Last summer, Tonya and I were traveling through some remote New Mexico landscape, trying as always, to escape the grip of 21st Century “civilization,” or at least the aspects of it we find the most loathsome. Out there, on those empty stretches of desert highway, it’s easier to forget about the issues and crises that confront us day after day, in the relentless 24/7 news cycle. Still, as we passed through the cholla cactus and the sagebrush, on our way to a remote Spanish mission, it was hard to avoid the more troubling topics.
Nowadays, it feels like the entire human population is, for one reason or another, at each other’s throat. Not only have we never before felt more alienated from each other, most of us feel inspired and even compelled to express that dissatisfaction directly to the person or persons of their discontent. We see it hourly on social media. We see physical confrontations constantly. There is an authoritarian attitude that prevails these days. It transcends the Left and the Right. Everyone wants to impose their will and their values on those who fail to agree.
Often the clashes are the consequence of serious matters. We have all certainly waded through events that have shaken our country and world to its core. But we’ve all become so accustomed to fighting and yelling and insulting and maligning, that there’s scarcely a topic or issue, no matter how trivial, that can’t bring out the authoritarian side of just about anybody. It is particularly worrisome now to encounter anyone who has been given even the slightest semblance of power over others. But sometimes it’s the little things–the seemingly trivial abuses of power, and the petty flaunting of “authority” that can generate as much ill will.
“Power,” next to greed, is the human characteristic we all seem most likely, even reliably, to abuse. Often the two traits are closely connected and work hand in hand, one to satisfy the other. As you’ll see, even a McDonald’s night manager, a Walmart “coach,” and the fellow I’m about to introduce can all somehow transform themselves into some strange and unpleasant manifestation that hopefully bears little resemblance to the souls they really are.
Tonya and I were having this very discussion, across the empty cholla cactus plains of New Mexico, as we turned off the main highway, and passed through the little hamlet of Quarai, to visit the nearby mission. It’s managed by the National Park Service as part of the Salinas Pueblos Missions National Monument.
An hour earlier, we had visited the first of the Salina Pueblo Missions, the Abo site and had enjoyed a brief chat with the ranger on duty. She’d been helpful in explaining some of the history and we enjoyed our time there.
We drove next to the Quarai Mission, the second of the NPS-administered sites. As we turned into the entrance, we saw a sign that warned visitors driving RVs to park in the gravel lot on the hill above the small visitor center, advising that the parking lot was too small for a turn-around. And the information that was provided online to prospective tourists also emphasized that point.
“A small parking lot makes mid to large RV turnaround difficult. Please park in the gravel lot on hill above the parking lot.”
When we drove past the RV parking and onto the small parking area, it looked just like this:
….and in fact, much like the NPS aerial photo, cars were parked side-by-side in front of the contact station, but the area to the left of it was wide open. There wasn’t another vehicle in the lot. And it was poorly marked; though I couldn’t make out any diagonal lines, I decided that parking a few spaces away from the other cars was a commendable gesture. I was–you know–trying to socially distance from the other park visitors during these “troubling times.” But a few moments later, the times got even more troubling than I’d expected.
A uniformed ranger was standing in the open walkway between the NPS contact station and the mission. Though he was stationed outside the building, the ranger was fully masked and chatting with an elderly woman tourist. He seemed to be enjoying his chat, so I thought we’d just work our way past them, but he stopped me and said, “That’s sort of a strange ‘RV’ you have there, sir.”
I smiled and started to keep moving, but because of his mask, I couldn’t tell if he was smiling as well. Or trying to be funny, or being deadly serious. I nodded but I already sensed a vibe. After all, I was once a law enforcement ranger myself. I know the vibe. I might have even excreted a bit of that vibe myself when I was younger and stupider. But this ranger was an adult, well past 55. Surely his pedantic side had worn off many years ago. Yes? ….Nope.
“Sir,” he said again, more menacingly, “That’s a strange looking ‘RV’ you are driving.”
Tonya at this point had no idea what was happening. But for me, the vibe was getting stronger. I said, “Are you trying to tell me that I parked in the RV section of this lot?” He seemed to prefer sarcasm to straight information and I wondered if he wasn’t trying to impress the woman he’d been talking to. Ah yes, I remembered. Ranger Bravado. The woman looked bewildered.
