“heroes” Value Their Privacy – But Not Ours

Guest Post by Eric Peters

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Here’s a video showing some “heroes” unhappy about a pair of guys taking video of the outside their nest – which is public property and which the citizens therefore have every legal right to take video of.

But the “heroes” do not like this.

They never do.

Notwithstanding that it is legal. Mark that. When a law doesn’t suit them, they obey it grudgingly – or simply ignore it.

They take filming them as an implicit challenge, an affront to their privacy and peace – which of course are sacred. Whereas ours is held in absolute contempt by them, to be violated at will whenever they feel so inclined.

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The law reflects this stilted standard, too.

For example, “heroes” may legally ride around in cars (paid for by us, with money taken by force from us; hence not actually their cars) with windows so deeply tinted it is impossible to see the “hero” within – but in most states, it is an offense for ordinary people to have the windows of their cars (which are actually their property, paid for by themselves ) tinted beyond even slightly.

Because it is important for “heroes” to be able to violate our privacy at will.

They insist on the tint restrictions in order to be able to – effectively – search our vehicles with no legal cause whatsoever, merely by looking inside. Which they demand they be able to do at any time  – including when they pull up beside us in traffic.

It is irrelevant that we might not wish them to be able to look inside our vehicles – very much in the same way that most of us would prefer they not examine the contents of our pockets – at least absent the formality of probable cause to suspect a criminal act, which has fallen into desuetude in these times of Keeping Us Safe.

Tinted windows prevent causal thieves from being able to see what we have inside our cars, which is a reasonable and sound idea. Regardless, they are our cars – and window tint or not has nil effect on the “safety” of other drivers, therefore there is no legitimate justification for laws making it an offense to tint them. If this were not so – if tinted windows were a “safety issue” – then tinted opaque “hero” cars are very unsafe indeed.

Of course, it has nothing to do with “safety.”

It is exactly the same as a legal requirement – probably coming soon – that non-“heroes” may not put blinds or shades up in their homes;  “safety” (“officer safety” – not our safety) will be cited as the justification when this law is introduced – as it is cited with regard to laws about window tinting.

It is a question – as per Humpty Dumpty – of which is to be master, that is all. 

The same “heroes” who get upset when their space is violated – even though it is not actually their space (a “hero” nest is – as it’s styled – public property, paid for by the taxes extracted from the citizenry, which is why citizens have a legal right to be there and to video record there . . . for the moment) routinely violate our space.

Which is actually our space – because we pay for our homes and land, not the taxpayer.

Regardless, “heroes” trespass upon our property at will. March up to and stand menacingly on our lawns and driveways ad doorsteps – often without warrants – “just asking a few questions,” berating the owners (sic) for not being “cooperative” and “having a bad attitude.”

The thought that perhaps people do not like the presence of armed strangers they did not invite violating the privacy of their property, whom they have no interest in speaking with – and whom they regard in much the same way as a fly landing in one’s soup – never seems to occur to “heroes.”

Perhaps because the “heroes” have become to believe that they are, in fact, heroes – as opposed to what they actually are. Which is armed government workers. The mercenary troops of the government.

Law enforcers.

Over-armed, obsessed with their safety – recklessly indifferent to ours. Clueless about the growing contempt in which they are held by ordinary citizens, who grow tired of being ordered to present ID for no reason other than a “hero’s” need to assert who’s in charge. Of having their travel interrupted for no reason other than that they happen to be driving on a particular road at a particular time and now must prove they are not “drunk” or “on drugs” – despite no evidence or reason to believe that they might be.

Tired of the shaved heads, dark sunglasses, campaign hats and general’s stars.

Of demands for immediate deference and automatic obedience merely because they possess Authority. That is, because they are legally empowered to bully us.

Tired of this manufactured state of never-ending fear – which is being used to justify a regime of terrorism in the name of protecting us from it.

Enough!

Perhaps laughing at these violent, paranoid geeks is the best medicine for now – as in the video above.

