Hrm. That’s a curious outlook on life you have; you must be a real joy to have at parties.
I agree that we should treat the cops as they treat us, which is why I protect the idea of law enforcement much like they protect me. Of course, there are bad cops. But to presume all cops you see are bad is particular kind of stupid for which there is no suitable word.
And what are cops doing driving around alone? I thought they were meant to have a partner at all times, and if not, why not?
Parties? You mean those things where people all pretend to love one another until the alcohol kicks in?
I was under the impression that real pretend loving took place after the booze kicked in. Perhaps I’m out of the loop.
No, it’s probably me; I’m speaking from distant experience. I don’t get invited to many parties these days. It must be my unconventional, but brutally honest outlook. 
Still, as R.D.Laing said, “…the cracked mind of the schizophrenic may let in light which does not enter the intact minds of many sane people.”
nOT THaT i’M SchIZopHREnic or AnyTHinG.
"oKAY, whO saiD tHAt?
But, for the vast majority of cops, it is alright to treat the general public as potential criminals, unless they absolutely know different?
And if you try to tell me being a cop doesn’t jade your worldview, I’m going to call “Bullshit!”.
Y’know how you said the youth are the ones that get the philosophy the best?
From the age of 15 to about the age of 23, I was a dedicated anarchist. I was arrested outside of Headwaters Forest at the age of 16, by choice, to protest logging of old-growth forest. I helped organize an anarchist conference in Olympia, Washington.
I know from activism.
And the anarchists who convinced me the movement was, in general, a giant circle-jerk of inflammatory morons were a helluva lot smarter than you, Smash.
Not all anarchists are smug idiots with paper-thin rationalizations. But too many are. And you’re among the worst that I’ve ever read–and believe me, I’ve read a lot.
You’re right that among certain preaching-to-the-choir circles, your self-congratulatory twaddle and chest-thumping isn’t even slightly controversial. There are other circles in which calling Obama a socialist isn’t even slightly controversial. It just so happens that the wingnuts with whom you’re aligned are on the opposite end of the spectrum.
So here’s some reality for you:
-The cops who might want to beat you up, want to do so because you’re an annoying, self-righteous little shit. The fact that you hang out with people 20 years your junior, and often with teenagers, probably just casts a creepy sexual overtone to your actions in their eyes. Their desire to inflict violence on you has nothing to do with a fear of what you’ll do to the state, and everything to do with your smarminess. Those jokes people make about beating up Jehovah’s Witnesses? They apply to you too, for the same reason.
-They threatened you with serious charges because, well, that’s kind of what they do (speaking from my own activist days). They wanna scare you into knocking it off. They dropped charges because you’re a pathetic middle-aged jackass who wasn’t even able to pull off the grand crime of cutting a combination lock, and it’d cost the state too much money to keep you in jail. It’s not fear of your ridiculous constitutional defense that dissuaded them, it’s that you’re literally beneath their contempt.
-There’s not a snitch in your organization; you guys don’t rate a snitch. It’s incredible, nearly pathological, megalomania that’d make you think that you do. It’s that someone reported seeing a jackass coming toward the gate at night with boltcutters, or that someone posted on AnarchyNow! your plans, or that someone bragged to their professor about your plans, that led to the police showing up.
-Public property does not mean, under the law, that any member of the public can do anything they want with it. You might wish that were the case, but it’s not.
I think that’s enough reality for now.
Incidentally, in the contest for the most corrupt police department in the nation, The late Blue Lake Police Department makes for strong competition:
I did that once, but only got dead air at the other end. I think I may have been talking to Teller.
I’m still curious about SlamTheState’s assertion about the police department, the courts, etc. Which law do you suppose he thinks they’re all breaking?
Where the hell are you getting this “vast majority” of cops who treat the public like potential criminals? Have you had dealings with the “vast majority”? Of course you fucking haven’t. You’re projecting from your own prejudices.
And why on earth would the police treat the public in such a fashion? It would be totally time-wasting and non-productive.
I don’t doubt that you yourself have had unpleasant experiences with the police. Faced with such an obnoxious asshole as yourself a cop would have to be a saint to stay polite.
He says he’s a former burglar. Skepticism of cops is healthy, but you’d expect ivan astikov to have a jaundiced view of law enforcement.
I know your type. The movement is lousy with them. As Jello put it, “Harder core than thou for a year or two, then it’s time to get a real job.” The venom in your comments says a hell of a lot more about you than it does about me. I’m sorry you were too weak to deal with the heat of defying the State. You must hold yourself in utter contempt for switching sides, given the amount of bile you’re expressing.
Funny, according to the police disclosure there was a snitch. Not that it matters, since you’ve already got a script running in your head, and nothing I could say will change it.
See, this is why you folks can’t have nice things. I’ve very patiently and in good faith explained a lot of stuff I haven’t even told the media. What I’ve received has been unrelenting insult and contempt. What do you suppose this says to other people who are quietly reading these exchanges, who also happen to hold views which contradict the local consensus? Or is driving away people who express divergent views in fact the goal?
Every time I write something on SD, I’m consistently called a liar, a troll, an ignoramus, or insane. I’m not just talking about the flame pit here, either. Is there any possible reason other than utter masochism that I would have to respond to this? You have an opportunity to question someone who has experience well outside your usual comfort zone, and rather than risk the possibility of learning something new, you folks would rather act like a bunch of teenyboppers in a middle school locker room, slapping each other high-fives and driving away the “weird kid.”
Dammit! I know that using my irony meter on the Internet voids the warranty, but I keep forgetting!
Off to the store to buy another one…
To be clear, yeah, I was radical for nearly a decade, but then I grew up. I realized that your sort of clownish antics don’t change shit, but they do make you feel oh-so-proud of yourself. Listen to your narrative: there’s room neither for self-doubt, nor for questioning how folks are responding to you. Anyone who disagrees with you is the enemy.
One of my proposals is that anyone who wants to do political activism must first learn to play chess. You’d get your ass beat by the rankest amateur, because you’re convinced that your opponent is playing according to your gameplan, when really they have no intention of doing so.
The main quality of character I get from your posts, SmashtheState, is your puffed up sense of self-importance. I’d work on that if I were you.
You mean like when you advocate drunken driving “unless it hurts someone”? Funny, that reaction you received on that one, eh?
So your theory is that if I joined an anarchist message board with the username UpholdTheState, I’d be welcomed with open arms? Also, this board is about fighting ignorance, which you have brought to our doorstep in droves.
It’s called “extrapolation from the sum of my experiences, which I imagine are slightly greater than your own”, so fuck you too, asshole.
I’d also expect a moderator to be able to resist getting involved in snide little attempted character assassinations, but it seems you’re not that moderator.
Or perhaps you had another point to try and get across, and you forgot it in your zeal to have a little dig?
Moderators are allowed to be posters too, believe it or not.
Now can we please get back to the point of this thread, which is SmashTheState explaining why he hasn’t attempted to cut the locks on 24 Sussex Drive, which is public property and has loads of bedrooms where the homeless could take shelter.
Oh, does that mean I can call him a snivelling cockwasher, then?