Salocin

Endowed with authority

I believe that one of the most distasteful human desires is the desire for power. I don't mean the sort of Dr. Evil megalomania, but simple power over your fellow man, the sort of thing that is lampooned by South Park whenever Cartman hollers "respect mah authority" in that annoying voice.

Our western societies require that power be bestowed upon a few trusted individuals so as to enforce the rule of law, preserve our way of life and stand fast against the inevitable forces that rub up against what we term civilized society. These are the policemen, customs officials, military, tax inspectors and so on that ensure the proper working of certain essential aspects of our economic and political system. They are crucial roles that are of paramount importance, and which need to be carried out with accuracy and tact.

So why is it that so many of them are wankers?

The photo above is of three individuals dressed in military uniform who were securing the train station in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris when I returned from South Africa. It was very early morning, well before the rush hour, and it was quite cold. With absolutely nothing to do, the police officer soon ended up scolding a child for walking the wrong way down a deserted escalator.

The kid was doing nothing wrong, was clearly just enjoying himself, no-one else was using the escalator and his parents were nearby. It seemed to me to be the use of authority because it existed, rather than because it helped anyone in any way. The child, clearly intimidated, scooted off and superglued himself to his parents.

Far worse than this is the experience of going through US customs. I have had to do this a great many times now, and am frankly now almost always prepared for the worst. While I have had a few pleasant surprises, by and large, my experience is one of cringing anticipation and an expectation that I will walk away feeling somehow insulted, regardless of how carefully I have prepared my papers. Furthermore, you absolutely positively cannot give these people any kind of feedback at all if you are spoken to in an insulting manner, because in my experience they are simply waiting for an excuse to demonstrate just how horrible they can make your day.

Being cheerful in return just makes them suspicious, and that's assuming you are still able to look cheerful after an 8 to 12-hour flight and a 6 to 9-hour time difference.

Police officers in the US are sometimes similarly difficult to deal with, although in Philadelphia and Seattle I've had some good experiences to mitigate the bad. There's this perception they have that they deserve a measure of respect because of the uniform they wear, which makes them swagger rather than walk, accentuating the swing of the hips so that their utility belt swings back and forth and their gun, baton, pepper-spray, radio and handcuffs are observed by all.

To my mind, the importance of these roles comes from the fact that they exist to support our society and our way of life. In a very real way, these individuals, employed by the state (and therefore paid for by us all), are the servants of the people, and that is something that should make them proud, not arrogant. The measure of their success should not only be the crime they prevent, illegal immigrants they catch and tax-dodgers they trap, but also the level of comfort everyone has around them. We should not feel threatened by a customs official unless we have good reason to be - so why am I always made to feel like dirt at the border?

"Power corrupts" doesn't really explain this phenomenon - it's a self-selection problem. Many of these jobs are not very well paid - that means that people who can get better pay elsewhere tend to do so. Of the people who will accept this sort of pay level for this kind of job, those that go into positions where they are endowed with powers (police, customs, etc) often do so because they are attracted by the power, rather than by the opportunity to serve the people. Often, they also forget that serving one's country and serving the people in the street is actually one and the same thing. In the case of border guards, they don't realise that they're the first impression most of us have of America - my friends and I often reflected that we knew we were back in the US when we'd been insulted by the border guard and been made to feel like a drug smuggler by customs.

In Seattle, I once crossed the road like a Londoner. That means that I figured out where the cars were and how fast they were moving, and then just crossed the road. I was stopped for jaywalking. I had never heard of jaywalking before. After walking me to the pavement, the officer asked me if I knew I had been "jaywalking", and in my very English accent, I said, "I've been what?". A huge grin appeared on his face as he figured out what my particular malfunction was, and he thought it was great fun to see the look on my face as he explained what was, to me, a ridiculous rule. He was funny and friendly, and performed his job perfectly. It is truly the case that people are just more laid back on the west coast.

In Philadelphia, there's a traffic cop in University City that many students refer to as the "dancing policeman", because when the traffic gets heavy in the afternoon, even when it's pouring with rain or hailing like it's the end of the world, he controls the junction near the bookshop, and stands in the middle of the street directing traffic with energetic arm and leg movements, a whistle hanging around his neck and a big shit-eating grin on his face. Everyone loves him. Just seeing him puts you in a great mood, even when the weather's awful. The motorists honk to salute him as they drive by. He never gets disobeyed, and he never needs to shout, confront or threaten anyone.

These two examples show that you can be a police officer, a traffic cop, probably even a customs agent, and still be really nice to everyone. In these positions, you have a huge impact on everyone you interact with, and with that comes a social responsibility to not negatively impact their lives for no reason.

Here in Belgium, we have overly powerful civil servants in the form of rabid tax inspectors. The police are ruthless when you commit a minor infraction such as being 2% over the speed limit, but utterly useless when it comes to getting to your house when your alarm is going off and you're getting burgled. Our politicians are part of a coalition system so gridlocked that they're going to be in power forever and they know it. But nevertheless - there are a few really good people in some of these roles, many more than there were a few years ago, and hopefully that will improve further in time.

Posted by nlvp at November 5, 2004 07:50 PM