The ranger nodded. I shook my head in disbelief. I said, “But there’s nobody else here. Other than these cars, the lot is empty.” I didn’t even mention the signs or warnings that the NPS itself had posted about trailers and RVs and the need to park them up the hill.
Now for the first time I noticed that the ranger was a law enforcement man. He was wearing the full NPS certified, combat/defensive equipment Batman utility belt, complete with pepper spray, a short baton, Kel-light, cuffs, reloads, and his polymer-framed, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic Glock pistol. I also noticed that he was now casually resting his thumb–-just his thumb, mind you—on the stock of his service weapon.
And again, all I could see was his glare. Because of the mask, I had no idea if he was otherwise looking at me earnestly, or with a mirthful smirk, or a menacing grin. But he said, “Oh…That’s amazing, sir. So you can predict when the next RV will be coming into the parking lot?” (Still going for the sarcasm)
And I thought to myself…well, two thoughts really. My first thought was, ‘You have got to be f—ing kidding me.’ My second, more articulate but unexpressed observation was: ‘THIS is sometimes how minor incidents explode in unpredictable and violent ways.’
Not always. Not even most of the time probably. But sometimes it’s this kind of absurd, pedantic, officious, by the rules nonsense that needlessly pushes buttons and causes confrontations. I looked at the old ranger whose thumb was still toying with his Glock stock and I said, “Do you actually want us to go back to our little car and move it twenty feet?”
His eyes crinkled. I assumed he was smiling. “Yes sir, if you don’t mind,” he said. You could almost see his chest swell. Even out here, Authoritarian America was raising its masked and well-armed face.
“You have got to be kidding me.” I said.
“I’m not kidding at all, sir… if you don’t mind.”
I looked at Tonya who was just beginning to understand the ridiculousness of this confrontation and we turned back toward our offending Prius. I contemplated my options. Was I prepared to really get into it with this guy? Did I want to tell him I had once been a law enforcement ranger and had attended the Federal Law Enforcement facility in Brunswick, Georgia and had once been certified as a federal law enforcement officer in the National Park Sevice? Would it help if I told him that once, when I was about 24 years old, I had at times been just as obnoxious and petty and officious as he was being right now? But that by the time I was 30 I had outgrown my petty ways? Did I want to ask him if his childish bullying accounted for some other kind of insecurity or inadequacy that only he and his therapist could identify?
All these thoughts raced through my head as we stood there, eyeball to eyeball. Finally I turned to Tonya and I said quietly, “I’m not going to deal with this guy any more.” She nodded, “Let’s just go.”
I’m not sure if Danger Ranger ever noticed our departure, but we backed up and left Quarai. We made our way to Gran Quivira, the last Salinas Mission on our list, a few miles away, where another ranger was as pleasant as the first had been.
*** *** ***
In the past, when I thought of ‘authoritarian behavior,” I admit that I tend to emphasize those in law enforcement, more than other fields of endeavor. After all, they’re the ones most likely to find themselves in a position to make unilateral, and often infuriating decisions, in which their word is the last one. Nobody likes to be ‘bossed around, ‘ no matter what the situation or venue is. As WC Fields once complained, “They have too much of the dictator in them.”
But lately, especially in the last couple of years as we’ve all tried to negotiate this COVID-19 mess and recent “social justice” issues, the opportunities for abuse have run rampant.
For example, I read recently that the recent vaccine mandate on private businesses, if it had taken effect, would have been enforced, not by OSHA directly, but by the assistance of the general public. In other words, the government was depending on informants to snitch on their co-workers and bosses. I cannot imagine a faster or more effective way to create chaos, confusion and civil war, even if the “war” is confined to the company premises.
What I’ve seen in general, more than ever, is the willingness of employees at places of business to assume roles of authority that were never mentioned in their job descriptions. I’ve personally experienced this kind of weird authoritarian behavior several times in the last couple of years.
Last year, I was making a very long solo drive back to Kentucky to deal with a family crisis. I had traveled about 500 miles, it was past 11 PM and finally, so exhausted I could barely see straight, I pulled into the far corner of a MacDonald’s just east of Springfield, Missouri. I reclined my seat, grabbed a pillow and quickly fell asleep.
