5 ms·

> It sucks a lot, but we're still better off than most of Europe in that regard. Having lived in both Europe in the US for large part of my life, I can tell yo

> It sucks a lot, but we're still better off than most of Europe in that regard. Having lived in both Europe in the US for large part of my life, I can tell you that this completely misses the mark. Yes, you can be ID'd, but what law enforcement can get away with in the US would be inconceivable in most of Western Europe. I was never afraid of the cops before I came to the states. Edit: Spelling.

tptacek 13y ago
I have the opposite experience; from my (few) visits to Continental Europe, my impression is that foreigners are searched at random in arbitrary locations more or less at the whim of police. I've actually never had a bag searched in the US, but can't say that about Europe.
- Tomte 13y ago
  How do they recognize you as an alien? At the border, sure, but inside the country?
  - tptacek 13y ago
    Inside. Not at the border. I'm presuming it had to do with me being foreign but maybe it's something even more insidious.
    - Tomte 13y ago
      My thinking was: how do they single you out? But I guess it was speaking English without an awful accent. :-)
- linuxhansl 13y ago
  Interesting. Was that in England? I should have excluded GB from this. :)
  - tptacek 13y ago
    Germany and Italy. I've been to England more than I have to the Continent and have never been searched there.
- Zak 13y ago
  I've had related experiences in Germany. The police stop cars with no suspicion nor any explanation other than "police control". I told several German friends that this would be quite illegal in the US, and they were all shocked; it seemed normal and routine to them. Denying the Holocaust and using Nazi symbols is illegal in Germany, but "papers please" is normal? I think they learned the wrong lesson.
  - Tomte 13y ago
    Yes, it seems normal to me, unless it happens regularly. I am now 32 years old. I have been in a police stop when driving my car only twice (and one of those was a mistake, I thought they wanted me to stop, but they actually meant another car). I have never been controlled or ID checked by the police in any way when not travelling by car. Exceptions are border controls, of course. And private entities wishing to check my age: discos, liquor stores and so on. On another note: I'm really tired about all this attitude we get from Americans regarding Nazi symbols and free speech. Maybe take a minute to contemplate why we have those laws? "Because of Holocaust" is correct, but not what I'm getting at. We have those, because Americans (together with the other Allied Powers) forced us to after the war. Unfortunately Americans have this tendency to think that their system is the very best and can't imagine why anyone could or should have another system, despite the fact that everywhere they were involved in nation-building they actively promoted other systems.

tptacek 13y ago

I have the opposite experience; from my (few) visits to Continental Europe, my impression is that foreigners are searched at random in arbitrary locations more or less at the whim of police. I've actually never had a bag searched in the US, but can't say that about Europe.

Tomte 13y ago
How do they recognize you as an alien? At the border, sure, but inside the country?
- tptacek 13y ago
  Inside. Not at the border. I'm presuming it had to do with me being foreign but maybe it's something even more insidious.
  - Tomte 13y ago
    My thinking was: how do they single you out? But I guess it was speaking English without an awful accent. :-)
linuxhansl 13y ago
Interesting. Was that in England? I should have excluded GB from this. :)
- tptacek 13y ago
  Germany and Italy. I've been to England more than I have to the Continent and have never been searched there.
Zak 13y ago
I've had related experiences in Germany. The police stop cars with no suspicion nor any explanation other than "police control". I told several German friends that this would be quite illegal in the US, and they were all shocked; it seemed normal and routine to them. Denying the Holocaust and using Nazi symbols is illegal in Germany, but "papers please" is normal? I think they learned the wrong lesson.
- Tomte 13y ago
  Yes, it seems normal to me, unless it happens regularly. I am now 32 years old. I have been in a police stop when driving my car only twice (and one of those was a mistake, I thought they wanted me to stop, but they actually meant another car). I have never been controlled or ID checked by the police in any way when not travelling by car. Exceptions are border controls, of course. And private entities wishing to check my age: discos, liquor stores and so on. On another note: I'm really tired about all this attitude we get from Americans regarding Nazi symbols and free speech. Maybe take a minute to contemplate why we have those laws? "Because of Holocaust" is correct, but not what I'm getting at. We have those, because Americans (together with the other Allied Powers) forced us to after the war. Unfortunately Americans have this tendency to think that their system is the very best and can't imagine why anyone could or should have another system, despite the fact that everywhere they were involved in nation-building they actively promoted other systems.