Compare and Contrast - Denver Edition

Publicola knocks one out of the park (and over the Pike, for the Fenway Faithful) with this rather lengthy piece on the efforts of the people and elected officials of Denver to combat violent crime, specifically a series of armed sexual assaults, in their neighborhoods. This one's heavy on the "compare" and light on "contrast".

The Security Of Denial; The "Empowerment" Of Ignorance

Here's but one piece of many worth highlighting:

"Victim urges neighborhood to fight back, rally Saturday"

Finally, some sanity.

"The victim of Friday's sexual assault at a Denver pet store is urging the neighborhood to come forward to fight the attacker and participate in an anti-violence rally on Saturday."

Or not.

"The store will be here and ... we will continue living and ... I need to continue living,' the victim said. 'I realized this was an issue so much bigger than myself. They need to know this violence is not going to be tolerated and that this neighborhood is going to be safe again.' The woman and her friends plan to have a rally at the pet store on Saturday to show support for her and other victims."

Violence was tolerated. Violence will be tolerated. Unless someone is willing to use violence to stop it then violence will continue in that neighborhood. Wishing does not make it so.

You could just as easily substitute Boston, Cambridge, or Brookline (or any such "progressive-minded" city in America) for Denver throughout his post, and no one would notice the difference.