But a half hour later, I was suddenly awakened by a loud pounding on my window. I thought I was being attacked and in a moment of panic, worried that I had failed to lock my door. I looked out my side window to see a uniformed kid, maybe 18 or 19 years old, screaming at the top of his lungs. I could barely understand him. I would have thought he was a member of the local SWAT team, but his badge identified him as the Assistant Night Shift Manager.
Why he was this upset eluded me, but the gist of his hysterical tirade was that I was parked illegally and I had to move. I tried to explain that I was too tired to drive, but it didn’t matter. The boy was almost crying. He finally held up his cell phone and bellowed that if I wasn’t “gone in 30 seconds,” he was calling the cops.
I was just too tired to argue. I “returned my seat to its upright position,” started my car and limped slowly out of the parking lot and back onto US 60. He stood there and watched me until I was out of sight.
Why? I wondered. Why did it matter to this kid? What possible difference could it have made in the long run to this boy if I slept in a McDonald’s parking lot?
Other moments like this have come my way over these last few years and I could probably write a book about them. But let me offer my most recent personal example of “citizen authoritarianism.” Oddly, it happened in Missouri as well (is it JUST in Missouri?)
Last month, Tonya and I had to make an unexpected and very quick trip to Kentucky to start the process of moving my mother from her apartment in Kentucky to be nearer to us in Kansas.
We got as far as Warsaw, Missouri on the first night and we were both exhausted (Tonya refused to sleep in the car!). We got a room for the night and then decided to stop at the local Walmart to pick up a few snacks and drinks for the next day’s drive. It was just past 5 PM and the store was packed. We found a few items and quickly headed for checkout.
We all know that “in these troubled times,” and even before, Walmart has kept only a small percentage of their checkout lanes “open,” even during rush hour. And we’ve seen a push toward more “self-checkout kiosks,” where the customers do all the work, receive no discount for our efforts, so that Walmart can fire more employees and find yet another way to increase their profit margin. I have to admit, it does rankle.
Now, in Warsaw, Missouri, we were confronted with a scene we had never seen before. Instead of the usual large area of checkout lanes with a separate “self-checkout” area, it was ALL self-checkout. (Actually, that’s wrong…there were two human-operated lanes tucked off to one side, but one of them was closed. The other was jam-packed.)
The checkout kiosks were arranged around the inside of a perimeter in an area about 30 by 60 feet. We queued up at the ‘entrance’ to this area, behind a Walmart staffer who did nothing but keep customers from going further. In the middle of this square arena were two more Walmart staffers, whose job was to watch for the next available kiosk and then direct the Walmart staffer guarding the entrance to send another customer to that open checkout kiosk.
Tonya said, “What in the hell is this?” Neither of us had ever seen anything quite like it. The customers ahead of us all had the look of sheep resigned to the inevitable,and they waited and moved quietly and without resistance as they meekly followed directions. In fact, so did we. What else could we do? Still, it was an image I didn’t want to forget. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and snapped a couple pictures, just to remind me. I knew that this was probably some kind of Walmart Pilot Program and that this scenario would probably be implemented across the country in a few years. We were, in fact, looking at the future.
I put my phone back in my pocket. The Walmart traffic guard saw an opening, we were directed to Kiosk # 2 and Tonya began to scan our items. I was reaching for my wallet when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a Walmart person coming toward us. She was masked, of course, so I couldn’t fully sense her purpose, but she was looking straight at me and even before she spoke, I felt as if I’d done something wrong. Did Tonya fail to scan an item? Did this woman think we were stealing Cheetos? I looked at her name tag–it said “Tracy,” and it identified her as a “coach.” She walked up to me and said, “Is everything alright, sir? “
I wasn’t wearing a mask, so she could see clearly how pleasantly I was smiling at her. I said, “Oh sure. My wife always does the scanning and she’s good at it.” I started to turn away, assuming the conversation was over, but she somehow wasn’t satisfied.
She said, “Are you SURE everything is okay?”
Suddenly this little meeting started to have a very inexplicably weird feeling, but I honestly didn’t know where she was going with it. I said, “Yes…we are fine. We don’t need any help.”
Tracy squinted at me from behind her mask and said, “Would you mind telling me why you were taking photographs with your phone of the customers and our associates?”
