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Crime and Outrage

2015-11-24 · letter vlog · John · 3:48 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: US politics & society) · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, community lore

John argues that because we seek out and share what outrages us, attention hops between small outrages (pennies, Martin Shkreli) while complicated problems go unaddressed, leaving Americans more afraid and pessimistic than the data on crime, health and the economy warrant.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Quiz: US violent crime has fallen by about half since 1990, yet most Americans feel crime is rising; John among them

  • ★★★ John says the US violent crime rate has fallen dramatically since 1990: there are about half as many violent crimes per 1,000 Americans as 25 years ago. — 00:00:01 · United States
  • ★★★ Overall crime rates are also down dramatically, yet every year since 2006 at least 60% of Americans polled have said they feel crime is going up. — 00:00:16 · United States
  • ★★ John was among those who felt crime was rising: he set out to make a video about why crime is going up, only to find it isn't. — 00:00:25

00:00:32 — Causes of death visualisation: interpersonal violence is a small and fast-shrinking public health problem in the US, even measured in DALYs

  • ★★ On a chart of US causes of death, interpersonal violence (war, terrorism, murder) is small; measured in disability-adjusted life years it grows because victims are disproportionately young, but stays smaller than suicide, drug overdoses, asthma, preterm-birth complications or traffic accidents. — 00:00:32 · United States
  • ★★ Violence is shrinking faster as a cause of death and disability in the US than any other major cause except HIV. — 00:01:01 · United States

00:01:09 — Online we share what outrages us, so media chase outrage; John's 2010 penny video as a small outrage; Congress's unpassed highway funding bill

  • ★★★ John says several studies show we like to share what outrages us online, which pushes media companies, even small ones making videos in basements, to find outrageous stories. — 00:01:09 · sensationalism
  • ★★ John admits he has done this too: in 2010 he made a video about how outrageous it is that the US keeps minting pennies. — 00:01:20 · United States
  • ★★ John says pennies cost two cents apiece to make and, overstating, that they are never used to buy goods or services. (playful) — 00:01:22
  • ★★★ John calls the penny an obvious outrage but an exceedingly small one. — 00:01:29
  • ★★ The US government could save far more by passing a long-term highway funding bill, which Congress has failed to do for six years, but that is not narratively simple or easy to get outraged about. — 00:01:33 · United States Congress

00:01:45 — Martin Shkreli's drug price hike and the outrage; the larger problem of US pharmaceutical markets; Warner Chilcott's 2011 Asacol hike

  • ★★★ Martin Shkreli's company acquired a drug treating toxoplasmosis and raised its price from $13.50 to $750 a pill; after outrage it promised a cut, and two months later announced $375 a pill for some customers. — 00:01:45
  • ★★ John calls Shkreli a Bond-villain-esque former hedge fund manager and an 'ass-hat', but says outrage at him masked a more complicated and interesting problem. (playful) — 00:01:45
  • ★★ Even before the price hike, the drug cost 30 times more in the US than in the UK. — 00:02:13 · United Kingdom, United States
  • ★★ Such price hikes are neither new nor rare: in 2011 Warner Chilcott raised the price of Asacol 1200% overnight, and there are dozens of similar examples. — 00:02:19 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ John argues the hikes stem not from one person's 'asshattery' but from a huge web of problems in US pharmaceutical markets; outrage may have slightly cut one rarely prescribed drug's price but did nothing for the larger issues. (hedged) — 00:02:29

00:02:49 — The internet can grapple with big problems and anger plus effort can change things, but hopping between outrages changes nothing and makes us afraid and pessimistic despite real improvements; sign-off

  • ★★ The internet can grapple with big problems and has given a voice to people traditionally discriminated against; John sees nothing wrong with anger, which combined with sustained effort can bring real change. (hedged) — 00:02:49
  • ★★★ John argues that when we casually move from one outrage to the next, from pennies to Martin Shkreli, nothing really changes, except that maybe we become more afraid and pessimistic. (hedged) — 00:03:03
  • ★★★ Since January 2010 crime is down, US joblessness has fallen dramatically, the economy has grown and people report being happier than five years ago; yet every month more than two-thirds of Americans have felt the US is headed the wrong way. — 00:03:13 · United States
  • ★★★ John feels we are unnecessarily inundated with bad news because we seek it out and share it, becoming more afraid and pessimistic than we need to be. (hedged) — 00:03:30
  • ★★ Then again, John notes, Americans have never been healthier or claimed to be happier, so maybe we are getting exactly what we want without knowing it. (playful, hedged) — 00:03:38

In the description and comments

  • ★★ John lists the sources behind the video's claims: violent crime halved in the US since 1990 and property crime falling, a Gallup poll on Americans believing crime is rising, Our World in Data on homicide history, GBD Compare on causes of death and disability, a study on sharing outrage online, falling unemployment, growth since 2010, the World Happiness Report, and Rasmussen polls on the country's direction. — video description · United States
  • ★★ John notes that the drug whose price Warner Chilcott raised 1,200% overnight is one Hank needs to survive. — video description · Hank Green

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: moral outrage · United States · violent crime

Also: People: Martin Shkreli

Works: GBD Compare

Organizations: United States Congress · Warner Chilcott

Concepts: Asthma · Disability-adjusted life year · Drug overdose · economic growth · health care prices in the United States · HIV/AIDS · negativity bias · Preterm birth · sensationalism · suicide · toxoplasmosis · Traffic collision · Unemployment · violence

Places: United Kingdom

Products: Asacol · Daraprim

Policies: Abolish the US penny

Only in the description or credits: Bureau of Labor Statistics · Gallup · Our World in Data · Rasmussen Reports · Rosianna Halse Rojas · World Happiness Report

Also centred on moral outrage: Addicted to Outrage · Feeling Thankful in Portland · Ending the Age of Outrage (at least in ourselves, if not in the world) · I Keep Thinking About Taylor Swift · I'm Scared of 2024...So Here's 3 Optimistic Thoughts · The People I Hate Most in the World

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