Most of the ham community are friendly, frequently get together in person, and help others (especially when it comes to a ham project), and actively participate and volunteer in community service endeavors. While, yes, there are a few dbags, they are the exception rather than the rule.
Not to hijack the thread, but why do so many hams see the rules as black or white and get so bent when someone ventures a little outside the established rules?
Question, what do you mean by "ventures a little outside the established rules?"
Trying to answer what I think you're asking:
First, please understand that interference, intentional or otherwise, with other radio services is something that the FCC takes very seriously, and for good reason. Not only are you stepping on someone else's toes, it really is possible to prevent other services, including emergency services and air traffic control from functioning. People who have gotten caught doing so have faced massive fines and jail time. I am no fan of govt, but I do see that the RF spectrum, which is limited - though the ability to use higher and higher frequencies is growing with technology, is one of the few areas where some sort of allocation scheme is necessary or else it wouldn't work for anybody. Consequently, in pretty much every country in the world, there is some sort of national standard and entity; and when it comes to amateur radio there is quite a bit of international treaty and coordination too.
That being said, amateur radio operators enjoy great leeway and latitude in their ability (privilege) to operate their radios. They are allocated a sizeable portion of the RF spectrum across many bands, each of which have different properties and with large amounts of power. In some cases they are allowed to share spectrum with other services on the understanding that they don't interfere with other operations. Pretty much everything related to ham radio, from the licensing through rule enforcement is handled by volunteers. About the only thing that the FCC gets involved in is issuing an FRN and the license (station and operator identification, aka call sign - much like commercial radio and tv stations) and this is done by a computer. Outside of the US, most countries not only permit communication with US hams, but allow US citizens to operate their radios in their (foreign) country. To put it succinctly, govt involvement is very limited and very hands off. We would like to keep it this way. The best way to invite govt intrusion is to violate the rules.