It did occur to me recently (and I'm sure this isn't an original observation) that there's gotta be some sort of effect whereby crime going down and life in general getting safer makes people increasingly paranoid, because the bad outcomes stand out even more than they did before. Maybe that's just the ratchet you're talking about.
I can't handle the original video, so instead I am imagining it happening with my nephew giving chase. My nine year old nephew does track; he's fast and runs for distance. What would you do if you were a kidnapper and the older sibling were not only pacing you easily and not tiring?
Kidnappers: Objectively ratchet.
1: It would be nice if the effect described would drive the anti-vaxxers to think it would be swell to eradicate infectious diseases, but alas.
Compared to the veldt it's probably related to the higher investment in each kid because fewer are born and fewer die. Back when people had 8-10 and 2-4 would die, people probably didn't even notice when the total changed due to a couple kidnappings.
Leavings kids alone at the playground is unsafe, but using Uber to get them to tennis lessons is fine.
Pam McGonigal, who began using Uber last year to ferry her 14-year-old daughter from dance class in Silver Spring, Md., back home to Chevy Chase when she got stuck at work in the District, said she had never considered a taxi for the job.
"I just have reservations about my pretty little girl going out and hailing a cab," she said.
6's quote is based on the common belief that nothing bad can happen to any UMC person as a result of using a mobile phone, especially in Chevy Chase.
Outside of Chevy Chase it's too dark to read you can't get a consistent signal.
My first thought was to wonder about the babysitter.
I think part of the problem is people have fewer kids these days. My parents had six kids, so they could afford to take a few risks - there were plenty of extra kids to spare. But I only have one kid, and if anything happens to him, my bloodline is hosed.
1: I think that theory comes up right here with some regularity, actually!
Terrifying, but heartening that the kidnapper was thwarted by the boy's sister and then the two teenagers who came to her aid.
Big sister is going to hold that over his head the rest of his life.
There was a stuff-of-stereotypes kidnapping attempt locally, a stranger sneaking off with kid at Walmart. Thus were a thousand hypothetically-rational comment threads on the local mothers board thwarted.
6: Heh. For the benefit of people not from the DC area, I'll point out that the family in that quote is just 4 miles or so from these people, and some families in that article are in the very same town as them. I sense a trend.
To follow up on the OP, they caught the guy.