People are outraged about a packaged and sold narrative of increased disorder because it's an election year. Wait three months and they'll be onto something else.
I agree with you to an extent, but I’ve been following the trend of increased disorder (in the US) since 2020. It has gotten better since the peak of it from 2020-2022, but I’m not sure it has returned to pre-COVID levels. It’s hard to find indisputable statistics to measure this, but car thefts in 2023 were still at record highs: https://www.marketwatch.com/guides/insurance-services/car-th.... Ordinarily car thefts are a pretty reliable statistic, because you need to file a police report to claim them for insurance. But the Kia/Hyundai thefts are probably still elevating the levels to some extent.
In 2020 there were those society wide protests demanding law and order from those themselves tasked with enforcing the law. In response, state-sponsored gangs marched through the streets destroying property and attacking protestors with chemical weapons, and suffered very few repercussions for their organized crime. And the small amount of reform that did come from the protests led many "law enforcement" officers to quiet quit in response. If your goal is societal wide law and order, this dynamic makes for a very poor foundation. The fish rots from the head.
