“this was in NYC. You basically have more unforced diversity there than most other places. I believe my life has been enriched by that diversity.”
I was offered many jobs in NYC over the years, and turned down all of them.
The “unforced diversity” has a dark side.
Many decades ago it was a young woman I dated a couple of times (who lived in the city) who taught me about it.
At one point she said she had been raped—and then shocked me when she said “it was no big deal”.
“Most pretty young women in the city get raped”.
This is not a place for decent humans to work—or to live.
Indeed it does, in Manhattan and other areas of the world. The fruit in the garden guaranteed that reality.
I'm not Pollyanna about NYC. There are really nasty neighborhoods, terrible people, and a municipality that gets things right twice a day if we're lucky. In fact, NYC's demonization of smokers and the attendant destruction of commercial property rights started a national trend that has sadly seeped into many heretofore normal American towns. And, as you note, it's real easy to get chewed up and spit out by Gotham.
Every location has a risk/return tradeoff. Everyone has a utility curve. The same Gotham that raped your female friend (that's an awful saga btw) left me alone in that regard (it helps that I'm a guy and far from GQ). That's why I don't condemn people for taking the covid shots, like JimRob. The point of optimality and self-actualization is a very personal matter.