Good Lord….
‘Help, Help, I’m Being Repressed!’
This entry was written by Robert Koehler, posted on September 19, 2007 at 5:49 pm, filed under Completely Random Crap, Stupid Foreigner Tricks. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
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103 Comments
How long was he up there before they decided to drag him off? Strange, very strange.
Too bad that he lost it. I would have liked to hear ketchup-brains answer his questions. Clearly security — or ‘the filth’ as they’re called in the UK — had instructions to remove anyone asking pertinent (and therefore impertinent) questions.
Tazers have been shown to cause fatalities. They could have easily cuffed him and taken him out. But I have a feeling security had prior instructions to seize any such moment and make it an example of what might happen to you if you exercise your right to dissent and ask impertinent but legitimate questions.
Between those pretending that nothing is happening and those watching, laughing and filming, it is indeed a great moment for democracy.
Maybe he should have worn a suit…?
Nice. Arrest a man without charge for asking an inconvenient question. Good job standing up for the constitution, Kerry.
Nice how the rest of the audience fidgeted awkwardly and glanced over at him as if he were Uncle Bob drunk at Thanksgiving. The guy looked a bit high off his own self-righteousness, but it’s disgusting that that sort of behavior on the part of law enforcement is considered acceptable. And it shouldn’t take five people PLUS a tazer to subdue somebody. Just cuff him and go, there’s no need to humiliate and potentially injure a guy just to make a point.
From what I have read on the incident, the guy was not content to ask a question and leave it at that. When asked to stop, he refused and security tried to escort him out and we see the results here.
I for one don’t blame Kerry one bit for letting security do their job (even if they did it poorly).
He is obviously being disruptive and uncooperative with security. While tazers may have been shown to cause fatalities, it’s also possible for him to hit his head or otherwise while being brought to the ground and kill himself. It’s well known (esp. now with this video hitting the mainstream) that tazing is a measure afforded to security elements to do their job, and you take risks into your own hands if you choose to be uncooperative while they try to do their job. They don’t know to what point you will resist, and I really don’t think they have to give you the benefit of the doubt after you have clearly demonstrated your desire to be distrupted and uncooperative. I don’t blame anyone in the audience for just watching this clown flush himself down his own toilet of a situation.
Well Andy you can view the whole incident on Youtube and see for yourself rather than read about it. Who asked him to stop and why? Kerry was listening. In fact, as the gestapo were latching onto his arms, Kerry was saying, “That’s alright, let me answer his questions.” The young student had every right to ask his questions (I think he had 3). He was not long-winded - a bit brash, but fairly incisive and to the point. He was not ‘escorted out’. Without due cause, he was grabbed, tackled, dragged around and tasered before Kerry could reply. It’s disgusting — particularly in a college setting. No doubt intended to serve as a lesson to all.
He deserved to be tazed; he cut in line. Also, he was obviously resisting arrest.
So far, there’s been two idiots, males, aged in their college ages, being tazed after refusing to cooperate with police on a college campus.
While screaming like a girl, moaning, crying with tears, and yapping about being oppressed, civil liberties, making some statements against Bush.
The Young liberal US Democrat.
Think they both cried for
1. HELP.
2. Get the fuck away from me, etc.
Reminds me exactly of kids screaming and crying when I give them shots.
Except kids never say “get the fuck away from me”, and usually say Mommy.
He should have said Mommy.
Yes, he should have cried, “mommy”. That would have been priceless.
The following video is from a different angle shows just how obnoxious the guy was:
UF Student tasered at John Kerry Speech
Sorry, a cop (or 5) asks you to go… you go. Got what he deserved from what I saw.
What a beautiful microcosm for how democracy fails when placed in the care of a room full of douchebags:
* Proto-fascist, overarmed cops, check.
* Foppish politician who lacks the innate leadership skills to control them, check.
* Electorate absolutely lacking any objective sense of right and wrong, standing around checking their colons for polyps, check.
* Idiotic attention-craving conspiracy theorist — admit it, no matter how wrong it may be, you just want to watch him get tazed again and again — check.
Something is wrong with the process for nominating our candidates.