I actually smiled. I might have even chuckled. “Seriously?” I said. “This is what you’re upset about? That I took a couple pictures? What difference does it make?”
Tracy bristled. “Sir, she said, “This is private property and you have no right to take photographs here.”
“Are you telling me that you can ban me from taking photographs in a Walmart?” I asked.
She replied, “I am telling you that I can ask you to stop taking photographs and we can order you out of the store.”
I was a tad incredulous. “You have got to be kidding me.”
Tracy was stone dead serious.
Finally, Tonya, who was done scanning our snacks and needed the travel credit card, stepped in. Surely Tonya, the calm one, the member of this pair who can always find peaceful resolution in any conflict, could explain. “You see,” Tonya began, “we are just traveling through here and we have never, ever seen a Walmart that had this many self-checkout kiosks.” With the patience of a kindergarten teacher, Tonya smiled at Tracy. “We were just taking a picture because this kind of payment configuration was new to us.”
Tracy the Coach was implacable. “You cannot take photographs in a Walmart. This is private property.”
I looked at the woman, who now seemed on the edge of fury and I said, “What do you want me to do? Delete the photos?”
She glared at me for a moment and replied, “Yes sir…if you don’t mind.”
I glared back, and thought about it a bit. Finally, I looked at Tracy and said, “No. I’m not going to delete the photos.”
“Sir, you have no right to come in here and violate the privacy of other people. You have no right to take photographs of our associates! We can ban you from ever coming into this store again!” The coach was losing it.
“I don’t see anyone complaining about the photo but you, Tracy.” And in fact, the guy at the next kiosk had been listening to this absurdity and shook his head. He turned to her and said, “I’m sorry lady, but this is bullshit.” He looked at me and smiled sympathetically and returned to his scanning.
Tracy glared at the man and then turned to me. She replied, “It was one of our associates who pointed you out to me in the first place!”
Later, when I looked at the picture, I noticed that the associate in question was not properly wearing her mask–it was pulled down below her nose! A heinous violation of the mask mandate! And so maybe the reason the associate was upset was because I had caught her on camera, violating the mask rules.
That epiphany came later. At the moment, all I could try to do was stay calm, and not yell (Tonya later complimented me for my restraint, though she did think my sarcastic tone was operating on ‘high.’) But I explained to Coach Tracy, “Look, I take pictures all the time. I take photos in restaurants, in airports, at gas stations, and convenience stores. I like to take pictures of interesting situations. And Lord knows this is getting interesting. I’ve taken photos in businesses all over the country and all over the world and nobody…ever..until you came along, ever suggested I was breaking the law.”
Like a good parrot she replied, “This is private property and you cannot take any photos or you will be asked to leave.” She turned and walked away.
Tonya said, “What an awful woman. Let’s just get out of here.”
We made our way out of the Self-checkout Arena and were within feet of the door, but then I stopped and turned. It was perhaps my only consciously provocative gesture of the incident. I’m sorry but I was pissed. “To hell with this,” I grumbled, “I’m taking one more picture.” I snapped another photo, and put the phone in my pocket, but as I turned to exit, I heard the frantic shouts of someone yelling, “OUT!!! OUT!!!” at the top of her lungs.
It was Coach Tracy again. She had apparently been hiding in the wings, waiting to see if I committed another heinous infraction. Now she was coming down the main aisle, sort of hunched over and moving at as fast a pace as she could probably muster, all the while making a “shoo-ing” gesture with her hands. “OUT! Get OUT!!!”
I said, “Have a nice day!” Tonya took me by the arm and we exited the building. As we fled, the Walmart Greeter, unaware of the incident but perhaps inspired by my own salutation to Tracy, shouted out, “Thanks for shopping at Walmart…you have a nice day too!”
As we drove back to the motel, neither of us could believe what had just happened. I know I can be a bit adversarial at times, but even Tonya had to concede I’d done nothing to provoke the woman except to innocently, I thought, take a picture inside the premises of a Walmart. It wasn’t like I was trying to photograph secret documents. I’m not working for the CIA or the FBI. I wasn’t trying to catch the Walmart manager in an uncompromising position in the back room with the checker. (Hell, in that Walmart you’d be hard pressed to find a checker to begin with.)
