free market anarchist Ⓐ vs police officer 👮

I have to say, I agree with the officer!

Just because police officers do certain things (like arrest drug users) that are wrong and an initiation of violence, it doesn't mean they're on the wrong side of everything.

In this case, as best I can gather, she's questioning him for smoking a cigarette at a bus stop.

To which all I can say is, bravo! bravo!

Cigarette smokers often have a weird etiquette where they don't realize other people don't particularly like having the smoke blown on them. And for that matter that mother earth doesn't appreciate having the butts littered all over her.

(My theory is they subconsciously want to drag everyone to their level, lol.)

And bus stops are a classic example of a place where you congregate near other people, and a smoker will occasionally light up in your face.

I've barked at people for doing it before, and would be really happy to use a bus system where a trained professional does it instead.

[Note that in the YouTube description the guy claims he wasn't actually smoking. Who knows, obviously. That's what he might type in the YouTube description either way. It's not that relevant-- his complaint has to do with the idea that she shouldn't be questioning him or concerned one way or the other.]

But why is she wrong to question him?

Even from a free market anarchist perspective, the bus system is allowed to have whatever policy they want regarding whether you can smoke there (it even happens to be privately owned, the officer points out). And so the officer attempting to enforce the policy is a peaceful, legitimate market function.

It's like if she thinks she saw him steal a wallet, she'd be within her rights and correct to go question him about it.

"I don't talk to cops"

That's probably a good tactic if you're accused of a serious crime. (You're better off speaking thru legal counsel.)

For this, it's kind of cartoonish. If you weren't smoking, why not just say that?

(At one point he mentions "I've never smoked a cigarette in my life", which technically answers but in a wildly indirect way, and I think she's right to regard him as generally not engaging or answering her.)

I'll point out that these cops seem not that good at explaining step by step how the law works. (Probably they clam up because he's recording, and don't want to risk saying something wrong.)

I only know this because I've been watching Live PD on A&E lately 😆, but my understanding is:

• He doesn't legally have to hand them an ID card, no. But they legally have the right to figure out who he is and determine his identity. So handing them the card is just a request that makes things easier and saves everyone time.

• There doesn't have to be a crime he's guilty of in order to be detained. "Detained" is not "arrested".

It's funny that he ends up getting a ticket for loitering basically only because of his behavior. (i.e., refusing to answer everything including whether he has a bus ticket)

If he had engaged with her, even if guilty of smoking ("oh my bad, I didn't know smoking isn't allowed here"), she likely would have just informed him of the policy and warned him not to.

The guy acts like he's under arrest or something, and turns it into an issue.

they hasstling him!

I've had multiple times over my adventures where I'm doing whatever goofy thing (pitching a tent in a church's lawn, whatever), and if you react like a normal person and explain what you're up to, the cops are nice and aren't looking for it to spiral into an ordeal.

"you should quit and get a real job, in the free market"

lol.

You could make the same remark to a fire fighter or mail carrier. And it would be equally useless. If she's not initiating violence against you, she's the same moral category as any other state service.

And while of course I wish we had a better mechanism than theft via taxation to fund these services, we still want the services. Enforcing a no smoking policy is a valid community function, in the same way rescuing a cat is a valid community function.

"I have first amendment rights"

lollll.

And she isn't trying to strip you of that right. It doesn't change how physics works, and that it's rude to speak while she's trying to listen to someone else.

label/identity

He's so wrapped up in his identity as a market-anarchist that he can't see the forest for the trees here.

Very petulant.

I'd speculate that the psychology involves being so hard against something, rather than in favor of the positive things that would actually foster the type of society he wants.

^^^ I agree!

And a decentralized, market-driven law enforcement is still going to tell you that you can't smoke a cigarette there. Sorry feller. Move along.