Lonesomebri wrote:Some people not only use self-preservation when regarding a police state, they internalize it until anyone not happily following the dictates of the police state, even in private and cautiously, must be simply stupid, all of them. There is a certain pride in following orders, and blanket contempt for people willing to break the rules. Be smart, be cautious, know your rights, use the crosswalk, never break the law, or never let 'em know you are. What are the sodemy laws like in Nevada?
Totally agree.
Of course, it's hard to implement. The number of times I've had to deal with police paying attention to me I could count on one hand, so I have very little practice (idea: start a "dealing with police" training class where you practice ... hmm). So when the cop came up to me when I was riding my bike with the trailer and asked what I had in the toolbox I use as a trunk on the bike, I asked why. He said there were people stealing copper pipe from houses. I looked at all the cars going by and said, "gee, don't you think you could steal more pipe with a car?" He said he just wanted to see in the toolbox. I thought about telling him to go get a warrant, but I just fucking showed him there wasn't any copper-pipe-stealing tools because I really didn't want to spend the next 3 hours dicking around with a bunch of fucking douchebag pigs. It counts a million times more on the way to Burning Man.
But the lesson in all this is: blame the legislators who make dumb things illegal and the police who are complicit in executing those laws. One who has not caused harm to someone else has committed no crime.