And when it comes to ‘who is spying on who,’ and who has the resources to do a much better job of it, all one had to do was look up at the wall above the self-checkout kiosks, to the massive monitors that were transmitting images of US…ALL OF US…as we walked from aisle to aisle, spending money, shopping aisle to aisle, proving, if nothing else, that we are stupid enough to make Walmart the biggest retailer in the world.
And so now, when Walmart comes to mind, not only do I think of the way the massive retailer continues to eliminate jobs for its living, breathing employees, and seeks ways to computerize and digitize and mechanize and dehumanize its operation, all for the sake of profit margins… now I remember that it treated us like trespassers on “private property” as well. The final irony is that while “Coach Tracy” was having a fit enforcing “company policy,” the only reason we had felt so compelled to take a photograph was a consequence of the concern Tonya and I had both felt for the human staff who would lose their jobs thanks to the self-checkout aisles–Walmart “associates” like Tracy. In this case, she’s “licking the hand that bites her.” And she doesn’t even know it.
*** *** ***
So here we are… we Americans struggle daily through this culture of alienation and disconnect, we continue to embrace polarized perspectives, and we are eager to find fault with anyone who fails to conform to our own inflexible and intolerant standards. We look forward, almost by the minute, for the opportunity to pass judgment on whoever happens to wander through our crosshairs. We have, in short, become the biggest collection of judgmental assholes in recent human history.
Passing judgment and, even worse, seeking ways to mete out punishment for faux pas, real or imagined, has become our way of life. Our self-serving entertainment. Our pathetic quest for superiority. Why are we all so hell bound and determined to be mad all the time? What is the point?
Did the little pimply faced McDonald’s shift manager feel better when he went home that night? Was the park ranger a better man for forcing a tourist to move his car 20 feet? Did the Walmart coach feel she’d made the world a safer place for condemning some checkout-line picture-taking? In these three situations, and in this order, all I was trying to do was: sleep, park, and take a picture. Surely we can find more significant reasons than that to lose our cool.
Come on, people…chill out. As my old buddy, Willie Flocko used to say…”Take a nerve pill. You’ll feel better tomorrow.”
(I hope)
Jim Stiles is Founding Publisher and Senior Editor of the Canyon Country Zephyr.
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“I can’t stand rudeness in a man. I won’t tolerate it” Captain Woodrow Call, Texas Ranger. We need more Captain Call’s in today’s world, to righteously purge us of the rudeness….
That is PRECISELY the line that came to mind, that could have summed this story up in a few words.
Its funny because I just threw a bit of a fit about self checkout…I wanted 10 percent off..the manager actually agreed with me, couldn’t do anything about it of course, but said within a few years it’ll be trucks that drive themselves, robots unload and stock, and we check ourselves out, if we even leave the house…drone delivery..
I don’t shop Walmart ever last time I was in one I bought a cell phone mistake of a life the little twit of a girl never programed my phone fully as she was too busy on hers in personal texting frenzy to care about cheating WM for her paycheck.. … it had been years since I’d even been in one… never again…I’ll pay extra thanks.
I won’t self check out. It is a disgrace.
If you had “complied”. entered the visitor center, you might have met other people who had run into that Ranger, and had a similar confrontation, as he took Authority to be a Parking Patrol.
