Yesterday in our town of Gainesville, Florida, John Kerry made an appearance at the University of Florida. And Andrew Meyer decided to attend.
By now, many of you have seen the video. If you haven't, it's published below.
Meyer is apparently a very impassioned young liberal, who is quite taken with the views of the extreme left, and had just finished reading a book that had really inflamed him. He ran up to the microphone, cutting in front of everyone, and proceeded to both preach at Kerry and the audience and then attempted to ask three questions of Kerry. Incidentally, if you watch the video you can see he wasn't outrageously extreme, and was obviously a fan of Kerry's and not a heckler (as Glenn Beck has claimed).
At this point, campus police rushed him as if he were a dangerous criminal. Using excessive force, they subdued him. When he continued to demand to be released and asked why they were responding in such a manner, they tasered him.
During the entire incident, Kerry drones on limply in a monotone, quietly telling the police that he'll answer the questions. If it had been anyone else, they would have been screaming at the police to stop! Kerry apparently felt it best to quietly protest but not get deeply or passionately involved. Does the man take a stand in anything?!
What really alarms me (more than this obvious police brutality) was that almost all the conservative talk show hosts yesterday made fun of Meyer and laughed over the incident. The only one that saw it for what it truly was, was Michael Savage.
Say what you want about Michael Savage... and yes - he definately lacks the suave polish of most of the others... but Michael got it right, and the others were dead wrong.
And I remain alarmed.
Yes, Meyer was rude. And yes, he's gained the reputation of being the campus weirdo - the annoying gadfly that nobody really likes much. And yes, he's known as being a practical joker. But simply being weird or annoying doesn't constitute an offense worthy of this reaction! Such police behavior is reminiscent of the brutality seen in the early 1960s civil rights marches.
This is the danger of putting tasers in the hands of the police. Tasers were originally meant to be a humane substitute for a gun! Please tell me that no policeman in his right mind would consider shooting Meyer under the same circumstances!
Obviously many people will choose to enroll their children in other colleges instead of the University of Florida as long as such gestapo tactics are sanctioned there.
Also obvious is the whopper of a lawsuit that Meyer now has. Thank goodness he didn't have a medical condition, or it would be his parents suing for wrongful death, instead.
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21 comments:
I have to admit, I'm one of those who laughed over this incident. Mostly because of the way the guy sounded.
Good grief! He sounded as if he was being dragged off to be stoned to death or something.
I do not think he should have been tasered though.
That didn't seem necessary.
I haven't heard Michael Savage in years, but I remember him being a funny guy. He certainly holds strong opinions and isn't afraid to say them.
I've heard Glenn Beck several times since I discovered him on radio and TV. From the little I've seen and heard from him, I like the guy.
One thing's for sure, this taser incident is gonna make some headlines and get a lot of news coverage.
Well, the cops were there to maintain order and stuff. You can not very well have a microphone free for all going down. The guy should have waited for his turn. But did he bum rush the microphone? I did not see that in the video.
I do not think he was a heckler. I did not hear all the questions, but one was about the Skull And Bones society. And something about impeaching Bush. Kerry was going to answer them - probably with some bullshit but still. Not really a problem.
The cops then step in and start to grab the guy, before he had started to jump around and yell and scream. Yea he was worked up, but so what? That is not illegal. He did have a book in his hand - those things can be dangerous. You can get a nasty paper cut.
I think Kerry was just taken back by the whole thing. What do you do here? The cops were going to haul that guy off no matter what Kerry said. Cause that is how cops roll.
Time to vote now!
R2K
Bzzz Bzzzzz Bzzzzzzzzzzzz
i saw some tv footage of meyer seeing his dad for the first time after the incident. he sort of spastically ran towards his dad and hugged the heck out of him real fast. it seems like the guy has a bit of a disorder of some sort..not knowing how to handle himself in social situations. just a novice guess on my part.
he reminded me of the mentally challenged kid i once saw running with a shopping cart through the grocery store.
What happened to just quickly hustling the guy out of the room and handcuffing them outside or in the hallway?
I don't think they tasered him for resisting arrest. They were probably trying to induce cardiac arrest on purpose just so they didn't have to listen to his annoying voice anymore.
McKay, yeah, I think the poor guy definately has some problems. And, as Jamie Dawn pointed out, he obviously overreacted and made a fool of himself. The boy is at a great social disadvantage, I'd say. Still, not reason enough to taser him anymore than it's reason to shoot him, (again, I use the analogy since tasers are supposed to be a substitute for guns). I'm betting you agree.
Power & Voltage, so what's your take on alternative fuel sources?
R2K, whoops! Sorry, I'll be right over. I got busy yesterday.
Lazy Iguana, I read in one article that he did bum-rush the mic.