Yes, this is in fact how fascism wins. And yes, when the most irrational people of our society have shat all over our public discourse, one can enjoy watching just one of them braying like an arse while taking a 50,000-volt jolt.
Repeatedly.
Can we do Rosie O’Donnell next? Words I never thought I’d say.
Over armed? The old way was the club.
Uh, this is Kerry…
Finally a man who can make a John Kerry speech interesting.
What did you find particularly obnoxious or idiotic about his questions? Kerry himself called them “important questions”, while the young man (Andrew Meyers) was being ‘escorted out’.
It was foolish of him to resist police brutality because resistance is what they want — it gives them greater leeway to be assholes.
As the Jones Report describes the incident:
“Only when Meyer was immobile and had five officers on top of him did the police decide to send 50,000 volts of electricity coursing through his prostrate body, seemingly waiting until Meyer begged them not to do it so as to enjoy the maximum power trip from administrating the torture.”
Priceless, dram_man.
Need more voltage in the Tasers. THAT’S the problem.
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration, said it best:
“The question we should all ask is why did a United States Senator just stand there while Gestapo goons violated the constitutional rights of a student participating in a public event, brutalized him in full view of everyone, and then took him off to jail on phony charges?
“Kerry’s meekness not only in the face of electoral fraud, not only in the face of Bush’s wars that are crimes under the Nuremberg standard, but also in the face of police goons trampling the constitutional rights of American citizens makes it completely clear that he was not fit to be president, and he is not fit to be a US senator.” [from America Is No More.]
When I read about this I was outraged; when I watched the video my sympathy for Myers quickly evaporated.
The guy wasn’t trying to get answers by asking rhetorical questions; he was grandstanding. Turns out he has a history of filming himself conducting similar jackassery and posting it on his blog. Anyone wanting a serious forum should be glad the guy was tasered and removed.
Agree with them or not, trying to break free of/resisting security seldom results in a warm fuzzy (not counting the thousands of volts). He got what he deserved, and should feel lucky it wasn’t pepper spray or a club.
So, it’s okay to arrest and taser someone because he’s being obnoxious?
PS. These were not police officer but members of campus security. They were standing by the mic before that guy came along, apparently trying to intimidate students who might ask uncomfortable questions (you know, Florida and hanging shads)… which is probably why this student really got into it. He was standing up for free speech. You should thank him instead of criticism him.
Correction…criticizing him.
Damn, criticize.
I don’t feel sorry for him either. He cut in line and asked questions even though the student question time was over. He then tried to break away from security towards a US Senator.
I’m no Kerry fan but I thought he handled things just fine. The security guards may have gone too far tazering him but I sure the heck don’t feel sorry for this idiot.
He was looking to provoke something and the he got it. He already has a website up promoting himself.
Someguy,
I think the gerund is correct after “instead of.” If you had used “rather than” or “not,” then “criticize” would be appropriate.
Grandstanding or not, he was making points, asking tough questions, and neither threatening nor insulting anyone. He had a right to be heard and then criticized for whatever faults or errors his argument contained.
People who can actually say without blushing for shame, “glad the guy was tasered and removed.” and “Need more voltage in the Tasers” are basically inhuman scum in my book. Since you are clearly against constitutional rights and free speech, I’ve no compunction telling you, following your own civic principles, to shut the $#@% up and go back to your monkey cage.
What is wrong with America?
“How long was he up there before they decided to drag him off? Strange, very strange.”
Shouldn’t matter, but to answer your question: about 30 seconds. Yup, just 30 short seconds before they jumped him. They cut off the mic first. My guess is that this was the signal to jump him. If that’s the case, John Kerry would have known of this since his people would have organized this event. In other words, he approved.
Someguy,
Yes, if someone wants to disrupt a public forum, they should be prepared for the consequences. His right to free speech ends where it impedes others rights to exchange ideas in that forum.
P.S. I didn’t say they were police, I said, “security.”
P.P.S. I think you meant hanging “chads.”
“He cut in line and asked questions even though the student question time was over.”
I don’t believe it. The mic would have already been turned off.
