A late acquaintance offered the following scenario to determine a person's fundamental attitudes. Let's say we happen upon police officers beating a suspect. We know nothing about the incident beyond what we're witnessing. Is our gut instinct outrage at the smackdown—or do we figure the cops must be in the right and the suspect no doubt is getting what he deserves? As someone who generally distrusts government authority and has covered several troubling police-use-of-force incidents, you can probably guess where I'd come down. But I know people who have been victims of violent crime and seem more likely to side with the police. Typically, people tend to make snap judgments about these encounters based on their biases rather than the facts.
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