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Sadly, I'm beginning to feel numb
Every day, especially every weekend (it seems), someone or some people are shot in the city this year.
Before we all rush in with speculation about why and how and what is to be done, can we please pause and remember that parents and brothers and sisters and children and grandparents and friends are worried, perhaps even mourning, today.
I wish
that anyone even did, but the fact is that on this site, which is IMO head and shoulders above, say, the Globe or Herald comment section, hardly anyone even bothers commenting on the "man shot in Dorchester/mattapan/Roxbury" stories that show up pretty much every day. Myself included--I'm not judging, but just observing that we're all pretty much numb to it. It seems sometimes as if even the best-intentioned of us just take for granted that this is just the way it is now in these neighborhoods. No outrage, no upset.
Well said Sally.
Well said Sally.
People here would much rather criticize the BPD instead of help the BPD.
The BPD can't say, "eh, we are numb to this so we just aren't going to go to this shooting".
They are out there, every single night, every single weekend, actually seeing this stuff.
exactly
Most of the time I just note that someone was shot or killed, check to see if I know the person or if it happened near where I work or live, and if not it just gets filed in my mind as another horrible tragedy among many.
I've lived in much more violent places than Boston-- one of the appeals of living here has been the relative safety of the city-- but even we are seeing and hearing too much grief.
edit-- I was responding to Sally in this post
I always assumed that it was
I always assumed that it was because this site skews toward a certain audience in Roslindale / West Roxbury, and that the street brutality of Dorchester is out of our comfort zone. I don't know another way to put it, but the situation there feels overwhelmingly hopeless and pointless.
That reflects who the Universal Hub readership is
If more people who lived in the affected neighborhoods read this site, you'd see more comments about these stories. I know that I'm much more likely to comment about a shooting four blocks away (which fortunately is a rare event in West Somerville or North Cambridge) than one four miles away.
No, it's not numbness
It's lack of direct personal connection or knowledge. Hardly the same thing.
A little secret: People DO comment on such things here. All the time. Frequently. You just don't see most of them because I apply the Delete checkbox liberally. This most definitely is not the Globe or Herald and I'm not going to let this site become the racist cesspool the comments sections there have become. And yes, I'm aware this will trigger anonymous comments, but, the joke's on the people wasting their time angrily pounding out spittle-laden diatribes because a) I don't care, and b) I decide what goes on a page here, so froth all you like, your comments won't be going public.
Thanks for doing that, Adam
My days of having patience for the all-comments-allowed approach are well over.
Unfortunate that the freedom to express one's thoughts without government retaliation or silencing has been confused with the demand too blurt insults, threats, and idiocy on any venue. I appreciate how much work, and how soul-sucking, it is to swat the dung beetles away from the site, so, again, thanks.
Wow
Wow, I honestly thought the reason comments hardly appear on these stories was that so many people enjoy riling others up with polarizing comments, but were too respectful to do so on these particular stories. I guess I've been giving people too much credit?
I lived in Dorchester for nearly a decade, and I'd say unfortunately you do get used to it. But I wouldn't call it a numb feeling; it's more like you get used to feeling sad for the people and the neighborhood all the time.
Ugh.
I'm sure that's the most depressing part of your job and thank you for sheltering your readers--it really does make a difference not to have to scroll through shite.
The city is not doing enough
The city is not doing enough to confront gangs.
Until gangs are systematically dismantled like the mob was the carnage won't end.
You do realize that shootings
You do realize that shootings and homicides are at all time lows right? Boston is a major city of course there will be pockets of violence. If Boston had a problem with violence then it wod be seeing over 100 murders a year and over 365 shootings. Right now its like 40 murders a year(not even one a week) and like 200 shootings if that most years. Other cities half the size have 4x the murder rate and even more. Even the gangstas in Boston are fairly safe from the real g's in this country.
True but
the number of shootings--non-fatal, often kind of random--seems crazy to me which indicates only that these jerks are just bad shots, not that violence is down. Most of what shows up here aren't actual homicides, just shootings. I know we're not Chicago but still...
Shootings ARE down
Latest stats from BPD.
This shows that shootings are
This shows that shootings are down so far from 2015, but wasn't there a big increase in shootings from 2014 to 2015? Not deaths, but shooting incidents?
What should the City of Boston do?
Serious question, but first condolences to the victims' families.
If by "city" you mean residents and community leaders and other stakeholders, then a lot more can be done, I agree.
As for city gov't, I think BPD is doing all it can and a great job to boot. City of Boston can't bring any legislation stronger than current state and federal laws.
It took specific federal legislation (RICO Act) and the full attention of the federal government to disrupt the mob for a while. It's still not dismantled. almost 50 years later. And remember, the mob is "organized" crime, literally. The feds could target known players and locations and bring in surveillance and undercover agents to work their way up the heirarchy.
Boston "gangs" are much more disorganized and less structured. A lot of the violence is kids with guns defending their turf and fighting ongoing beefs with other kids from a couple streets over.
I would love to see Boston come up with some remedies but I really don't think they have the resources.
And I'm not numb to any of this. Very sad when kids are killing and dying and even more so when innocents are killed.
But honestly I don't comment on the vast majority of UH posts. There have been no facts provided yet so I have no way of knowing the actual problem. I'm not getting outraged out of principal.
Sorry.
Thank you Adam
You are the last crime reporter in the city of Boston,the rest of the reporters in Boston cover gossip,sex scandals and parties done the Vineyard.