there are areas of baltimore maryland which are no man's land after midnight.....you go there even wearing a crappy Casio digital watch and you will get robbed or ambushed
these state department travel advisories are always quite the ear-load. I know Europeans who were initially tense about travelling to Pakistan, and then at the end --they were sad to leave without seeing more.
but then again -- in the west in general, they are terrified of uncertainty and terrified of death and injury.....theyre quite sissy about such things; they dont even have strong immune systems and they get sick easily from street food or tap water....we tend to be more fatalistic about things -for better or for worse.