And you're right - his three questions were: Why did you concede the election so fast, why don't you impeach Bush, and do you belong to the same secret society as Bush.
Kerry was definately taken aback, but still reacted as an anemic turtle with laryngitis.
Jamie Dawn, Oh, I laughed at first, too! I thought he was quite weird (as I said in my post above to McKay) and I still think he is. Talk about overreacting - especially when he screeches about how he might be killed by the police. BUT, (as you agree, I realize) being a dork is not a tasering offense.
Ed, exactly! It wouldn't have been hard for that entire swarm of campus Keystone cops to drag his butt outta there first.
Too much Authoritarian thinking in this country. I'd like to blame Dubya, but I think he's a symptom rather than a cause.
Daveawayfromhome, I agree entirely. We are becoming more paternalistic all the time. The American people are not waking up to the dangers of losing their rights OR the dangers of the Islamic terrorists. Many people thought that 9/11 would be a wake-up call, but people continue on blithely, secure in the believe that "daddy" is taking care of it all. This is also true in social programs and no one is challenging such things as the exorbitant taxation in Florida. Instead, we whine to... the government. Talk about asking the fox to guard the henhouse!
I hear your point, but I have such a hard time sympathizing with liberal loonies who practically set themselves up for consequences like this with their unruly behavior. But to be fair they didn't have to tase him and the cops who should be suspended without pay for two weeks. That should be enough.
I think that if each American gets 10 illegal immigrants, harnesses them to a buggy, and then use a tazer to make them all run we could cut our dependence on foreign oil overnight.
And we could also provide a lot of jobs Americans do not want to do.
I briefly saw a clip on this the other day. The only part I saw was the boy lying on the floor after he was tasered and screaming. I didn't know what to think.
It definitely got out of hand...what do they say was the actual reason for him being arrested? That is some crap.
When it happens to someone else and not you - it is funny so long as nobody dies or looses a body part. If someone wets their pants it is double funnier. Crotch hits that happen to someone else are triple funny. If anything happens to you then it sucks and anyone who laughs is an asshole.
I have spoken.
This brings me back to my own campus days. I am reminded of "Ugly Toby" with the purple hair.
Every campus has at least one.
The tazer from what I have seen was completely and utterly wrong. But, what really irks me is the loss of simple civility. I think there are many reasons for this ... that is another novel ... but, there use to be stuff called deterrents ... we use to call it LA Justice where I'm from ... it could be called Cleveland Justice ... it was simply be careful what you do because there is usually a consequence. It may be legal to call a man a ----ing bastard, but your chances of getting the crap kicked out of you go up dramatically. Maybe it is the primitive law of the jungle, but don't pretend that you were surprised when it happened. Cause and effect ... just sayin'
I would have to agree with dave away from home - it smacked of totalitarianism.
We are headed towards a totalitarian state here in Amerika and around the world as multinational corporations, who feel they owe no allegiance to the workers of their host countries, are allowed unabated to pursue profit for their shareholders at the expense of the rest of humanity. And this call for "free trade" by our elite is what has helped to foster this. This is why the founders of America looked upon tariffs as a positive thing to help keep our country sovereign and independent from foreign powers.
Free trade promotes globalism, a One World Government dominated by multinational corporations.
I'm not against profit; only the kind of profit our Constitution and Bible forbids.
Maybe a bit off topic but then again, not.
New motto:
University of Florida
"Don't tase me, bro!"
Baaa, da da da da GO TAZERS!!
college tazering reminds me of airline attendants who handcuff and turn flights around for minor social infractions. lots o power in the hands of low level, barely trained staff screams for overreactions of authority.
yep, saur. i agree. the tazering of meyer was an overreaction.
The image of Southern Law took another smack in the face
Sorry everyone! I didn't realize this post was still going strong. Here are my answers:
Mal, ah, so very true.
McKay, an observation so beautiful and accurate that it should be bronzed and put on a plaque.
NEW FOOTBALL CHANT / MR. GATOR: you had me ROLLING!!! I guess because *I* went there and that chant is so engrained in my psyche.
m@ so true!!!
Bryan, as always, we agree 100%. I should let you write this blog for me. :D
Kathleen, no doubt the young man was an obnoxious little cretin. But (and I know you're in agreement here) if tasering obnoxious cretins was legal, I'd be having a field day in the streets.
Man Law/ Gator, I'll bet you liked the movie "Jackass" too! ;o)
Lee Ann, yeah! Thanks for stopping by.
Power = Gator, What a creative solution... And they say there are no more inventors in the world.
Mr. Grey Ghost, I agree with you to a certain extent, but the cops need more than 2 weeks. What they did was extreme brutality when lesser measures would've sufficed.
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