Randwulf from Canada here, the same one from comment #78 in the Boingboing thread. Signed up for a Blogger account so I could comment on the question "Am I Dick?".
Short non-inflammatory answer - No.
Somewhat longer but rather inflammatory answer - No, you are not a dick, but Gia would certainly make a very Good German.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Germans
Having been stopped several times in the last few years by police, whose paranoid and aggressive behavior leads me to the point of sometimes suspecting there is a chemical reason for it on their part, has soured me on them I'm afraid. Where I was brought up by my parents to believe they were your friends, such is not the case anymore. Most nowadays, if not all, seem to have the mindset of "There are no innocent people out there, only people we haven't caught yet." and it shows.
As such, unless I need them for something, I have no dealings with them whatsoever. In saying so doesn't mean I am anti-police but because I have been made to be suspicious and always on my guard around them I would have to say I am instead neutral and non-supportive. They are just another employee of the government, they are not my friend.
Friends are people who you willingly invite to parties because you enjoy their company. But there is always that guy, a friend of a friend perhaps, who shows up to the party, knocks things over, steps on the cat, drops his cigarette butts into empty glasses and just seems to an all around idiot. Heaven help you if he drinks heavily because then he wants to start picking fights. You don't exactly hate him, but you sure don't want him around. Police are to me, that guy.
All my stuff aside though, watching the video made my blood boil and I commend you for keeping your cool. I don't know that I could say the same for myself. I don't know whether I would be so overwhelmed with anger and outrage that I would become dumbly numb and acquiescent or start furiously lashing out, with the former being a crushing blow to my pride and the latter causing me to spend some time in jail. You'd found a middle ground between the two, being enough in control of yourself and the situation to film the event, such that both your pride and your police record are intact and my hat's off to you.
For the Gias in the world, well, all I can say is that they deserve what they tolerate and we'll see them in the camps, if they aren't instead the ones turning people in.
Cheers!
Short non-inflammatory answer - No.
Somewhat longer but rather inflammatory answer - No, you are not a dick, but Gia would certainly make a very Good German.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Germans
Having been stopped several times in the last few years by police, whose paranoid and aggressive behavior leads me to the point of sometimes suspecting there is a chemical reason for it on their part, has soured me on them I'm afraid. Where I was brought up by my parents to believe they were your friends, such is not the case anymore. Most nowadays, if not all, seem to have the mindset of "There are no innocent people out there, only people we haven't caught yet." and it shows.
As such, unless I need them for something, I have no dealings with them whatsoever. In saying so doesn't mean I am anti-police but because I have been made to be suspicious and always on my guard around them I would have to say I am instead neutral and non-supportive. They are just another employee of the government, they are not my friend.
Friends are people who you willingly invite to parties because you enjoy their company. But there is always that guy, a friend of a friend perhaps, who shows up to the party, knocks things over, steps on the cat, drops his cigarette butts into empty glasses and just seems to an all around idiot. Heaven help you if he drinks heavily because then he wants to start picking fights. You don't exactly hate him, but you sure don't want him around. Police are to me, that guy.
All my stuff aside though, watching the video made my blood boil and I commend you for keeping your cool. I don't know that I could say the same for myself. I don't know whether I would be so overwhelmed with anger and outrage that I would become dumbly numb and acquiescent or start furiously lashing out, with the former being a crushing blow to my pride and the latter causing me to spend some time in jail. You'd found a middle ground between the two, being enough in control of yourself and the situation to film the event, such that both your pride and your police record are intact and my hat's off to you.
For the Gias in the world, well, all I can say is that they deserve what they tolerate and we'll see them in the camps, if they aren't instead the ones turning people in.
Cheers!