Sunday, February 3, 2008

Policeman

The other day, I was sitting in the courthouse for a long period of time. Nevermind why I was there, as it is of no consequence. For most of the time I was sitting there, I was accompanied by, among others, a policeman. As I listened to him talk, I was appalled at the shit that was coming out of his mouth.

First, he tried to convince me that using a taser was as perfunctory as shaking hands. I wish I'd have taken notes or something, as I can't really recreate it, but the tone with which he talked about this tool was airy. He even mentioned that tasing is an appropriate thing to do preemptively, to calm someone down before they get "rowdy."

After the discussion about tasing, and after he noted how appalled I looked, he moved on. I'd told him that most laws are outdated, and that legislature needed to cut back on inanely making laws. I brought in the example of the drinking age, and how it's really just a bullying mechanism for a federal government that constantly oversteps its bounds, etc. He said, "What I say to those sorts of laws is, why not?"

His justification for laws was, "Why not?"

I don't think I need to say why this upsets me. Your liberties are being taken away, and your answer is, "Why not?"

It bothers me that I'm fighting for your freedom as well as mine.