People Do Things To Be Things

[PopeTom]

They started it.

J'll be as intelligent to everyone else as they are with me. When J come here and get flamed for no reason other than the fact that people have grudges against me, J'll hold grudges and sling shit. If people actually post honest queries to the things J've said or done, J'll give honest answers.

y'know, if you look at the chronological post history, the flames only started after you started acting like a dumbass.


::hands Kai a gas can::

But of course anyone who posts to forums long enough will have a chance to be the dumbass.

We all have out off days.

[faust]

So, the other day I was there with my friends, in a park. Being homeless, I had slept in this particular park before, and in that instance had been awoken by police officers the next morning who had taken down my information and warned me that I was not allowed to sleep in that park.
One day I was in the local market, selling copies of my artwork. One person who was very interested in picking up a set of all the ones I had on me confessed that he didn't have any money, but asked me if I'd like to trade him for some Acid. Being the loveable psychonaut that I am, I happily agreed, and gave him four photocopied peices of paper for two chemical-soaked peices of paper.
(I won't go into the details of the trip, but it was damned good Acid. We're talking real LSD here, none of this 2c-* stuff. Not that I dislike phenylethylmines.)
As the night went, though, granted that I was up and awake and flying all night, people kept asking me if I'd be sticking around long enough for me to watch their things.
I didn't really have any plans except to chill in the park and dance, so I happily agreed. As time went on, things kept piling up and up, and people would go... But not come back.
By the time 5am rolled around, I was surrounded by three sleeping bodies (one of which had also been asked to watch things, two who didn't care if they got caught sleeping in the park) and a slew of bags, trinkets, and even a bicycle. Having spend hours and hours taxing my body, I started to grow weary, and, with the LSD beginning to wear off, I began giving more and more contemplation to sleeping in the park with my companion, the one who had also been asked to watch things. Just as the first hints of pre-sunrise blue started to breach the horizon, I propped up my bag to use as a pillow, and passed out.
In what seemed like mere moments later, I was awoken by a soft kick to the boot. I opened my eyes, and much to my chagrin, there was a police officer standing over me. I sat up, and was shocked to find four of them! They had come in three cars!
Each of the four of us who had slept in the park was being taken care of by a different officer. Mine pulled me aside and asked for my identification. I gave him my health card and offered my birth certificate, to which he declined. I referred to him as "Sir" and "Officer". When he asked me a question, I politely and dutifully answered in full detail; he asked me my name, and I offered both my legal name and my alias, and even offered to spell it for him. I showed him all my tattoos and identifying markings, et cetera, et cetera. He apologized for the hassle, to which I told him I understood, that he was just doing his job.
The four officers went back to the cars with our respective IDs. During this time I was informed by my friends that we were getting ticketed; a $125 fine! Just for sleeping in the park!
After a moment passed, the officers came back, each with a peice of idenfication and a peice of paper. The officer assigned to me waved his hand away from the others, and handed me both. I opened the ticket, and the first thing I noticed was that my last name had been spelled wrong. He then said to me, "Sorry about all this, but I've got to go through all the procedures and everything." I went to absolve him again, but he continued, "But if you'll look there, you'll see your last name is spelled wrong. You don't have to worry about it."
The others all recieved $125 fines. I got off scott free.

Why?

People do things to be things. In this particular instance, this officer went to college and law school to get a job with the police. He wanted respect, he wanted authority... He wanted to be treated like an Officer. I treated him like an officer, and he treated me like I wanted to be treated; a good, honest, under-the-radar punk kid.
People do what it takes to be doctors or firefighters 'cos they want to be treated like lifesavers. People act like gangsta thugs 'cos they want to be treated like they have power and personal freedom (and in this society, having money does mean having power and personal freedom). People become soldiers because they value unity and they want to feel like they are a part of something big.
Nature and Nurture arise together to form in a person's mind what they think is Really Cool, and then the more enterprising of us go off and do whatever it takes to be Really Cool. When you disrupt a person's fantasy-life by treating them how they don't want to be treated, animosity quickly builds up and said person will (in the instance where they have the option) take effective measures to remove you from their life, or (in the instance where they don't have that option, or don't realize they have that option), seek to force you to empathize with their position by treating you in a way that you don't like to be treated.
It doesn't feel good, does it? Then why are you doing it?
However, when you act in a way that is congruent with someone's fantasy, you have nothing but all to gain. You stand not only to inherit the benefits of what someone in their particular position and disposition has to offer (in my case, an 'accidental' misspelling), but also, they will be more likely to indulge you in your fantasies.