I believe it’s inevitable for anyone who spends decades in a bureaucracy–National Parks Service is a particularly odious bureaucracy–to become an a**hole. Jim, you escaped. Count your blessings. Queen Tracy’s Walmart episode is as disturbing as Cranky Mask Man’s because it signals a crack-down on citizen journalism. Let me explain: The Free Press mentioned in the First Amendment is not a professional association of trained reporters–would that such a thing existed. The Free Press is the body of the American citizenry, and journalism rests on the shoulders of We the People, and that terrifies the corporate and bureaucratic authoritarians who have grown oddly paranoid about their ability to control the mainstream narrative. Photographic journalism is particularly powerful when it comes to presenting news and truth to the public. Even in the age of digital video and image manipulation–techniques which are easily exposed by those who know how to dissect digital imagery–authentic photos and videos can overtake any fabricated or skewed narrative put out by the legacy media. A thousand words is cheap currency for authentic video. These days it’s worth a million words, and has the power to turn political and social tides. Your photos of the checkout kiosks, Jim, are the kinds of things that keep corporate authoritarians awake at night. Memes, which are one of the most simplistic yet potentially sophisticated means for conveying ideas and truths, are dominating social media, and with good reason. Well done memes are visual, easy to digest, and may use quirky, kitschy or ironic images to convey information, and mock those in power. Tellingly, the new CEO of Twitter just announced that the platform is banning the use of images of persons–including celebrities and politicians–without their express permission. This effectively eliminates about 80% of the meme world. I have no doubt however, that the memers of the world will adapt, and come back with images to chap the butts of the ever-irritable authoritarian class. Consider this: As you and Tonya were being scolded for innocently documenting an indisputably weird set up in Walmart, there were at lease 20 cameras pointed at you. “Security” cams inside and outside of that obscure Walmart recorded your every move, from the time you entered the parking lot, to the time you left. And all that footage is probably in the hands of, or at least available to, authoritarians. The authoritarians don’t want our cameras pointed at them, but they have their cameras, cookies, algorithms, and NSA tracking tools, pointed at us, every minute of every day.
Our only real power anymore is as consumers….where we choose to spend our money. If enough people boycotted the Walmarts, Home Depots and Hobby Lobbys of the world, we might be able to affect a small and perhaps significant change. But, face it, most folks don’t give a shit. Too much information to cram into their wheelhouses. But perhaps I sleep a little better at night knowing I haven’t been inside of a Walmart in over 20 years, and I intend to keep it that way.
Hmm… most of this is on point, but are you sure that you want to characterize the way that OSHA learns about workplace safety violations as being thru “informants [who] snitch on their co-workers and bosses,” and that such a process creates “chaos, confusion and civil war”?
Unless you think that OSHA should learn about safety violations by having someone inside every facility and business (seems more authoritarian to me?), then reports from workers about violations they observe that concern them seems like a pretty good reporting process.
Personally, I believe I’m entitled to a safe workplace, and one that obeys the safety regulations that govern it and protect me. I’d be proud to be an “informant” who “snitches” when those conditions aren’t met.
Spoken like a true government career employee…I referenced OSHA but was really talking more broadly about our current polarized ‘culture’…You and I probably have a fundamentally different view on many issues, Brian. Nowadays, I find myself leaning toward the perspectives of writers like Paul Kingsnorth. Good luck in your future snitching endeavors…
https://unherd.com/2021/11/how-fear-fuels-the-vaccine-wars/?fbclid=IwAR1l4vToyYxUCm7KZW9KbX2bbAaPGeDRQYixoP7EDk0qyRGyCNTBqa2zPnU
Spoken like a true government career employee [I’ll begin by discrediting and dismissing the source based on their employment status]…I referenced OSHA but was really talking more broadly about our current polarized ‘culture’ [therefore I need not defend the point that was objected to, besides I was really talking about something else]…You and I probably have a fundamentally different view on many issues, Brian. [we just disagree] Nowadays, I find myself leaning toward the perspectives of writers like Paul Kingsnorth [so let’s divert the discussion to a link to an article about what I’d like to talk about, rather than anything you said]. Good luck in your future snitching endeavors…[further dismissal in lieu defending the original point or attempting a dialogue that might bring the perspectives together, even though the link would suggest that is exactly what is so badly needed]
Jim, sorry but you have to make more of an effort to avoid places like you described, especially WalMart (I shopped there many years ago and always wore glasses with tiny mirrors on them so no one could sneak up on me). What type of employees did you expect to find in these places? Which brings to mind, again many years ago, when my son and I were at Scotty’s Castle during the summer (idiots, I know). Very hot day and no other visitors around. The tour ranger we called Burned Out Bob. He referred to Scotty as a liar, con man, etc etc before we even got into the castle. I was thinking ‘Just who did this guy piss off to get posted to summertime Death Valley?’ Kinda like an isolated fire lookout or a 1950s ranger at Arches.
In those situations, one should back away slowly and do not make eye contact.
To all who have read this piece…
This is an interesting editorial, but I must note that the author is also being judgemental. His many observations of the behavior he is seeing are accurate but, in my belief, not peculiar to this time that we live in. What is, in my opinion, now more prevalent than it has been, is a tendency to scream our displeasure to the world rather than doing something that might actually help solve the problem.