“He then tried to break away from security towards a US Senator.”
That’s stretching it a bit. He broke away from the security guards who were trying to prevent him from expressing his views at a political event, in other words, they were trying to prevent him from exercising his constitutional rights.
“His right to free speech ends where it impedes others rights to exchange ideas in that forum.”
Sounds to me like people were listening to him. Kerry was certainly listening to him before he got jumped.
“P.P.S. I think you meant hanging “chads.””
I knew it! I made the mistake of trusting my browsers spellcheck, which apparently doesn’t recognize ‘chad’ as the correct spelling.
People are slinging around the term “constitutional right” quite a bit, and apparently with out a wit of context. Rights are not absolute, and he didn’t have the right to be disruptive. Period. Rights have responsibilities attached.
Those types of Q&A sessions most usually have some sort of rules or order established, e.g., ask a question or two and wait for the answer, don’t bogart the mic, etc. Common sense and common courtesy. If he really wanted answers, he’d have asked his questions, listened to the response, and perhaps asked follow-up questions. But that isn’t what he did. Clearly he was not about getting answers. Defending his idiocy puts one on the same level.
And again, if you resist the efforts of security – if you agree with them or not matters not one bit – do not be ‘shocked’ (heh) if they use a bit of force.
“People who can actually say without blushing for shame, “glad the guy was tasered and removed.” and “Need more voltage in the Tasers” are basically inhuman scum in my book. Since you are clearly against constitutional rights and free speech, I’ve no compunction telling you, following your own civic principles, to shut the $#@% up and go back to your monkey cage.”
And why should we have to “shut the $#@% up?” If you don’t like us expressing our own opinions without disrupting an organized gathering, feel free to go taser yourself.
#34,
Wasn’t free speech guaranteed so that you could be disruptive when you feel that the government is screwing up? Don’t forget, Kerry is not a private citizen. He is a member of the government. And so, the student was asking valid questions.
I’ve been to a few of these things in Canada. This is this sort of situation was usually handled:
Someone would have first told him that he should show respect. If he didn’t calm down, they would have told him that he was out of order. Had he continued to ramble on, he would have been told to leave the mic and allow the speaker to answer his questions. Had he continued to refuse to do that, he would have been issued another warning before security stepped in and asked him to sit down or leave the premises. Finally, they would have escorted him out.
I was once tossed out of a Q&A session for asking a Chinese ambassador a pointed question about Tibet. Security asked me to leave, which I did. They never physically touched me or had a reason to. If they had, I probably would have tried to pull away too.
At no point in any of the videos I’ve seen of this does anyone ask him to leave, least of all Kerry. The security just grabs him and starts trying to drag him away.
It’s no surprise that the usual neo con chicken necks (Jackson, Richardson, wjk, gbevers) tacitly approve of a guy being tasered while a bunch of cops sit on him. Not being able to get a girlfriend back in high school can really twist some people.
If you can’t see the guy was out of bounds, arguing about it on the net won’t help anything. Good luck, and watch out for security.
Elivisblahblahblah;
Don’t give up your day job for a try at amateur psychology.
The WaPo reports that two campus cops have been put on paid leave, and as Richardson notes, the guy is a wannabe journalist and was pulling the latest of a series of attention-getting stunts.
2 of his 3 questions were Kerry-friendly. What an odd event, with censorship of liberal views on U.S. campuses so relatively rare these days.
Updates on this event can be found here:
http://www.starbanner.com/arti.....AKING_NEWS
Among the interesting facts contained therein: the people who restrained and removed Meyer from the auditorium were in fact officers of the University Police Department. Two of them have now been placed on administrative leave with pay pending a review of the incident.
He sounds like Dane Cook.
@29
I said it and I did not blush. Whether the police/security were right in removing him or not is really not my concern here at all. That can be figured out later.
For me, it is simply a question of respecting authority - of which he had none. For those (self-righteous grandstanding) individuals who feel they are above the law because they think they are in the right? Fuck em…or zap em if you will.
