Can we stop calling places war zones?

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Can we stop calling places war zones?

Erin Dorsey RobinsonPro Member
Real Estate Agent · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2020 · 280 posts · 365 votes

Something has been bothering me. This phrase, "war zones". Am I the only one? Real people actually live in these places that are so casually and and narrowly characterized by this phrase. I'm not discounting that some places are more likely than others to have bad things happen, this is as true in Cleveland as anywhere. But I doubt most of us would knock on the door of a person who lived in one of these neighborhoods and call their street a war zone face to face. Just thinking maybe there's another way. Thoughts?

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James Wise
Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 30k+ posts · 20k+ votes
6y
Originally posted by @Erin Dorsey Robinson:

Something has been bothering me. This phrase, "war zones". Am I the only one? Real people actually live in these places that are so casually and and narrowly characterized by this phrase. I'm not discounting that some places are more likely than others to have bad things happen, this is as true in Cleveland as anywhere. But I doubt most of us would knock on the door of a person who lived in one of these neighborhoods and call their street a war zone face to face. Just thinking maybe there's another way. Thoughts?

Call a spade a spade. The Ghetto is the Ghetto. War zone, Ghetto, Hood or whatever terms people use are terms that are used to describe neighborhoods that have certain characteristics. Crime, drugs, prostitution, blight, property damage etc.....The fact that it makes you uncomfortable to talk honestly about the facts says more about you than the person using the terms.

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  • Linda S.
    Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    6y

    @Erin Dorsey Robinson,

    If you don't like the term, how about you chose not to use it? 

    Warzone  is IMO a nice, semi-politically correct term for an area where there are gang wars going on,  drugs, violence.. .yes, nice people do live there too, but it's a warzone because there is a war/struggle for power in the area, it's pretty accurate!   

    Think about the middle east violence, it's called a warzone because it's a war, and chances are you will get hurt/shot/witness violence if you go there... kinda sounds accurate   for some really, really bad areas i know, hence why they are called warzones.  I don't see anything wrong with it.

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  • Steve K.
    Realtor · Boulder, CO · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    6y

    @Erin Dorsey Robinson I agree it’s not the best term, although growing up in Hartford during the 90’s when the the Los Solidos and Latin Kings were shooting at each other daily in the North End, War Zone was an apt description as there was an actual gang war occurring in the streets. It might not have been exactly like a theater in an organized war with professional armies, but not all wars are the same. However the term is probably overused, especially to describe areas that the speaker just isn’t intimately familiar with on a street by street basis. In Denver we don’t really have any areas I would describe as a war zone anyway. We have nice areas, areas that are “improving”, areas that are “transitional but still in the early stages of gentrification”, “on the upswing”, etc. The racially neutral “low income” is another term we can use which is much better than war zone or ghetto IMO. Before becoming shorthand for poor and colored areas, “ghetto” has it’s roots describing the neighborhoods to which Jewish Europeans were confined. So pretty bad connotations with that one, but it’s also come to mean anything low grade, inferior, or urban. I think I’ll stick with “improving” or “transitional” for areas that are showing promise, and something like “perpetually low income” for areas that are likely to continue facing challenges in the foreseeable future.

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  • Erin Dorsey RobinsonPro Member
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2020 · 280 posts · 365 votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Alexander Felice:

    Simple solution, don't use the term war zone. SOLVED

    but you aren't going to change the vocabulary of everyone else because just it makes you uncomfortable then.

    and since you brought up the cringe worthy virtue signaling of your families military service that somehow validates your position to be elevated above anyone else's and how they should speak, let me say as a veteran myself, it doesn't bother me at all. I use the term myself 

    respect individuality, do not censor people, get some real problems to worry about, suck it up buttercup. 

    Well, Honey Bunches, the sucking up can go both ways since I'm as entitled to my individual opinion as you are to yours. 

    To be clear, I do not claim my family's service as a personal virtue. It's context, not validation. I never suggested that my view was superior or claimed any power or desire to censor anyone. I simply asked a question and offered a perspective with zero expectation that everyone would share it.  I accept that you do not. But I will offer you a piece of your own advice. Respect individuality. 

    Thank you for your service.

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  • Account Closed
    Rental Property Investor · Brooke Park Drive · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    6y

    I’m calling them CHILL neighborhoods from now on

    Crime High Income LLow

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  • Ibrahim Hughes
    Real Estate Consultant · Bloomfield, NJ · Member since 2010 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    @Erin Dorsey Robinson

    I totally agree with your thoughts on this topic.

    And I also agree that if you can't use the term with a homeowner when speaking to them face to face and looking them in the eye, then don't use it behind their back.

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  • Nzinga Young
    Investor · Brooklyn, NY · Member since 2018 · 20 posts · 95 votes
    6y

    What @Maimouna Sow said. The term "war zone"--like this thread--has racist undertones. Most of you aren't only calling areas with gang activity a war zones; you're using the term for any poor black/brown community that makes you uncomfortable.

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  • Brian Hamel
    Nashua, NH · Member since 2017 · 66 posts · 58 votes
    6y

    @Erin Dorsey Robinson

    You should look at George Carlin’s YouTube video of making words prettier than they should be. It’s his opinion but it’s interesting.

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  • Remington LymanBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Columbus, OH · Member since 2017 · 6k+ posts · 7k+ votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Account Closed:

    I do admit though --- if you know Columbus, I live in and invest in North Linden, and I get annoyed when I see suburbanites on the Columbus reddit or whatever tell people to avoid the whole Linden area because its a "War Zone."  I agree that I see ignorance and negative social coding when that term is used in that context... 

     I used to call Linden, Whitehall, and Hilltop vaccines. I was just in ignorance. When I started getting out to these neighborhoods and looking at them I realized they were not that bad. I would not consider any area in Columbus a war zone now.

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  • Doug Pintarch
    Rental Property Investor · Harrisburg, PA · Member since 2018 · 369 posts · 406 votes
    6y

    No.

    That's the term, it's already part of the RE vernacular and is instantly translated by the listener when it's heard.

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  • Gregory SchwartzBusiness Member
    Rental Property Investor · College Station, TX · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    I stand by that downtown Tripoli, Lybia is a war zone. But hey it hits the 2% rule. 

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  • Justin Thorpe
    Member since 2020 · 437 posts · 675 votes
    6y

    @Erin Dorsey Robinson

    I understand your sentiments. As an investor though I am used to associating the characteristic of an area based on its description. For example, yuppie area, hipster crowd, tech heavy workforce, blue collared etc. To me a war zone is essentially an area infested by drug and gang violence. As for knocking on doors etc, I know people who live in those war zones and trust me they don’t flinch in calling them exactly that or even worse. They are what they are, areas with very elevated levels of violence, high homicide rates, very high police activity. There are underlying socio economic reasons why they are so, but that’s a whole different topic.

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  • David Pere
    Rental Property Investor · Springfield, MO · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 890 votes
    6y

    @Erin Dorsey Robinson I was going to type something simmilar to @Alexander Felice response. As an active duty Marine I have ZERO issue with the phrase "war zone". 

    I do, however, have an issue with people asking me to change my vocabulary because it makes them uncomfortable. I believe there is an amendment that says I'm allowed to speak freely, or something, that I swore to defend...maybe I'm missing something. 

    censorship, whether you want it to be called "being politically correct" or not, is wrong. Worry about things you can control, and life will be much simpler.  

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