When people talk about Detroit, the images are usually not good ones. Even I am not always proud to admit that I am from Detroit, instead I tell people I am from a suburb of the Detroit Metropolitan area. Detroit has a reputation for being a very violent and dangerous place, when I tell people where I am from, they usually recoil in terror.
Hollywood and the media have focused the world's attention on the negative aspects of Detroit. Even here in the Detroit Metropolitan area there are sayings and products geared toward Detroit's dangerous reputation. T-shirts and bumper stickers say things such as Detroit, where the weak are killed and eaten. The happy face with a bullet hole in his head is another image that I have seen here in the city itself.
In some ways living in a city with a reputation for being a dangerous place can be a good thing, people will tend to respect you and not mess with you. I personally don't think that Detroit is a bad place to live and think that much of the danger of Detroit is greatly exaggerated.
One thing that I am sure just confirmed what a bad place it would be to live in is what happened with Kwame Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick was a very corrupt man who took advantage of his position and made the world take notice of Detroit and just confirmed in people's minds that Detroit is a corrupt city as well as dangerous. Several members of the Detroit City Council were charged with crimes of dishonesty as well.
Despite all of the negative images linked to Detroit, it is not a bad place to live. Detroit is right across the river to Canada and has a lot of history attached to it. The people also are not as bad as the media says. There is crime but Detroit can also be a very fun place to be, whether it is Greektown or Mexicantown or any other of the places that can be found in Detroit.
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