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I think this is generally because of the audience here – I know there's a solid international contingency, but the US one is likely biased by privilege and hasn

I think this is generally because of the audience here – I know there's a solid international contingency, but the US one is likely biased by privilege and hasn't experienced police corruption/harassment first hand like lots of less privileged people have, so they assume bad cops are an outlier and not part of an institution which props them up. I was definitely one of those people until recently, and it unfortunately took an incident I was directly involved in to change my mind, now when I hear someone else's story about police harassment/abuse, I put the burden on the police to explain why it was justified, not on the victim as to why it wasn't. It took a long time for me to have this POV, I expect it will take others who haven't had first-hand experience with bad law enforcement a long time too :/

JshWright 9y ago
Have you watched the linked videos? I have gone on at length about the issues with our militarized police agencies in other threads. We have turned cops into soldiers, and soldiers need an enemy, which fosters an 'us vs them' attitude. It is a major issue (one of several) that certainly needs to be addressed. These 'CopChaser' folks are only looking to antagonize. Rather than improving the situation, they are feeding in to the "us vs them" mindset (despite that, in most of their interactions, they are the ones who come away looking like jerks (while patting themselves on the back the whole time)).
- codezero 9y ago
  Yep, I agree, going out of one's way to antagonize the police is not helping with making police more transparent or accountable. I was really just responding to the parent realizing the generally pro-LE attitude, which I do think extends beyond this thread, for the reasons I stated, in part. I didn't mean it as a way of excusing the OP of the videos. At the same time, if the OP didn't do anything illegal, they shouldn't have been arrested, even if it's "annoying." If this kind of thing interferes with the police, there should be some legal precedent set before you get thrown in jail for it (maybe there is, if so, hooray!) edit: the shade of your text is getting lighter, to be clear – I upvoted your comment, it was completely reasonable.
pnathan 9y ago
imo, HN (and programming in general) has shifted from the highly skeptical-of-authority descended-from-hippie culture to one where authority/power is celebrated and lionized. It might be said that the old business programmer culture has eaten up hacker spaces. I've never had a bad experience with a cop: I'm as almost privileged as it can come demographically. I just know that they are not always acting in your own best interests. History teaches us about power and the abuses thereof: and I read a lot of history.

JshWright 9y ago

Have you watched the linked videos? I have gone on at length about the issues with our militarized police agencies in other threads. We have turned cops into soldiers, and soldiers need an enemy, which fosters an 'us vs them' attitude. It is a major issue (one of several) that certainly needs to be addressed. These 'CopChaser' folks are only looking to antagonize. Rather than improving the situation, they are feeding in to the "us vs them" mindset (despite that, in most of their interactions, they are the ones who come away looking like jerks (while patting themselves on the back the whole time)).

codezero 9y ago
Yep, I agree, going out of one's way to antagonize the police is not helping with making police more transparent or accountable. I was really just responding to the parent realizing the generally pro-LE attitude, which I do think extends beyond this thread, for the reasons I stated, in part. I didn't mean it as a way of excusing the OP of the videos. At the same time, if the OP didn't do anything illegal, they shouldn't have been arrested, even if it's "annoying." If this kind of thing interferes with the police, there should be some legal precedent set before you get thrown in jail for it (maybe there is, if so, hooray!) edit: the shade of your text is getting lighter, to be clear – I upvoted your comment, it was completely reasonable.

pnathan 9y ago

imo, HN (and programming in general) has shifted from the highly skeptical-of-authority descended-from-hippie culture to one where authority/power is celebrated and lionized. It might be said that the old business programmer culture has eaten up hacker spaces. I've never had a bad experience with a cop: I'm as almost privileged as it can come demographically. I just know that they are not always acting in your own best interests. History teaches us about power and the abuses thereof: and I read a lot of history.