Originally Posted by polonius

I can only speak about my direct, personal experience.

Like most, my high school class had a handful of people who decided to pursue careers in law enforcement. I DO NOT mean to suggest that these were the least intelligent people in the class, but they were certainly the most unremarkable, and the most conventional and conformist.

My other experience was having a room-mate for a while who was a criminologist. She was the most uptight, conventional person imaginable, who recoiled visibly at the thought of anything she thought was vaguely weird. I went to a party with her once -- unsurprisingly, in the suburbs. Everyone there were cops and other law enforcement types and I didn't meet anyone who didn't express an intolerant view about something that evening.

Every time a senior cop, or an FBI agent, or some other law enforcement person makes the news -- sometimes because they were involved in crime themselves, sometimes because they were a crime victim, or sometimes because they solved a crime of some sort -- and some details of their lives come out as a result, they almost invariably have the most conventional personal lives imaginable. I'd be willing to bet that if you were able to slip into the parking garage at the J. Edgar Hoover building in Washington and attach a tracking device to each and every vehicle, come 17:00 you'd see every one of those vehicles heading out to some house on a cul-de-sac in a lily-white suburb in Maryland or Virginia. I know that no one has been curious enough about this to go and commission a proper, scientifically-based study on the phenomenon, but I would be very surprised if it didn't turn out that the law enforcement field attracts people who are naturally conformist, who not only resent people breaking the law and want to do something about it, but also don't like harmless eccentricities, either, and are probably more likely to perceive something suspicious about individuals with day-glo green hair or other overt signs of non-conformism.

That's all I meant by "narrow experience" -- the cops I have known have not had the experience with alternative lifestyles, alternative politics, or alternative thinking as is found in creative community. On the other hand, most artists I know have had a go at the wife/kids/house in the suburbs thing at one time or another.

I have no problem with cops or anyone else living their lives as they see fit, but I do have a problem with them bringing their personal prejudices into the equation when deciding who does and who does not get stopped and questioned. When you are actively trying to avoid conventional behaviours and to embrace the unusual, it's natural to be resentful of people who declare that unusual=suspicious=PC=justifiable harassment.