When I Wore My Jewish Star in Public

Fighting hatred without losing perspective

Jeffrey Kass
Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs
3 min readSep 17, 2024

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Image: Shutterstock/AI-Generated

If you’re on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok a lot, or you’re someone who’s always checking CNN or Fox News apps on your iPhone, you have little choice but to conclude one thing.

The sky is falling.

Take crime. Polling suggests that each year, our fear of violent crime increases. Indeed, 60% of U.S. adults believe crime has correspondingly increased each year, justifying our fears.

However, government reporting shows a dramatic decline in U.S. violent and property crime rates since the early 1990s.

According to FBI data, the violent crime rate fell a whopping 49% between 1993 and 2022, with large decreases in the rates of robbery (74%), aggravated assault (39%), and murder/nonnegligent manslaughter (34%).

So why the increased fear and false perceptions?

I’ll give you a hint.

It’s our phones.

We’re fed a nonstop diet of images and reporting in our newsfeed every time something goes wrong anywhere.

As a result, we get a magnified view of problems. It’s just not newsworthy when nothing goes wrong when people get along.

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Jeffrey Kass
Bouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs

A Medium Top Writer on Racism, Diversity, Education, History and Parenting | Speaker | Award-Winning Author | Latest Book: Black Batwoman V. White Jesus | Dad