The sad thing is that he got probably exactly what he wanted - a show and something to exploit for his own personal gain. Whether this is financial or just a repeatable masturbatory tale of standing up to the man that will be continuously regurgitated (at least until he has to get a job)…I don’t know.
I can ask the same question…what is wrong with America.
I’ve been wondering about the rules at such an event. Was it outlined that each student only got one questions? Was it ok to ask more, and if so, must they wait for a response between each one?
I’ve seen many press conferences where reporters will ask a series of questions in one massive “blurb” to try to get as much out before they are either cut off / ignored / or passed by.
As well, I question the use of force in this instance. At no time did he seem ot be a threat to the senator nor those around him. The only time he “moved” was to escape people grabbing him. The problem was, as soon as the security guards initiated physical contact, this situation was escalated. They grabbed - he fled. They tackled - he squirmed. They tazered - he yelled.
What could have been a far better response was to give him his time, cut his mike, and politely ask him to leave. Heck, I’d stand right beside him and politely request him to leave for about 5 minutes. Patience is a virtue, and the security there had none. Instead of diffusing the situation and making HIM look like the fool, they have instead escalated it and given their profession a black eye.
He’s an idiot, but the security made a mistake.
They probably didn’t announce that crapping on the floor was out of bounds, but it was probably understood. Cutting the mic off is a fairly clear and non-threatening clue to shut-up and listen to the response. This is not rocket science.
Re: Richardson’s comment:
“People are slinging around the term “constitutional right” quite a bit, and apparently with out a wit of context. Rights are not absolute, and he didn’t have the right to be disruptive. Period. Rights have responsibilities attached.”
Exactly. When one person’s rights impedes on another person’s rights, then those rights are denied. Hence, rights indeed come with the responsibility to respect other people’s rights.
With that said, the campus security lacked tact and Kerry didn’t show much leadership, either.
I laughed. This fool got what was coming to him.
@42
“For me, it is simply a question of respecting authority - of which he had none. For those (self-righteous grandstanding) individuals who feel they are above the law because they think they are in the right?”
Nothing in the video suggests his actions were “above the law”. If his time had expired, the mic can be turned off and he can be warned to return to his seat. In any case you can’t discredit him because Kerry himself called his questions “important”. Manhandling him without adequate warning and dragging him away to be electrically shocked is an indication that the Republic is dead and Fascism has taken over.
In any case, he was not as longwinded as some of the audience members I’ve seen at forums and Q&A’s in Seoul. Still, I would not wish such treatment even upon the most tedious of grandstanders I encounter here.
Kerry did nothing but blather on while his interlocutor was being zapped with thousands of volts. What’s the difference between him and a Republican again?
All come out looking stupid in this — Meyer, cops and Kerry.
For a good verbal smack down on a potential troublemaker, see Clinton:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JGTQZnC-6a4
Thats right, with our freedom of speech, everyone should be allowed to jump up and take the mic simultaneously, launch into 15 minute protracted rambling of nonsensical mush… In all honesty I wouldn’t mind that. It would be no different from the watered down 3rd grade mush comming from the politician. It would be quite amusing to watch the politician up there trying to get a word in from the insane mob in front of him.
He wasn’t speaking for one minute, let alone 15. Man, you champions of facism are real clever with the spin. The sheer volume of exaggeration amongst these comments is amusing.
fascist? I’m proposing anarchy here! Everyone get their soap box and a taser! its time to excercise those rights!
And you might want to have a few chuckles at your own post, somewhere between decrying the “volume of exageration” right after calling whoever “you” was a “champion of facism”. I always find hypocrisy that much more amusing.
As I was saying, he was on the mic for about 30 seconds. Whether he was right or wrong is irrelevant. You simply don’t jump on someone like that. The right way to have handled it would have been to have been to tell him to wrap it up and sit down or get out.
As I was saying, he was on the mic for about 30 seconds. Whether he was right or wrong is irrelevant. You simply don’t jump on someone like that. The right way to have handled it would have been to have been to tell him to wrap it up and sit down or get out.
#29, cinemagauche:
“Grandstanding or not, he was making points, asking tough questions, and neither threatening nor insulting anyone. He had a right to be heard and then criticized for whatever faults or errors his argument contained.
