I am no expert. I just know enough about what physical confrontations look like to know how to genuinely look non-threatening during one. And I know that I didn

I am no expert. I just know enough about what physical confrontations look like to know how to genuinely look non-threatening during one. And I know that I didn't always know this, plenty of people still don't - some have said in this very thread that they don't! - and I think that ignorance is potentially dangerous. I have no idea what you're talking about with a police state. Understanding how to be non-threatening violates no rights of yours, and is a very practical life skill in any physically tense situation. Look, there are plenty of things that are messed up about the way police function - though nothing that applies to all of them, either good or bad, since police are a local institution. But in general, civil asset forfeiture is very bad, and often a grave injustice. Policemen lying under oath to get a conviction are very bad. Arrest quotas are bad. The high price of justice in the courts is very very very bad. There are bad things, and I am all for working to make them better. But on the other hand, I think police are people who deserve empathy and fair treatment as much as anyone does, and who absolutely deserve the right to protect themselves and work safely as much as is practical. I don't think understanding what that entails and putting them at ease and keeping yourself safer is building a police state. It's just being smart and decent.