Redfern

I am weary of the hate directed in this city towards the people of Redfern for several reasons:

• I lived in Redfern and I refuse to hate myself.
• Is it not sad that people have to believe that the bad things in life happen somewhere else and then they proceed to actually believe their delusion. (this is a kind of societal level hysterical paranoia.) A few years back I pointed out that according to the police stats, it was more dangerous to park you car in North Sydney than in Redfern (these stats about car break-ins had just been recently published in the SMH stating that the most dangerous place for car break-ins was North Sydney), but this does not fit the stereotype belief and has to be ignored. Bad things happen else where they do not happen here (where I live). I have also lived in a few places in Australia that I think are more dangerous than Redfern. (I am resisting the temptation to quote George Orwell.)
• There are lots of people who live in Redfern and they have all been vilified by this blanket statement. People seem to think that it is OK to make these sweeping statement as Redfern it clearly a problem suburb. But if you do a simple transposition and place replace the place name Redfern with the place name Sydney (as Redfern itself is in Sydney), suddenly these rules are not allowed to be applied as this breaks into the sentiment of the first statement. The people are happy to vilify others, but not to include themselves in the vilification.
• I am told it is too dangerous to walk the streets of Redfern after dark. Yet all the violence troubles I have seen or heard first hand accounts of were in the CBD of Sydney. Again people do not like to think that the CBD is a problem probably as that is where they might be. It is better to believe that the danger is elsewhere. I used to often walk the streets of Redfern after dark. I think that the part of Adelaide I lived in was more dangerous.

I have always been suspicious that people who are wealthier are afraid of the poor, but I have been unable to come up with proof that this is the case. So the weight of evidence says that this is not true. What they do seem to be afraid of is people who do not live according to the same rule and aspiration set. These people are unpredictable and hence dangerous or at least a threat. Also, some people seem to get a kick (perhaps a high) from being afraid. Maybe it is like what they say about athletes becoming addicted to the endorphins. Afraid people also get a kick of hormones.
Perhaps I have been repetitive and not crafter my words well here. It is part of a wider view I am putting together, but it is as yet still incomplete about the idea that the need to pretend that the danger is elsewhere seems to be fairly universal in application.