People who can actually say without blushing for shame, “glad the guy was tasered and removed.” and “Need more voltage in the Tasers” are basically inhuman scum in my book. Since you are clearly against constitutional rights and free speech, I’ve no compunction telling you, following your own civic principles, to shut the $#@% up and go back to your monkey cage.
What is wrong with America?”
gauche, a-fucking-men. a standing ovation for your words, as you read my mind…
I think that some people are missing the point here – doesn’t anyone remember being in college and having there ALWAYS be one of these people, no matter who was speaking? Campus Republicans, Young Dems, Socialists, PETA people, whatever.
And Kerry was willing to through and answer his questions. And if the police hadn’t simply grabbed him, there would have likely been no scuffle.
I’ve seen the same exact kind of thing happen many times before, but jeezus – they held the guy down, he was NOT being at all violent, and when he begged not to be tasered, they zapped him.
Seriousy – what kind of fascist state we running now? Grandstanding, being cheeky, asking embarrassing questions, being a pompous smartass on a COLLEGE CAMPUS (that’s when you’re supposed to be allowed to be a little smartass) – this gets you restrained by five cops and then tasered?
All I’m saying is that this didn’t happen when I was in school, and all that happened back then was some heated debate. And if he had gotten rowdy after his questions were answered, THEN grab him and throw him out.
But nobody needs to be tasering kids in campus forums.
I can’t even believe anyone who calls themselves an American, looking at that kid, can even think he “deserved it” or that this bodes well for our culture.
Yeah, he’s an annoying little smartass, but you know, he sounds like a smart kid, and at least he did his homework and tried to be Mr. Tough Questions. You get tasered for that now?
@#51 and #53:
According to a link provided by Ut Videam in #40, the man wasn’t just yanked away from the mike:
@#56 and others:
Did you watch the fukn video? How can you say he wasn’t resisting? The guy kept putting his hands up as the police were trying to restrain him. At one point, he was breaking free, his hands high in the air, hollering loudly the entire time. What part of creating a public disturbance don’t you understand? The police acted appropriately in subduing him to ground, an act he also clearly resisted as shown in the video. A female officer can be seen speaking to him and trying to calm him before he got tasered.
I’d rather sit through two hours of D-Wars than see more of that clown.
Zero sympathy from me. Go ahead and call me a fascist. :b
BTW, remember folks that the linked video does not show the entire chain of events. The video picks up only at the point where the police are about to approach Meyers.
I’m being repressed also. Bergen County, NJ is now practically a fascist police-state when it comes to traffic control.
Five months ago, a fascist pig pulled me over. A law-abiding citizen, I was on my way to church to pray for the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre. Charged with speeding. Said I was going 45 in a 25 mph zone.
I pleaded not guilty to the summons. With 11 points on my record, due to a continuous history of fascist pigs pulling me over, I was only a hair’s breath away from suspension. You just simply can’t live in NJ without a car.
Court date was yesterday. During the interim, I received numerous solicitations by mail from professional liars to represent my case. I decided to represent myself. My defense was that the speed limit signs were misleading. While it does post a limit of 25MPH, there is a qualifier above it that reads “BUSES and TRUCKS”. I was driving neither a bus nor a truck. If the municipality of Englewood wanted all vehicles to follow the 25MPH rule, why don’t they strike the “BUSES and TRUCKS” from the sign and eliminate this ambiguity?
Because the municipality of Englewood needs to generate cash, the fascist pigs have nothing to do, and they have quotas to meet. So that makes em capitalist, fascist pigs. I was told I had no defense whatsoever. According to the NJ DMV manual, which no one ever reads, by default the speed limit is 25MPH in the State of NJ, even if there are no signposts whatsoever. They advised me to plead guilty to an amended charge and pay $433 in fines and costs. I figure this is equivalent to several taser shots in terms of emotional pain and suffering plus food deprivation (where’s my grocery money now?)
What does that have to do with the video and the discussion in this thread? Do you feel better now that you have wasted all of our collective time with your traffic ticket story? If you had just simply obeyed the traffic laws, you wouldn’t be in your situation.
