Would you agree that Being poor is not an excuse for being violent?

Posted by Ok_Divide_4959@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 27 comments

Earlier I compared the Balkans to Latin America, while many similarities, one thing that came up was that while both are poor, one is significantly more violent than another.

In fact, Balkan countries tend to be much safer than Latin American countries, not just in terms of homicides but also in street crime and safety walking at night.

Would you agree that being poor is not an excuse for Latino countries (Brazil, Venezuela, Honduras, El Salvador) have no reason to be as violent as they are even being poor or having significant amounts of inequality/corruption?

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qCallisto@reddit

It isn't an excuse but it is a cause.

Also you can't compare the balkans to LATAM economically. We have it much better than they do.

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Ladyb0yL0ver@reddit

Well, in most cases being poor has the same cause as being violent(low iq and no impulse control).

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Sad_Prawn2864@reddit

You are thinking wrongly about Latam, it's not a single unit it's wildly different from one country to the other.

For example Buenos Aires is as safe as any European capital while being broke, in turn Sao Paulo which is richer than most euro capitals is hell on earth.

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New_Entertainer_4895@reddit

Buenos Aires's murder rate is 4 time higher than London let alone compared to places like Warsaw or Berlin.

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alkorisno@reddit

Rich persons opinions are that poor should just die silently while the rich sail yahts.

Capitalisam is violent, it is a class war, poor people have the right to selfdefence

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jinawee@reddit

Why don't you inform yourself about the cause of high crime in those countries?

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Markomannia@reddit

I agree thar racisam is not an excuse for keeping people poor.

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jaimeelninho@reddit

I mean LatAm is the centre of the drug trade and also Balkans don't have that comparable level inequality. You have a stinking rich upper class in gated communities with guards in LatAm and then millions of people squashed into slum living and then the international drug trade on top. Also huge urban centres, Belgrade, Sofia are not even 2mil.

If you dont consider that and just say poor vs poor comparisons its bad faith.

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AmbientRiffster@reddit

Talking about violence in the Balkans is impossible without mentioning the fact that most of our crime is consolidated into organised crime. The reasons why our streets are "safe" is because we have police that will beat a small time weed dealer to death while massive mafia rings run every major industry.

If anything, we aren't being violent enough. We're passive and scared.

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New_Breadfruit5664@reddit

It is.

If you have no bread. Ask for a Job.

If they don't give you a Job. Ask for bread.

If they don't give you bread. Take it.

If a society doesn't provide enough of a social security net. People will start become violent

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canyoubelieveitt@reddit

"Whilst both are poor..." Bro Balkans is far above Latin America in terms of pay. Average salary here is like 1300 euro, its nowhere near the same in Latam. Whilst visibly both regions look similarly poor, the average person on the Balkans does have more money. When this wasnt the case for some of us, for example here in BG, there were mafia killings on a daily.

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j3ssyR0ugh54@reddit

Economic struggle explains petty theft or desperation but it never justifies lashing out at people. We have plenty of historical reasons to be angry and broke but the culture here just doesn't view random violence as an acceptable reaction to having an empty wallet.

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romicuoi@reddit

Maybe because you look at the wrong reason for very different regions.

Latin America is the main land of cocaine and other plants for fun substances.

And these drugs usually ramp up the violent tendencies in people.

And is not a stereotype, unfortunately that region relied and survived on this trade and why cartels have most of the power around there.

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No-Championship-4632@reddit

In the beginning of 20th century, the Dutch investigated coca plants, took the ones selected to best fit the Indonesian climate and started massively planting it in their colonies there. Using advanced agriculture and cheap organized labor they absolutely monopolized the world cocaine market, pushing Latin America on the sideline. Cocaine paste was then imported to Netherlands and cocaine (which was still legal at the time) was produced in large factories. The Dutch made enormous profits selling it to both sides in WW1. It all ended after the war ended when both sides started to have problems with addicts returning from the front, they enacted trade bans and the Dutch closed down that business completely in a few years. Nowadays, no coca platns are being grown in Indonesia, but it proved to be quite capable of it. So it's not just that the plants grow there. Apparently they can grow in SE Asia too, but they don't do that.

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No-Championship-4632@reddit

Being poor is not an excuse for being violent.

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CGMarko@reddit

There's justified and unjustifed violence. Being poor doesn't justify violence by itself.

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Lucifer_893@reddit

Yes, but there is a strong correlation. I grew up very poor, my parents raised me in the 90s with barely 50$ a month, I never did any crime. My parents always taught me well, and how to behave in society. Of course, there was a lot more petty crime back then, because everyone was super poor, and they were trying to eat each other like piranhas, but no drugs, no murders, nothing serious. As you know, correlation does not mean causation, and these days being poor and being violent has a common denominator, I’ll let you think about what it is.

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erythrocytes235@reddit

Their situation is different because they have resources that everyone wants to control.

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PersimmonTall8157@reddit

The main reason why the Americas overall are so much more violent than the old world is cuz they have non-strict gun laws and their societies are relatively new and liberal, most people have been there just for some generations, structure and stability takes many generations to form.

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erythrocytes235@reddit

That is correct but we must not forget that the Swiss get automatic guns for free. I believe that the segregation and social isolation caused by their suburbia and policies have caused them to live in delusions. Sadly it will take many generations of policies to reverse this social isolation.

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Adept-Donut-4229@reddit

Depends how you got poor.

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MoneyLaunderX@reddit

Socioeconomic is just a bullshit excuse. Look at statistics from the US. Even a wealthy black guy tend to kill more people than the poorest white.

Low IQ = more crime.

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Sectorgovernor@reddit

Gypsies are pretty violent too. At least in Hungary. You can't say it, but they do the most of crime, including murder( so not just petty theft).

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Wild_cmpt6406@reddit

Theoretically it isn't. But in reality systems in both places are made in such a way to funnel wealth towards certain groups and to drain wealth away from the region towards EU,USA, China, etc.

People that sell out compatriots to foreigners deserve every bad thing happening to them.

Same goes for uncultured tourists and malicious immigrants that don't respect the natives.

Just because some bank owner is robbing you in a white shirt from his mansion in Biarritz, it doesn't mean he isn't robbing you, of means to live a normal life and have a family etc.

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