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Regardless of the merits of his claims:
I see this behavior (on bodycam videos) from my clients all the time, and it's always counterproductive. Even if someone is 100% in the right, there is no situation made better by being argumentative and belligerent with the cops. Once cops have shown up, the situation has gone to shit, and being a dickhead doesn't improve things. Passive resistance, petulance, argumentativeness, active resistance, outright assault on the cops... not going to help. It sucks, but being polite and pulling the "yes, sir, no sir" card generally keeps things from getting worse.
It's especially baffling from clients who claim they are in fear of the cops killing them at any second due to their race. What, the cop is going to decide to not kill you because you're so obnoxious? Very logical. It's reinforced every time I see bodycams of bored, time-killing cops doing a traffic stop during daylight where they're trying to give a speeding ticket (and do the usual cop thing of sniffing around for something else). Instead of giving a name, getting a ticket, and going on about their lives, that's the time clients decide the smart thing to do is refuse to give a name (or give an incredibly fake name and DOB), refuse to hand over a driver's license, and get belligerent, thus turning a speeding ticket into PC for arrest and a search of the car.
What's baffling? The cops are trying to make them eat shit (that is, to yield in a monkey dominance game) with all the 'yes sir' and 'no sir' stuff, and in the moment they would rather take the risk of greater consequences than do so "voluntarily". Probably especially culturally relevant to blacks, though I suspect all but the most beaten-down milquetoast PMCs dislike showing their belly that way. Law-n-order conservatives claim to think it's fine, but I think mostly they don't envision themselves on the wrong side of that.
I mean, hello officer, yes sir, no sir is, uh, not degrading. There’s cops that are assholes but it’s just common politeness for dealing with strangers is to use sir and ma’am and the like.
"Sir" is one thing, but you'd only say "Yes sir" to someone in a position of authority over you. Which, of course, cops are, but it's not just civility to a stranger. If a stranger with no authority tells me "Walk this way", and I'm inclined to do as he says, but don't want to acknowledge him as a superior, the formal thing to say is more like "Very well". "Yes sir" is what you say to a teacher or a CO.
I say "yes sir" to people not in a position of authority over me all the time. I even say it to people over whom I am in authority (e.g. people I hire to do work).
Never heard this. If someone I worked for told me "yes sir" I'd wonder what kind of mind games they were playing and how quickly I was about to be fired. Regional difference, maybe? Class?
Sir and maam are the default for a formal, professional interaction. I'd rather keep the cops on that level. My boss calls me sir all the time- it's just a mark of professional respect.
Again I think there is a huge of difference between just calling someone "sir", and the specific phrase "yes sir". One is polite, the latter is subservient.
I don't agree with this. If calling someone "sir" is not subservient, then saying "yes sir" is not subservient. It's simply giving an affirmative answer while showing respect.
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