----- Original Message ---- From: Jordan Hayes <jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com>
Doug writes:
> I've never been creeped out by the NYPD in the 30 years I've lived here.
Never seen a Hercules Team?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edstern/2806220592/
[WS:] I do not find it particularly creeping. At worst, this is rather primitive showmanship, not much different from the Soviet military parading their toys on the Red Square every May 1st.
I am far more creeped out by seemingly benign practices of private business, such as credit checks or even marketing research. In contrast to government agencies (including the police), whose actions are accountable to the public, private businesses are accountable to no one but themselves, and they can screw up anyone much more effectively than any government agency can, without even raising any eyebrows.
Just think - they can deny you source of income, access to material resources, residence, means of transportation etc. which will literally throw you into the streets - all that under the respactable (in capitalism) pretenses of good business practices, risk avoidance, enforcement of contract etc. and there is is nothing you can legally do stop them.
OTOH, while cops or government bureaucracy can mistreat you as well, they cannot do it legally, and their actions generally trigger investigations almost automatically.
Methinks this obsession with cops and government is a part of gangster populism, which is a subset of broader American populism suspicious of "the gummint" and enamored with the gemuetlichkeit of private business.
To be sure, I do not trust cops, but I do not feel threatened by them. All I need to do is not to provoke them by displaying behavior that is bound to set them off. Likewise, I do not provoke criminals by showing things that sets them off, such as flashing wads of money or leaving things of value in my car. This is common sense.
Wojtek