M-Rex said:
These are your DIRECT words in reply to two seperate posters who merely advocated following the advice you use in your own sig line - "molon labe!"
Oh Christ. Here it comes again. The Flake and Nut parade.
I was commenting on the nigh-inevitable frothing and chest beating that occurs after one of these sorts of references -- especially the fiasco in New Orleans -- and the propensity of the authority-phobes to rant and rave.
Thank you for making the point outlined in my post above for me.
For what it is worth, I am far from an "authority-phobe". I live in a small town outside of a small city just north of NOLA. The small city in question has an excellent police chief who demands that those under his command give the same respect they demand. No problems at all there. You see the people there (myself included) walk across the street to speak to them. I have enough sense to realize that civility while doing a difficult job flows from the top down, and when displayed, is deserving of the utmost respect and civility in return.
I also know that our little town needs lessons very badly from our little neighboring city. After the storm, there was one Indian owned business that decided to open up by candlelight. My wife stopped there to top off some supplies we might need. There is only ONE radio station in this area (and no power to run it), no television stations covering us at all. It was five o'clock in the afternoon (still three and a half hours til dark). A large,
peaceful crowd had gathered and was patiently waiting in line to make purchases. While my wife and son were inside the store, a local LEO came up to where I was standing outside our car, and was fairly polite in telling me there was a curfew that was going into effect at five-thirty. I was wearing a tank top and trying not to sweat too badly into the fresh incisions from a two day old heart surgery. With no communications, we had no way of knowing about the curfew, so I thanked the officer for letting me know, told him we'd be heading home as soon as my wife returned with her purchases and the keys to our car, and he turned to address the others standing in the lot. That was when his SS wannabe buddies came roaring into the lot, sirens blaring, and yelling at everyone on the opposite side of the lot (did I mention I was the only white face there?) that they'd "better get the hell off the streets - NOW!!!" At this point the officer decided for some reason (beats me to this day what that reason was) that he had to show some bad boy attitude too. After what I had assumed was an unpleasant, but not unpleasantly handled part of his job that was concluded, he turned back to me and told me in a menacing voice that I HAD BETTER BE OFF THE STREETS AND QUICK. I looked down at my chest, back up at him, and politely asked him if he wanted to take the responsibility of causing the county to have to pay for my medical expenses when he locked my ass up for not leaving my wife and son (especially since I had no means of doing so). That caught him up short enough for him to turn and go verbally assailing some darker faces. No, I have no authority-phobic tendencies. I full well intended to obey his lawful order, and in amicable style. Once he stepped over his legal authority, though, I had no problem at all in going to jail to make a point. Had he come to my home and tried to overstep those bounds, I likewise would have had no problem with the "molon labe!" philosopy either.
That same philosophy is ALL that I saw either of the two posters you so derisively responded to espouse.
Just in case you are curious as to why we were out and about to begin with, my wife works in the health care field
and was required as a condition of her employment to be out and about. I had gone to bring her home from work.
FWIW, I did read the sticky RE: The use of the name of God in posts. I don't know or care what your convictions are, but I think that if you are going to call on the name of Christ, it should be as something other than a swear word. Not all authority wears a badge.