Take away their mirrored sunglasses and body armor and menacing uniforms and what’s left is a species of lesser humanity, the very banality of evil Hannah Arendt wrote about after the fall of the Third Reich. Once-menacing characters such as Ernst Kaltenbrunner and the better known Adolf Eichman and their ilk – who were also law enforcers – didn’t look very menacing once they were out of uniform – and in the dock.

Perhaps one day that history will repeat, as it ought to.

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16 Comments
starfcker
starfcker
February 22, 2018 9:09 am

Hey Peters, maybe you need a hobby. Take a week off, you can whittle a hell of a polar bear out of a bar of soap or something. I live in an urban area. I see cops driving around everyday. I don’t even think about them. I don’t project what they’re thinking, I don’t worry about what they’re doing. They don’t affect me at all. And yet they live rent-free in your head. And the biggest affront to your existence seems to be following traffic laws. That’s beyond juvenile. Get a life, man. I just don’t understand a full grown man that sees a stop sign and thinks, “they’re out to get me”

Stucky
Stucky
  starfcker
February 22, 2018 10:36 am

You just love Da Gooberment, don’t you?

starfcker
starfcker
  Stucky
February 22, 2018 11:46 am

No Stuck. I’m not a fan of the government. But I accept the fact that it’s there, and I’ve got better things to do than fight it 24/7

Mad as hell
Mad as hell
  starfcker
February 22, 2018 10:50 am

Star, OK, you sound like one of those idiots I encounter that have no problem with Government surveillance because “they are not doing anything wrong”. Do you honestly believe that the law enforcers of this nation are anything less than what Peters talks about? Do you think they are just a bunch of “swell guys” walking around doing Gods work? So, because you live in an area where LEO’s are not a threat to you personally, you criticize someone who frankly, tells it like it is?
Maybe in your little hamlet, LEO’s are not enforcers at gun point, and privileged to do whatever the hell they want with you, but some folks, in other parts of this country are not as lucky. I doubt very much that EP looks at a stop sign, and thinks “They are out to get me” however, there ARE places in this country, where if you run a stop sign, that can be a life altering, and possibly fatal event. And, the perpetrator of said crime WILL walk.
Maybe EP needs to chill, but you also need to be a LOT less insular, and not sound so damn arrogant as to believe that what he says is juvenile. Maybe you need to get out more yourself.

starfcker
starfcker
  Mad as hell
February 22, 2018 11:44 am

Oh, come on. Peters doesn’t think he needs license plates on his motorcycles. Peters doesn’t think lines on the road mean anything. Peters doesn’t think speed limits should exist, and he should be able to roll stop signs. If you can’t behave like an adult, your interactions with law enforcement might be frequent, and might become unpleasant. You reap what you sow. Same as the idiots with the video cameras. If I see a sleeping pitbull, I don’t go kick it. It might be legal to go snooping around police equipment with a video camera, but why would any sane person do it? Real men have responsibilities and things that require their attention and time. Wasting your life doing that kind of shit, and then wasting even more time crying about it, aren’t very good uses for a grown man’s time. I’ve read Peters for at least 5 years now. I understand him less and less. He savages GM, and then cries when they don’t give him free cars to drive. A 5 year old could have figured that out

pyrrhus
pyrrhus
  starfcker
February 22, 2018 12:00 pm

Try to confine your stupid comments to the subject at hand, which is why cops think they can prevent you from filming public activities by taxpayer paid civil servants…

starfcker
starfcker
  pyrrhus
February 22, 2018 12:48 pm

Okay. Here’s why. Because they can. WIP asked the question yesterday, when can I use the word nigger? That’s easy. Whenever you can deal with the consequences, or back it up. It’s a free country. There’s nothing illegal about using the word nigger. It’s your right. Way too many liberals, such as yourself, Pyrrhus, think that there’s some magic to a “right” that protects you from the consequences of what you do. That would be a mistaken way to look at it, and it might get your jaw broken someday. One of my employees got divorced and his wife and one of her girlfriends decided to film over the fence, for whatever reason. I went out and ask them to leave, and they told me they had a right to stand on the sidewalk and film, and if I touched them they would have me arrested. They were quite smug as they were sure they had won the encounter. I went and got a 5 gallon bucket of water and headed back out there, and they ran like children. They couldn’t back up their “right”. I don’t think there’s any “right” in the Constitution that allows you to bother anybody. Kind of goes against the whole point of the thing. So if you’re bothering somebody, you’re probably off base, it might be a good time to rethink your actions

