Anecdote: Cops and Confrontations on the Streets of Kunming.

I had a funny situation the other day
you know I was um I was walking down the street and it's a street that's real familiar to me I was crossing the street an intersection where very frequently people try to nudge me out of the way with their cars or motorcycles or people actually kind of try to run you over this came up in my podcast with mod vegan mod vegan was asking about what kind of situations in real life when do you really have to be prepared for fist fights for physical confrontations and I gave this as an example where literally are in a situation saying look you're not going to run me over without a fight mmm sorry the camera is acting up this is this problem I have when I both natural light and artificial light this camera starts to act strangely um anyway see no with this particular intersection I have a lot of practice with people and their motorbikes of their cars kind of ramming into me or at were you know I have to look them in the eye and one of them's that normally say to them in Chinese I point to the light above me I say it's red you can see that the light is red like you know like if they're supposed to stop you know and they're not only not stopping but they're trying to get me to dodge them or whatever weather try to run me over from whatever your perspective it's so this particular intersection I have a lot of experience that kind of confrontation you know funniest thing happened I really laughed my ass off 30 seconds after this confrontation wrapped up but I got to this intersection then most of the time its people on motorcycles doing that not cars because if the cars run the red light they can get you know they can have a serious accident for the motorbikes that kind of weave through scared to this intersection and there are two cops in a cop car you know fully uniformed cops in a proper you know police car it's not an undercover car and the police car doesn't have its sirens on or anything and the car park comes to the intersection and you know what was funny the two cops both of them are leaning out the window this is the you know the two windows the driver's side and passenger side both of them are actually leaning out you know and they both have expressions on their face slightly playful childish expressions you can see they're really having fun for whatever reason they're having a good day these cops I don't know I don't know what's up a lot of time you meet cops and their morose and tired but these cops are having a good time cops get to the intersection now look I'm not boasting I'm a big guy I'm six foot three I'm bald I look like a foreigner I don't blend in here in China you know me I don't disappear into the crowd cops get to this intersection and the funny thing is they're looking everywhere except at me and I'm in front of their car they're about to fuck and run me over and when you think about this to reason why are they looking around that way two reasons one they're looking out for other cars that might crash into when they run this red light and the other thing is they're looking out for other cops at that intersection by that intersection because there are some night clubs there there's actually a police stand not really a police station but anyway it's possible there be other cops that would reproach them from running this red light in China if they don't have the sirens on if there isn't an emergency cops are not supposed to run the red light they're supposed to you know obey the obey the rules like everyone else and quick so the cops come up and despite the fact that have a big guy like it's it's not like they don't see me and whatever I'm a foreigner and I'm bold these cuffs not only are going to try to run the red light but they're gonna try to whatever you gonna say nudge me out of the way or get me to jump out of the way because I'm in front of their car I'm in there I'm in their path was sick and I don't get out of their way I hold up one hand you know I've got so whatever from doing this with the camera I put a hand up in front of the windshield because I'm walking from them looking the drivers straight in the eye and I say to him and I don't even have to shout because she's not behind the wheel the driver is leaning out the window of the cop car on both sides they're hanging out the window and smiling like I said they're really enjoying themselves weird happy they're cops having a good day so I say to him without even raising my voice cuz he's not inside he's kind of halfway out the car I say to him it's a red light isn't it funny I guess you know what two men like that like again like I didn't have to raise my voice I got my hand up in his face so to speak and it's completely clear if you're gonna fuck with me I'm gonna fuck with y'all gonna fight that there's no threat but it's completely obvious in the scenario thank you right now or for no reason threatening my life I'm not gonna step out of the way your car if you don't back down I'm not going to back down so we can do it so much gets communicated all I said to them was you know it's red isn't it it's a red light isn't and both of the cops leaning out it was so funny because you saw the changing expressed basis they were really enjoying themselves they were really relishing the moment of having this little meaningless transgression you know what I mean they were relishing the opportunity to run this red light and there did just add this childish joyful expression in their faces and then they both look at me and they're like yeah yeah you're right you know sort of adorable sincere reaction from these two cops if what could be a tense situation out a way I gotta hand up and I keeping icon day with them and I'm not running I'm not jumping out of the way I continue walking protection and when I get across I really break down laughing because I've been through that with so many drivers now and different people react in different ways I never had someone gets sincerely angry with me when it's a guy on the motorcycle with his girlfriend on the back sometimes they want to front like they're going to start a fistfight with me or something but they all know they're in the wrong like fundamental they're running a red light in their nudging me they're not just the running red light and it's not a victimless crime I'm right they are in contact with the hood of your car or whatever you know what I mean like it's not really debatable who's in the wrong and in these situations and it's also not debatable that I've got double your body weight so if we're gonna have a fistfight on the tarmac it's going to go one way now obviously I don't know I'm here to learn Chinese if I spend some time in a Chinese prison I don't know how that would help my language skills I don't know how that would go but this is the ultimate surreal situation that me facing down two cops not one but two cops who know though in the row you know anywhere whatever I've been through that same snare it's because I've rehearsed it so many times that I was just so practice they were and when I got my stuff so I really broke down laughing cuz you know I don't know mmm how does this um how does this link back to veganism you know the other day I was talking to my teacher we had this miserable failure of an attempt to go and find a vegan restaurant walked a long long distance in the rain feet get wet shoes get ruined you know and she made some comments she apologized we ended up not being able to find we're searching for two different vegan restaurants they both didn't exist what have you but i remember i said to her look you know she made some excuse you should oh it's sad this is part of Chinese culture i said no I've lived in Taiwan I've lived in Hong Kong it's isn't Chinese culture people become good when they want to become good you know when people are interested in morality when people are interested in the difference to you right and wrong they changed their behavior accordingly and you know again I'm not saying anything bad about these cops the cops I mean they behaved a lot better than some of the other random civilians on motorcycles and the cops in this case they knew they were in the wrong they knew they were running a red light and they knew they were disregarding a person who was standing right in front of the hood of their car a person either F to jump out of the way or roll onto the hood of their car or do what I did and tell them to back down they knew they were in the wrong and they cared so you know they you know that I didn't apologize but they really nodded to me they put up it and like yeah yeah they knew I was I was right you know either either people care they don't and yeah it's miserable every day to be bearing that message and be a witness to that fact that you're just in a society where nobody cares but the deaths of millions of animals and the waist and the blood and the gore and the misery and ecological devastation associated with that but when you're dealing with people like that even with such a momentary you know what I know 45 second interaction with somebody that's what you're going to find out either they care about doing the right thing or they don't and I don't know ah I mean you know I'm not looking for conflict but the ultimate it again services is what I was talking about before i turn the camera you know there's nothing dramatic about the scenario the question is ultimately are you going to run me over or not and if you're threatening to run me over am I supposed to just lay down and let it happen or am I going to stand up for myself and say I'm not going down without a fight but there's nothing dramatic about it comedic it's more comedic than dramatic truth be told