We are all adults here and participating members in a vibrant civic society. Yet we all seem so shocked and surprised when others or ourselves are held responsible for their/our actions… You do something wrong/illegal/out of turn, expect to get your pee-pee spanked, whether it comes in the form of a suspended license or a well deserved tazing.
More here
http://michellemalkin.com/2007.....ce-report/
“All I wanted was a question, and they wouldn’t give it to me.” This guy seriously reminds me of this vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tBaMlAUj08
“All I wanted was a question, and they wouldn’t give it to me.”
Watch what happened from the time Andrew stepped up to the mike and see if that’s true:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgrFSHZfD1o
Don’t you dare call me a Neo-Con.
I was a Con before the phrase Neo-Con came out.
And unfortunately, I don’t even know what it means to be a Neo-Con.
How dare you uplift the rights of this man, who was resisting the police?
You’re asking for it when you try to resist the police, Lib or Con.
You Libs think it’s okay to throw pies at Ann Coulter?
Why?
That’s assault.
Legally, it’s assault, and if I’m not mistaken, that’s a freaking felony.
You hypocrite Libs know why this made news.
He was yapping about Bush and got tazed for being stupid.
Ironically, he was yapping about Bush, addressing a Democrat, who prefers to say his own country was raping Vietnam, instead of saying his own country was trying to prevent 30 years of shit poor communism in Vietnam, and prevent 6 million deaths by despot commies in Indo China.
But, all that matters to you can be summarized below,
1,2,3,4, we don’t want this fucking war.
Bush lies, Who dies?
Children, cry for Mama.
Ouch, some goofball gets tasered for being obnoxious and the references to fascism fly fast and furious. True fascism exists just across the DMZ a mere 50 or so kilometres from where I’m sitting right now. This event is little more than some twit being a bonehead and the security going overboard. Nothing more, nothing less.
Actually, Bluejax51, Netizen Kim WAS commenting on the case at hand in a back-handed sort of way. I believe it’s called satire.
Geez, has this ever gotten ad hominem? Was this an act of civil disobedience? Was is just an annoying college student? Either way, tasering him seems a disproportional response to the situation. Although I believe that law enforcement officers are to be respected for the job they perform, that respect must be maintained through professionalism. Keep in mind that the police are street level bureaucrats who make split second decisions on how to enforce laws, on which they are not always experts.
What will prove whether or not this is, as some have suggested, fascism, are not the initial actions of the police, but how the unconscionably of these actions is later remedied. Were the officers not reprimanded for their actions, then to me it demonstrations government approval for their choice of methods. As they have already been placed on administrative leave, it shows that their superiors are already concerned about the way the situation was handled. (Or, perhaps more cynically, they were concerned about the potential for public outcry and litigation.)
Policing is far from perfect and it can never be perfect – even if all police officers were required be JDs there is no guarantee that they would be fair in their law enforcement. Knowledge alone is not enough. This inherent imperfection makes America’s strong judicial system, which can assess the legality of actions taken by both private citizens and law enforcement officials, absolutely necessary.
#57,
I don’t know which video you watched, but obviously it’s not the one where Kerry points to him and says, “Sir.” I guess you also missed that the cops standing by the mic (they shouldn’t have been there in the first place) tried to intervene before he could even get his first question in (which was about 30 seconds in).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIYTJ75U4NU
I thought Netizen Kim’s take was quite relevant and interesting…
Yes, but unfortunately, we didn’t have Tasers back then.
Seriously, I don’t think the police needed to Tase the guy — there were five cops, and it’s not like they were putting down an army mutiny or anything. That being said, I don’t think an instance of campus cops overreacting indicates America’s imminent slide into Bushitlerian fascism — as if instances of poor policework didn’t happen under Clinton. And yes, the guy was being a disruptive ass, and since the commitment of some commenters to democracy are being questioned, I guess I can say I’m curious whether some of you would still be using the “f” word (fascism) if the kid getting Tasered had been an equally disruptive nut of the right-wing persuasion (i.e., a skinhead neo-Nazi, etc.) rather than a conspiratorial left-wing nut, as appears to be the case.