For, example, did he write a letter to the forest service detailing his experience? Did he ask to talk to the team leader’s supervisor? Did he mention to the Assistant Shift Manager that he maybe could use a cup of coffee and thereby become a customer instead of what he actually was, a trespasser on private property? I mean, he was dealing with a teenager who was probably scared witless and also afraid of losing his job if he didn’t do as he was told… In short, did this person do anything that might have actually helped solve the problem? Nope, he wrote an editorial instead. An editorial that escalates everyone’s sense of alienation and confrontation.
Yes, he has correctly identified several issues but these issues have been around forever. What we need, in my humble opinion, are more people trying to solve the problems and fewer people complaining about them to others.
Wow Jim. Like on several issues over the years we see eye to on this stuff. This kind of paranoid behavior is not exclusive to Wallfart as you express here. I have been seeing it too. Things tend to be less uptight here in Arizona outside of the cities but in some federal and state parks the the asshole ratio can be a bit higher. There are people who tried to warn us that this was coming, Orwell, Carlon, Zinn among others come to mind, Now I have friends, some from a long time back who never trusted the mainstream narrative before following lockstep with whatever the government and media and big pharma tell them to do. People who think I’m a rightwing nut job because I still question authority, like the bumper sticker they used to have on their car. I have been listening to Robert Kennedy J some lately and he makes sense to me.
As across all of human history, we the average people are being played by all sorts of authoritarian forces and impulses. Monarchs were upfront: seize absolute power, declare some divine (god or philosophical power) justification, and rule as they see fit. In societies with more collective decision making, democratic or otherwise, the mob often assumes (in every sense) power. And across all the varieties of authorities, other structures like churches and media, collaborate in return for their own slice of the power pie.
In recent US history, we have the political-industrial complex, with media as the core industry. Noam Chomsky, Andrey Mir, Matt Taibi, and others have written about how it serves our masters to make us polarized, angry, and confrontational. A pop refrain is that modern media-tech turns us into products for sale. But more insidious is turning us into lab rats and live stock to be herded. No surprise then that when we recognize one of the herders, we feel abused.
Finally, we might easily recognize certain authoritarian types like those with badges and guns, or loud-mouthed Karens and Kens. But any time we see something wrong in the world, ponder a solution that might indeed make things better, and then feel an urge to mandate and institutionalize our solution, we stand on the edge of authoritarianism.
Jeez, even comment sections are getting combative.
We are like rats in a cage, with enough room we can manage to get along, but crowd us together, …
When is the next big meteor due? Not soon enough it seems.
1. Never, ever enter a big box or franchise unless an emergency exists.
2. The gene pool is terminal and devolving daily to the extent humans are really, really in a sad state.
3. Wisdom comes only with age and it teaches to avoid the aggressive vibe regardless of the temptation to spar.
4. Tribalism has ended much of peaceful, intelligent dialogue. The divisions are irreparable and not worth visiting.
5. Critical thinking is dead.
6. Dis/misinformation is the media of choice for most and the source of their “education”.
7. As climate change, democracy, media, communication, politics, health, ad infinitum, We’re WAY past the tipping point
8. Life’s too short and health is too precious to be preoccupied with the increasing idiocy of bipeds.
9. It will get a helluva lot worse before it gets better.
10. Carping won’t help without a plan. There is no plan. Peace.
Well said,Mr. Stokes. A suggestion for a book that you or others may wish to read- ’21 Lessons for the 21st Century’ by Yuval Noah Harari.