Mahatma Ghandi once said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Be fantastic, and the world will be fantastic to you.

you got one of the decent ones, I dunno bout america but in ireland the garda are formed mostly of tight collar creeps who become garda's just for that chance encounter of the guy who stole their lunch money.
Dealing with impolite people is probably a cliché to them, as is dealing with people who are fearful and subservient, treating them as human and using a reasonable conversational tone has gotten me out of more shit then I can count on both hands.

[Kaienne]

The cops in Toronto are awesome. There's even a place in Kensington Market where you can go in, roll up a joint inside, and then take it to the back patio to smoke it. It's called the Hot Box Cafe.

[faust]

oh come on you can do better then that.
for someone who claims to be non conformist, judging the standards of your police from the point of view of joint rolling freedom? just saying it falls into the "fight the establishment" *smokes a shit load of weed*  stereotype.
next you will be telling me you have a replica katana and a fedora

[Kaienne]

While I own neither of these, they are on my Christmas list.

I use the example of joint-rolling freedom as a medium for weighing police chillness as the reaction of police to marijuana in Canada varies greatly from "Don't care" to "JAIL, MUTHAFUCKA!".
I personally judge the standards of police by their willingness to talk to me; granted I do look like I got lost on my way to the new Mad Max movie set. The park I spend the majority of my time at has an enormous reputation for drug use, so the police come by or through several times a day, in cars or on bikes, respectively. I've found the officers from 14 Division (the division that polices the like, 6 block radius the park is a park of) to be exceptionally friendly.

[faust]

whenever I had to call in the garda to take away people they were generally nice enough, only once did I have an asshole garda, and all he did was act gruff and say "go back to your own country" to the guy I had arrested.
everyone I ever had to stop I was polite to if they were polite to me.
the one guy who I offered to leave off, who shat on that and he ran away,  I mugged. (ripped his jacket in half to get back store goods).
I only ever had one person get violent when stopped, and I accidentally stuck my thumb in his eye when trying to grab his arms. he started screaming assault.

[Kaienne]

Where do you work? Are you with the police?

[faust]

I was security in an off license beside a homeless shelter.
before I quit it had gotten to about 2 arrests a day, and drunks following me around town shouting shit.
was not fun.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

While I own neither of these, they are on my Christmas list.

I use the example of joint-rolling freedom as a medium for weighing police chillness as the reaction of police to marijuana in Canada varies greatly from "Don't care" to "JAIL, MUTHAFUCKA!".
I personally judge the standards of police by their willingness to talk to me; granted I do look like I got lost on my way to the new Mad Max movie set. The park I spend the majority of my time at has an enormous reputation for drug use, so the police come by or through several times a day, in cars or on bikes, respectively. I've found the officers from 14 Division (the division that polices the like, 6 block radius the park is a park of) to be exceptionally friendly.

more like found your way out of the dumpster

[Triple Zero]

While I own neither of these, they are on my Christmas list.

I use the example of joint-rolling freedom as a medium for weighing police chillness as the reaction of police to marijuana in Canada varies greatly from "Don't care" to "JAIL, MUTHAFUCKA!".
I personally judge the standards of police by their willingness to talk to me; granted I do look like I got lost on my way to the new Mad Max movie set. The park I spend the majority of my time at has an enormous reputation for drug use, so the police come by or through several times a day, in cars or on bikes, respectively. I've found the officers from 14 Division (the division that polices the like, 6 block radius the park is a park of) to be exceptionally friendly.

more like found your way out of the dumpster

hey um, next time you take a stab at someone for no apparent reason, could you at least try to make it mildly entertaining?

no matter my own opinions on the target, this is below-gradeschool level stuff, and i expect to read better.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

i dont even remember posting that.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

besides, its pretty out of character for me to harp on anyone.
im generally an almost nice person.
so somewhere in my subconscience i must just not like that kid.
which would be the reasoning.
at any rate....

whatever.

[Triple Zero]

okay

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

   i like you

[Payne]

okay

I can't believe you fell for that story!

Hey, did you know "Gullible" isn't in the dictionary? Check it out!