<story><title>Sci-fi author and Crysis 2 writer Peter Watts beaten, arrested at US border</title><url>http://hellforge.gameriot.com/blogs/Hellforge/Sci-fi-author-and-Crysis-2-writer-Peter-Watts-beaten-arrested-at-US-Border</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tc</author><text>The bottom-line problem seems to be that law-abiding people don&apos;t have much experience with being treated like criminals.&lt;p&gt;In a high-pressure situation they sometimes fall back on their quaint expectations of rights and basic human respect.  I would wager that someone who had spent serious time in prison would do much better in these situations.&lt;p&gt;The guy probably had a long day.  I bet he just wanted nothing more than to get home and go to sleep.  He obviously didn&apos;t understand what all the fuss was about, and he ended up stepping on someone&apos;s hair trigger.  It seems terribly unlikely he did something that you or I would consider physically threatening.  After being pepper-sprayed and man-handled, and likely not in the soundest state of mind, maybe he even flailed a bit -- guaranteeing an assault charge (and possible conviction).&lt;p&gt;Perhaps that&apos;s how it went down.  It&apos;ll probably turn out that the border guards &quot;followed procedure.&quot;  But that&apos;s exactly the problem that makes the story frightening to us:&lt;p&gt;The path from &quot;long day + non-violent temporary failure of judgement&quot; to &quot;being physically assaulted and facing a life-altering felony charge&quot; seems terribly short.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tc</author><text>Another point:&lt;p&gt;There appears to be a growing disconnect between what we consider &lt;i&gt;right&lt;/i&gt; and what we consider &lt;i&gt;practical&lt;/i&gt;.  It seems right that you should be able to peacefully question any non-emergency procedure, expect basic respect even if you&apos;re not being the most pleasant person, and retreat a step or two reflexively if you feel threatened.&lt;p&gt;Of course, we know that the &lt;i&gt;practical&lt;/i&gt; approach to take is to be docile, passive, sickeningly submissive, and compliant nearly to the point of being patronizing.&lt;p&gt;The border guards train and drill repeatedly on how to behave aggressively and militantly in this situation.  Most adults have no corresponding practice at acting completely flaccid and defenseless on command, which is what it seems we&apos;ve come to expect.</text></comment>
<story><title>Sci-fi author and Crysis 2 writer Peter Watts beaten, arrested at US border</title><url>http://hellforge.gameriot.com/blogs/Hellforge/Sci-fi-author-and-Crysis-2-writer-Peter-Watts-beaten-arrested-at-US-Border</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tc</author><text>The bottom-line problem seems to be that law-abiding people don&apos;t have much experience with being treated like criminals.&lt;p&gt;In a high-pressure situation they sometimes fall back on their quaint expectations of rights and basic human respect.  I would wager that someone who had spent serious time in prison would do much better in these situations.&lt;p&gt;The guy probably had a long day.  I bet he just wanted nothing more than to get home and go to sleep.  He obviously didn&apos;t understand what all the fuss was about, and he ended up stepping on someone&apos;s hair trigger.  It seems terribly unlikely he did something that you or I would consider physically threatening.  After being pepper-sprayed and man-handled, and likely not in the soundest state of mind, maybe he even flailed a bit -- guaranteeing an assault charge (and possible conviction).&lt;p&gt;Perhaps that&apos;s how it went down.  It&apos;ll probably turn out that the border guards &quot;followed procedure.&quot;  But that&apos;s exactly the problem that makes the story frightening to us:&lt;p&gt;The path from &quot;long day + non-violent temporary failure of judgement&quot; to &quot;being physically assaulted and facing a life-altering felony charge&quot; seems terribly short.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>drinian</author><text>&lt;i&gt;quaint expectations of rights and basic human respect. I would wager that someone who had spent serious time in prison would do much better in these situations.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is America. We shouldn&apos;t be expected to act like guilty slaves when interacting with law enforcement. Your attitude isn&apos;t constructive at all.</text></comment>