Welcome to my world, sir Jim. I have been in your shoes at one time or another. I was a seasonal with the NPS as an interpreter, and fee collection. Seasonal with the USFS, as a Rec.Tech. Doing double sampling of recreational use of the public while on vacation. Got my status with the USACOE, I could give both verbal or written warnings at first then I could issue violation notice were they could either pay the fine or have a standup with the Federal Magistrate. But no arrest authority but I worked with the local deputies, highway patrol and with county L E park Rangers, and with the USFS L E Rangers and with BLM L E Rangers. If I could not out BS the violator then I would call in the 1st. Calavery they did respond and seeing the Huey’s coming in they complied. They I Joined BLM as and LE Ranger. My first couple months were spent at FLETC braking the rules of their training sessions. They song & dance was then tell us that the bad guys knew how we are trained. I ask then why do you teach that way? Well it is either there way or the good old highway. My reply was you need to redo your method of training. Same with firearms training, they did not show how to do a Rick-O-Shay shot and also if your using a car as cover, drop to the ground then shot them in the leg/ankle they will stop shooting. My problem with BLM thought we were cops I told them I’m Ranger who has had the training which means I know when to rachit up. I would tell violators I get paid by the hour, most then realize they will either complay or have a vacation at the local grey bar motel. The Ranger you had a negative with has been brain washed, by either FLETC or his chain of commond, if he decides not to think he might end up on the CA CA list. The lady at Walmart was in the right, that is private property and you do have to ask for permission, which will not happen. You could find a mini camera or ask the pros if they know away around. I learn and was thought the art of photo murals inside a business. I ask if the boss is in I just explain why I want take a photo inside their business. I tell them if the allow me to take a photo I well explain I ask and wAs allow plus I can add their location & websites etc to my post. I was hassled by a grocery store that friends did murals on the outside of the building. The manager told me I could not take photos of the murals. I ended up educating them since I was outside that I can take photos since it is in the public view, and your are leasing the building site from some one else. The parking is in public view and your costumers are invited in so they can spend their money at your business. They realize I knew about some of the law that covers both public vs private property rights. I do not know if this help you or not.
“It is a wise man who knows not to push the limits of the law.” – Barney Fife 1966
I agree with some of what’s been said here but I don’t think it’s a 21st century condition. The Barney Fifes and Nurse Ratheds have always been here and, if I was there, I’d buy ya beer and tell ya not to let this shit eat at you
Jim:
Your such a troublemaker …
I have been trying to collect my thoughts to write an essay on “Democracy is not a Human trait” for a long time. IMO we are born to try to get our way. We naturally gravitate toward articles, TV, radio or friends who share our conscious or unconscious values and briefs. Even when we try to be nonpartisan, our unconscious mind pushes us toward our deep seated values.
Night friend
Welcome to the Malthusian age. Too many rats in this here cage.
I change my behavior and approach/attitudes towards all sorts of situations by doing what I call having a meeting with myself. But someone else attends these meetings as well…I hear my moms voice saying “be nice”. It ain’t always easy because I’ve had a knee jerk reaction to authorities ever since 6th grade Catholic school when I put a nun on the ground who was repeatedly slapping me for rigging a drinking fountain to squirt faces. My “be nice” mom took me and my 3 siblings out of that school saying nobody hits my kids but me.
Proverbs 15:1-2
A mild (gentle) answer turns away rage,
But a harsh (painful) word stirs up anger.
The tongue of the wise makes good use of knowledge,
But the mouth of the stupid blurts out foolishness.
Even in this present insane world which will defenitely get worse, this advice still works. I know because I’ve done it even when inside I was tense. Self-control is a tough thing to master.
I won’t self check out. It is a disgrace.
I understand your frustration with th ranger and th rv parking situation. But have you thought about that family with two little girls( whose daddy was a former NPS seasonal himself) who love to visit all the out of the way NPS units…. That , by the way, are visiting these units in a rv? We have pulled up to park at MANY NPS units only to find some rude person taking up the space in a car( mind you like in your re were other available spaces).
I believe you would have thought these people rude and inconsiderate if you had been in our shoes….we were the ones that were inconvenienced by others who didn’t stop and think how their actions might effect another…hopefully they cared…but many nowadays don’t care..th I, me my syndrome.
So, you can see why I don’t agree with you on the ranger situation..th former 2nd grade teacher in me is a stickler for us to think of others and do what’s right when it’s in our power to do so…
But the Wallyworld n Mickey D’S situations…I’m 1000% on your side
Have a good one n keep on writing…I enjoy your articles
Nice article Jim sad but spot on. I went to Walmart the other day to buy some barley for supper my wife was making soup. I asked an associate what aisle the barley was on as I couldn’t find it. She gave me a totally blank stare for about 10 secondos and then said Whats barley ? Just shoot my head abd walked off