Mad as hell
Mad as hell
  starfcker
February 23, 2018 10:07 am

Alright Star, I actually agree with your premise in so far as it involves private property, and the OWNERS right to peace and privacy. I would have handled that much the same way.
HOWEVER, we are not talking about a property owners right to privacy here. We are talking about a civil servant – which by their very definition is paid and supported by the same government that I am compelled to pay for out of my production and labor. If you accept the job as a LEO, or other civil servant, you accept the fact that YOUR BOSS – the taxpayer will want some accountability of your actions. If that involves video, audio, FOIA requests etc. that COMES WITH THE JOB, and is not something that a LEO, or anyone else on the public dime can get upset about.
Star, if you were the boss at your place of business, are you not allowed to install video camera’s at the cash register to make sure that your money is not being stolen from the till? That is your employee, yes, they can be bothered by your surveillance of the cash wrap, and by extension – them, BUT if they want that job, that is the condition of employment. Period.
Cops need to get over themselves.

Anonymous
Anonymous
February 22, 2018 9:27 am

If you’re going to do something that you know will irritate the cops and have the legal right to do it, at least make a copy of the pertinent laws along with Court rulings and hand it to the cops when they harass you about it.

They may not stop harassing you, but after being informed of the illegality of their actions under the law they become much more liable for their actions and lose the right to claim some of the protections from legal actions against them as individuals.

Shark
Shark
February 22, 2018 9:34 am

Although they weren’t threatened with it in this vid, you aren’t even allowed to remain in a public space without risking being cited for “loitering”…so much for a free country.

(Aside: That Youtube vid soundtrack was painful – – with his wheezing and coughing, I thought the cameraman was about to die…bad asthma/smoker’s lungs, or congestive heart failure???)

Stucky
Stucky
  Shark
February 22, 2018 10:41 am

No shit! I don’t grunt and wheeze that much even when choking the chicken.

pyrrhus
pyrrhus
  Shark
February 22, 2018 12:02 pm

SCOTUS long ago ruled that “loitering” was not a crime…

Anonymous
Anonymous
  pyrrhus
February 22, 2018 2:40 pm

That. along with “vagrancy” laws, is subject to how and where they are being applied.

Loitering where it interferes with businesses or public right of ways is subject to being made illegal, while loitering in a public park is not since a park is intended for that purpose (after sundown and such closures being excepted. “No loitering after dark” is an example of an acceptable standard.).

MadMike
MadMike
February 22, 2018 12:57 pm

Bad cops make the good cops look like shit. We should all be cautious when dealing with cops, bureaucrats, and politicians.
They have the power to make our lives a living hell, and can even summarily end it.

7 Rules for Recording Police
(An excellent article with many links to state laws, decisions and a live streaming website.)
From Gizmodo / Reason
https://gizmodo.com/5900680/7-rules-for-recording-police

Appellate Court decisions are discussed below. The POTUS has declined to take up these cases, letting the lower court rulings in favor of public recordings stand.

Massachusetts: http://www.universalhub.com/2011/court-says-state-law-banning-recording-police-offi

Illinois and MA: https://courtroomstrategy.com/2012/11/supreme-court-upholds-legality-of-videotaping-police/

Wip
Wip
February 22, 2018 4:34 pm

#1 – very seldom are these guys heroes. They show up after a crime is committed. How is that being a hero? How many lie and falsify reports? I don’t ha e the time to wretch on and on about this. Just think about it. Are they REALLY heroes?

Anonymous
Anonymous
February 22, 2018 5:52 pm

Who was recording? The guy from slingblade?