The Harvard professor and Mr Obama should take note of how people should react to law enforcement. Humbly civily and respectfully of each other.

The wisdom of Mr. Dylan is awesome in many ways. It's funny that so many people think of him as arrogant, when in fact he is exactly the opposite.

I would have recognized him anywhere (especially if he told me who he was!!).

It doesn't surprise me that he graciously reacted the way he did... it's how I imagine he would be.

Wonder if he's ever walked around in my neighborhood...

let's not miss the wonder of this story. Bob Dylan is the greatest American artist of the last 100 years. If a a genius like him can be mistaken for a crazy person - there's hope (real hope) for the rest of us. Bob if you read this, you should walk around my neighborhood sometime..it is rich with history and the ghosts of civil war soldiers.

Dylan was playing a set in South Lake Tahoe on August 16 @ 9pm PDT.

Thanks for this article. I'm enjoying the comments, too. I made a similar point to a friend the other night --how Dylan reacted so much more graciously than Gates. My friend pointed out that Dylan a) wasn't in his own house and b) wasn't being racially profiled. But your article asks the key question: "How many stars would have gone along humbly, as Dylan did, and not thrown a tantrum." And I can't think of any.

just imagine, seeing Bob Dylan, wherever...and asking him the exact same questions as the police officer did....the reply was huge in it's smallness....simply put, anyone else could have said the same thing..."I'm on tour."....

whoa...
this is the way folks should behave when stopped by a policeman...and the policeman, did the right thing...
end of story, but the vibe continues

I'm consistently stunned by the unAmerican deference to police officers that I see urged in the "feedback" and comments sections of these articles.

I recognize that the police walk a fine line -- they are genuinely at risk in buffering the citizenry from aggressive or violent people. A necessary tool in their toolbox is an imposition of authority.

But recognizing that it's a legitimate, necessary tool is not equivalent to announcing that there is a particular "way" that "people should react to law enforcement." As a nation, we elected from our inception to risk organization and "order" by checking the authority of the police. I hope that the lesson learned is by law enforcement -- that they need always respect the citizens they encounter.

If it makes my neighbourhood more dangerous, it's a risk I'll gladly bear -- as my founding fathers did when siding with liberty over the safety inherent in obeisance to the state.

Wait. A couple of points: "If Dylan were arrested and handcuffed in his own house, don't you think he might have reacted a little differently?" Well, Gates through a tantrum before he was handcuffed -- in fact, his tantrum led to handcuffing and arrest. Maybe that was unnecessary, but without a doubt, Dylan made less of a fuss is a similar situation.

Secondly, there is absolutely no evidence that Gates was racially profiled, that he was arrested because he was black rather than because he was belligerent.

Good point, Jim, about Gates acting up before the cuffs came out. I still think it was Sgt. Crowley's duty to pipe down and leave things alone once he realized it really was his house, even if he did have a tantrum.

What is the point of bringing up the Gates/Crowley thing at all? How is it fair to Mr. Dylan to be drug into that controversy in any way, shape or form? Certainly, Mr. Dylan deserves credit for his civility...but it seems contrived--and pointless--to make this "political" when it is a completely different set of circumstances with two completely different people. Perhaps this cop was simply being more polite to Mr. Dylan than officer Crowley was to Mr. Gates. Perhaps Dylan, having not finished a long trip, was more polite to the office. Who knows. More important: WHO CARES.

Can't wait for the song...

peerin in t windows/where i hoped t find myself/i was confronted by an officer/with the name charlene c. belf/she asked me what i was doin/at that time of deepest new jersey night/i said that i was searchin/in the hopes of findin light....(etc)

You're first update is puzzling, at best. The good professor started throwing a fit from the start, not when he was handcuffed. The professor could learn a lesson from Mr. Zimmerman on how to behave. And Dylan hadn't even just broken into a home.

The Gates comparison is a red herring. Besides Dylan's general cooperativeness under the circumstances, the real question should be: "Has Dylan ever covered an Elvis tune?"

verify his i.d so she would know she got the real autograph!!!?