems that in the US crime often has a much more violent and hateful component to it than in other western countries.
Not too surprised. Living in the US, giving a shit about the safety of owned property is pretty much the only thing you can count on.
When US Americans get painted this way, it feels like a "Humans- Fuck Yeah" story. Like I'm just so used to us having our downsides highlighted that it feels special to be seen for a positive attribute
I interpreted it as a negative, like "Americans are violent," heh.
Is it?
I sympathize with the complex though.
There's a significant percentage of Americans that wouldn't take that as a negative. As in, aren't just violent, but are proud of being violent and consider it to be a positive quality. Not all of us, but a fair few. Hence you get things like some gun people fantasizing about having someone break in to their house so that they have a justification to shoot someone and feel righteous about it.
glad people are finally noticing this aspect of 2a. maybe the conversation can eventually start to touch on things like how it works for unions, reproductive rights, preventing cop fuckery, resisting environmental exploration. long story short, how the perpetrators of systemic and corporeal violence almost exclusively only target the vulnerable and unarmed.
I think the biggest factor here is the immediate and tangible aspect of this type of theft.
Wage theft and systemic things are larger and conceptual until it hits, and more often than not because it’s so vague and not “just one person” it doesn’t evoke the same visceral response in a lot of people.
Not sure how we can start reframing to do so but getting on these conversations is a good idea for sure.
I'd much rather be pickpocketed than shot.
I’d much rather be pickpocketed than shoot.
So you're saying that americans have a magical property that makes them confront pickpocketers unlike everyone else who simply allows it to happen because they apparently don't care about keeping their expensive stuff? Believable
Yeah the whole post reeks of shit Americans say. Especially because the premise it is based on is false. Pickpocketing in Los Angeles continues to climb. Pickpocketing exists in US cities as it does in other cities.
But that is the thing, pickpockets mostly operate in city areas, and the US is much less densely populated than Europe.
Also it is funny that they think they will automatically always notice pickpockets so they can imaginarily intervene, which is kinda not how pickpocketing works. You notice it long after the criminals are gone.
Americans being unaware that pickpockets usually work in teams rule
I'll look another moron who thinks that crime rates are actually meaningful in any way, shape, or form.
