I really don't know what the hell is at the root of my cop-phobia. I don't knowingly break the law. I've never been arrested. Maybe I just watched too many cartoons as a kid where authority figures were either incompetent or were bad guys. Which, really, makes sense for kids' entertainment. Who the hell wants to watch competent men and women in uniform doing their jobs properly and safely?

It is worth noting that I had to use "cop-phobia" just now because there is no proper Greek or Latin official term for it - check the list if you don't believe me. This is because "phobias", by definition, are irrational fears, and there's nothing irrational about maintaining a healthy level of paranoia for anybody who could, conceivably, shoot me and get a medal for it.

I don't really see it as a bad thing, though. I don't see it as a part of myself that I should try to change. After all, isn't deterrent a major reason why we have prisons and trials and guns and tasers and pepper spray in the first place? Isn't the constant threat that you could have your life ruined - or ended - by the Man supposed to be part of the whole fabric of society that keeps the gears turning? That's why they have those Scared Straight sort of things for misbehaving kids - a certain amount of fear is, arguably, an important part of being a good citizen.