Enough with the Police

I dithered all week about what to write for the blog. My initial thought was to write about preparing for the coming economic collapse, and make no mistake a collapse is coming. I read a very good analysis of the United States' ability to survive a total economic collapse like the one the old Soviet Union suffered with the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. The analysis is performed by Dmitry Orlov and entitled, “Closing the 'Collapse Gap': the USSR was better prepared for collapse than the US.” (Orlovv's analysis may be found at http://www.energybulletin.net/node/23259) Orlov's work caused me to think about how to prepare for the coming US collapse and, perhaps, help it appear a little more quickly, since I am convinced such an economic collapse would ultimately be in the best interests of the survival of American democracy.

However, as I drove into work today everywhere I turned I encountered a cop who, in each case, scrutinized my car as I passed to make sure I was wearing a seat belt and my turn signals, etc. worked (It’s a very old car in need of new paint). I truly dislike police. The role of police in the US has changed from a force of officers held in check by a federal system of checks and balances on their power to a force of adrenalin junkies underwritten by federal laws designed to fund a series of poorly conceived federal initiatives, such as the disastrous “war on drugs.” A strong statement? Not in my experience. I grew up on the ‘wrong side of the tracks” (what the ghetto for poverty stricken whites was called in the ‘50s) and saw more than my share of the abuse of power by “law enforcement” officers. Once I hit puberty, I was routinely stopped, searched and questioned for “walking while poor.” When I was in my twenties I was arrested twice for “vagrancy,” locked in a cell and cavity searched, released without an apology or an explanation when no drugs were found. Trust me. The anger and humiliation of such treatment never leaves you. I can not imagine the anger I would feel if I’d had to experience racial prejudice along with the humiliation. When I reached my thirties I was working for the local newspaper and my association with the counter power of the public press brought most of those arbitrary humiliations to a stop. I say ‘most’ because the legal system never forgets your past, even when it has no reason to remember. One of my arrests for “vagrancy” forty years ago routinely appears on criminal background checks, even though the court dismissed the charges as unfounded after a preliminary hearing.

Today, the threat of law enforcement’s power is flaunted by those in power. Enforcement campaigns that threaten “We will catch you” rather than advise against detrimental behavior have a disturbingly Big Brother note to them. Because of seat belt laws if you drive an older car you will be closely scrutinized by law enforcement officers every time you drive by one. If you have the misfortune to park near a manned cruiser or to be stopped for some small traffic infraction your vehicle will be scrutinized for “drug possession” indicators. All actions that, in my opinion, violate traditional American practices concerning the relationship between the individual and state power.


All of this gives testimony to the growth of what the Critical Resistance movement calls the “prison industrial complex.” (The Critical Resistance movement website may be found at http://www.criticalresistance.org) The US has the largest percentage of its population behind bars than any other country in the world, and that includes some of the most repressive dictatorships known to humanity. As a country we imprison more of our youth than any other couintry in the world in order to "make the streets safe." Even though study after study has convincingly shown that crime rates rise and fall in close coordination to the employment rate of young males between the ages of 18 and 25, law enforcement administrators and politicians still scream for a need for more law enforcement officers to curb the “rising crime rate.”

As citizens, we need to recall law enforcement initiatives that have clearly failed, such as the war on drugs, and reevaluate our legal and social priorities. We can not change human behavior by imprisoning those with little hope or little education. If private individuals were to act in response to negative human behavior in the way our government does they would summarily be arrested for physical abuse. Where's the justice?

Academia Trauma

I had something of a personal revelation this week. I had accepted as teaching position at a small college in the South and reported for new faculty orientation on Wednesday afternoon of this week. As I sat through the orientation I experienced two incidents, not incidents, really, they were more like traumatic psych observations. The first was the simple fact that NO ONE spoke to me. No one introduced themselves and all but one scrupulously avoided eye contact. In regular business meetings participants at least acknowledge your look and at least regularly introduce themselves to those sitting next to them. I found this avoidance very disturbing.

The second traumatic psych experience came when the VP of Academic Affairs announced we had three mandatory ceremonies a year where we had to wear academic regalia. I immediately dug in my psyche heels. I hate academic regalia. I hate wearing academic regalia. I hate everything academic regalia stands for. I had no idea when I began my academic graduate work that I would have to dress as the Grand Poohbah or the Assistant Grand Poohbah to impress the locals. I avoid any and all manners or mannerisms designed to indicate social rank. As a consequence of my avoidance I detest ritual as ritual is designed to emphasize those social distinctions. Now, if social distinctions were customarily interpreted as, “I am a store clerk,” or, “I am a lawyer,” and was left at that I would have little problem. But, most would interpret someone who is a lawyer as socially superior to a store clerk. (Well, may be not a lawyer! A bottom feeder is a bottom feeder.) In any case, I immediately began formulating schemes for avoiding attending these mandatory ceremonies. Had a simple business suit been required I would have had no difficulty accepting the requirement.

That is when I realized I wanted nothing more to do with academia. I used to teach Freshman Composition and was happy to do so. But in the last eight years I have increasingly become a high school freshman English teacher rather than a college Freshman Composition Instructor. Composition Instructors are now expected to teach reading skills to students who can barely read, grammar skills to students who cannot identify an adjective, and critical thinking skills to students who have no clue as to what a syllogism may be. In addition, college freshman are increasingly materialistic and so full of self-esteem that earning an A with less than 2 hours of homework a semester in their high school studies is absolute proof of their intellectual skills and value. Earning any grade less than an A with more than the two hours a semester of homework is evidence of the Instructor’s incompetence not the student’s lack of preparation or drive. And, if they have not fallen into the high school A trap they are members of the “too cool for school” crowd. These students have learned that an outrageous offense is the best strategy for passing a course by exerting the least amount of intellectual effort. For example, young women failing a course make sexual harassment accusations against their 80 year old professors emeritus or some other outrageous accusation they cannot substantiate or have any intention of substantiating. They suffer no consequence from their accusations and often are granted some consideration that makes their work load easier.

I realized as I sat in that meeting I cannot trust anyone in academia for any kind of personal support. As an academic faculty, I have only my disappearance into the pack as protection against a feckless administration and recklessly vicious students. Survival in Academia depends upon complete social camouflage, a total disappearance of the self into a Wal-Mart inspired mural of departmental collegiality, of a silencing of your voice in the background noise of endlessly recycled theses as original work, and of your dreams of changing the world in endlessly recycled PowerPoint lectures offered as inspired teaching.

In short, I declined the position and will never step into a college classroom again. AMEN!