#61,
I wouldn’t take the police report too seriously. They claim he said, “You will take my question because I have been listening to your crap for two hours”
But, on the tape he clearly says, “He’s been talking for two hours, I think you can take my two minutes”.
…and that was only said in response to the cops trying to prevent him from asking his first question.
#70,
Had he been a Skinhead or whatever, he would still have had the right to say what he wants as long as he made no threats, but that’s irrelevant. He wasn’t a skinhead was he?
So, can anyone give me a good reason why the cops were standing by the mic other than to intimidate the students?
The police protect themselves by tasing him.
And why should the police suffer a bruise or a torn muscle or a broken bone from a law breaking person?
Why?
Tase him.
Clubbing him would have been better from him, right?
When I was in junior high, this police officer came and touted his club, as a standard, designed law enforcement weapon that was designed to be used to fracture as many bones as possible, when used appropriately with a pattern of blows.
This is far from a fascist country.
1. You can vote them out. The fact that you couldn’t and won’t shows that America is still sane.
2. In a fascist country, you can’t even do what he did.
Universally applicable take-home message: When a cop (or rent-a-cop) lays his hands on you and starts repeating loudly “STOP RESISTING” for the benefit of all witnesses within earshot, get ready. You’re about to get hurt.
Rewarding obnoxious attention-whores behaving obnoxiously with boatloads of TV, paper, and blog coverage will:
A) Give them exactly what they desire.
B) Make them think they’re important and newsworthy.
C) Encourage more attention-whoring disruption of public events by other obnoxious assholes.
D) All of the above.
There’s a reason that broadcasters cut away when some douchebag runs onto the field at a sporting event, and it’s the same reason that the stadium security always give them a flying tackle and a few solid kicks to the goolies while they’re down.
Because they don’t deserve attention, but do deserve to be repeatedly kicked in the balls. Or tazed in the balls.
And brownie points to Andy Jax and GI Korea for not taking the bait like the rest of the knee-jerk Kerry-obsessed goons and piling on the Senator for his apparent reluctance to deputize himself, usurp the authority of the cops involved, and temporarily take over the enforcement of Florida laws in the name of freedom of speech for obnoxious assholes intent on disrupting a public forum and resisting arrest.
Needless to say it’s a given that those with Kerry Derangement Syndrome would have taken potshots at him no matter what he did.
You mean Kerry just sat there and did nothing? He must be a liberal commie pussy that hates the Constitution, freedom of speech, and endorses fascism. What an asshole.
You mean Kerry actively tried to interfere with the cops doing their duty? Fucking figures…him and all liberals hate the troops, so he must hate cops too. That arrogant dick thinks he’s better than the average joe, and now he thinks he’s a better cop than the real cops. What an arrogant asshole.
You mean Kerry just personally sent me a check for $8.5 million, no strings attached? Figures he’d insult me and my family with liberal blood money. Why didn’t he send it to the troops? Because that asshole hates the troops, that’s why.
I’m afraid the young man should consider himself lucky. In Americana 2007, there are plenty of people who would support the security forces even if they had shot the kid with their guns.
“Kid. You broke the rules. That’s why you were shot. Just obey the authorities from now on, and everything will be fine–just fine.”
I’m disappointed. Where are the kooky conspiracy theorists pointing out about how the disproportionate police response was directly correlated with the guy mentioning the Skull & Bones society? Do I have to do everything myself on this here Internet?
The cops were hired by the shady Skull & Bones society to make sure nobody mentioned it, and if they did, to ‘punish’ them for it. They probably weren’t even real cops!
@#68 @ #73:
What the video doesn’t show is Meyer rushing toward the stage initially shouting something to the effect of “I waited two hours and didn’t get to ask a question” after the organizers announced there would be no questions. That’s why the cops were standing behind him, someguy - because just prior to getting the mike, Meyer had moved quickly toward the stage while shouting, and I recall reading that he had pushed another speaker away from the mike. His aggressive behavior got the attention of Kerry, who overruled the organizers and allowed Meyer to ask his question, which turned out to be three questions, none of which he paused after to give Kerry a chance to answer.
