Fear

The Pioneer Press has an article on gated communities here in Minnesota. Personally, I am disgusted by gated communities and I am glad that they are so rare here, but apparently another one is coming.

I really have to wonder about people who would want to live in a gated community. Are they that scared? Do they have no sense at all of the relative risks of crime? I don't feel unsafe anywhere in Minneapolis, to say nothing about any of the suburbs. Why one would feel the need to retreat behind a fence and security in the suburbs is beyond me.

It probably is fear; "Ask that family that was walking in Uptown to dinner," says a person living in a gated community, referring to the murder of a student earlier this year and to crime in general. Yes, but tell me this: where will you go walking in a gated community? Can you go to a movie, to a restaurant, to a bar, to a lake? Can you get anywhere worth going when you live in a gated community except by leaving in a car? If you were to walk around, would you even see your neighbors?

Just think: you can hop in your car all alone after work, drive an hour through traffic to your gated community, then run in your home without having to interact with anybody, certainly not any of those scary-looking "undesirables". Who cares if you never learn about anybody else, if you are never exposed to anything outside of your comfort zone. At least you will be "safe"!