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Two days ago:

I got a call from a telemarketing fundraiser. He was asking for a donation to the Oregon Police Assosciation, or something like that. The scripted spiel he read to me said "Your donation will help those people who deter the elements of violence and narcotics trafficing in our communities...."

This is when I broke in and said with my most sarcastic voice, "Oh neat! Are you going to keep the cops from dealing drugs and being violent towards innocent people?"

"Ahh... wha, the police don't deal drugs, or they shouldn't be," came his surprised response. He continued to mutter "Do the police deal drugs?" before I cut him off.

I�ve heard a lot of stories about Portland police selling drugs, but I don�t know the details. It's not important anyway. I cut to the chase with �So, it comes as no surprise to you to hear that the police are violent towards innocent people?"

It didn't surprise him. He wanted to know all about my opinion of the Portland Police. I told him about pepperspraying babies, harassing kids, and just being a general nuisance. Despite his curiosity, and the fact that he told me I was more of a benefit to society than him or any police, he seemed to want to convince me to take on his subservient attitude toward athority, and he had an uneasy we're being watched tone in his voice. The last thing he said was that I should be careful who my opinion is affecting. It sounded like a warning, or a threat of some sort.

What is that supposed to mean? I want my opinion to indiscrimanately affect everyone. You know why? Because I don't go around having misinformed opinions. When I do have an opinion about something, it's strong enough for me to believe that every other person on this planet ought to do some research and some thinking and come to the same conclusion as me. I don't have an opinion about a lot of things, but when I do, it's something important. I won't disrespect you for disagreeing with me, but I'll just argue with you every chance I get. That's how much thought I give to people being affected by my opinions.

So, if you've come away from this feeling a contempt for police, I'm very happy. If you think I should be more respectful of authority, fuck you pig.

(actually, I think it was just poor word choice on his part. I have no idea what he was trying to imply.)