I agree with Robert that the tasering was a bit much, but using several officers to subdue the large man was actually safer. I have seen three trained adults cooperate to restrain an out of control first grader.
Campus cops using excessive force hardly constitutes a slide towards fascism.
He’s tall but skinny. A whack with a billy club on both thighs would have taken care of the problem. That female officer looks like she could handle him single handedly…
I’ve been in D.C. clubs where 2-3 bouncers are able to push 10-15 rowdy gangbangers outside into the alley. Apparently, UFPD aren’t as well trained.
My 2 cents, the guy was obnoxious and deserved to get tossed. If you get a chance to ask questions in that kind of forum, surely a university educated student can come up with more interesting queries than he did. The question on impeachment was adolescent. The subject of Kerry’s concession has been answered and publically pondered since 2004. Surely enough time for there to be a plethora of online documentation, and does anyone really care about some juvenile homo erotic club at Yale? Really, only aluminum hat wearing wackadoos obsess on Skull and Bones.
However, with a 5-1 ratio, tasing the punk was excessive, even if he was an nauseatingly annoying grandstander.
Here’s a video of an elderly city councilman in Indiana getting shoved in the back by a cop, and then getting a vicious beating.
http://www.wndu.com/news/headlines/9814706.html
Loved the spin- he was “involved in a fight” and the cop “took him down”. Apparently the cops want to charge the VICTIM with felony assault.
At the end you can see two other cops mildly trying to get him to lay off (too many witnesses I guess)while he squats on the guy’s back and repeatedly hammers him in the head.
Can’t wait for Richardson and wjk to rationalize this one.
#79,
Well, based on the video I find that story a bit doubtful. You can hear Kerry talking, maybe answering a question, before he signals that it’s his turn to answer a question.
Okay, just watched this video. This guy was being obnoxious for the sake of being so…He still shouldn’t have been tased, though (it was bordering on police brutality and, well, it gave him the attention he was craving).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....mp;search=
If you look at the video–and not just read a wire report, but actually watch the FULL video, from the very beginning of the incident, for yourself–you’ll see that he does resist arrest. There should be no argument about this. No, he doesn’t violently resist, he only pulls away several times and then tries to flee once, but he isn’t violent.
What I can’t understand–and what I can’t understand people supporting–is that when they, “they” being at least six officers, finally get him down on the floor, they warn him that he’s going to be tasered if he doesn’t stop resisting. Why taser him when he’s subdued on the floor, begging, “Don’t tase me, bro!”?
Call the guy what you want–clown, icon, grandstander, idiot, hero, devil-worshipping brainless spawn of Ren & Stimpy–but what has he done to deserve to be subjected to even the thought of being tasered? I can see his being tasered if he’s throwing punches or wielding a weapon, but he’s a numbnuts college kid, armed only with a copy of “Armed Madhouse: From Baghdad to New Orleans–Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild”, by BBC investigative reporter Greg Palast.
He’s not got a gun. He’s not punched anyone. He’s not streaked onto the football pitch or a baseball diamond. He’s merely asked what I think are legitimate questions to a former presidential candidate in a public forum.
Did he take his questions too far? Depends on your point of view. Personally, I think his questions were fine, though uncomfortable for many people, I’m sure.
Did he deserve to be arrested and escorted from the auditorium? Again, depends on your point of view. Personally, I don’t think he should have been immediately touched by the cops for not leaving the microphone in a timely manner. The cops should have used a little more restraint in this regard. I think he should have been shepherded, not carried, from the forum. He’s not a drunken hooligan from Milwall or an unmitigatingly idiotic Eagles fan from Philly. He’s a college kid exercising his alleged freedom of speech.
But did he really deserve to be tasered, especially once he was pinned on the floor by those six cops? Absolutely not. How can you guys defend the tasering? The police, among others, used (or are using) an alarming lack of common sense there.
It should be noted, for those of you unaware, that the University of Florida, the campus upon which this unfortunate incident took place, is located in Alachua County, notorious for its police intolerance of such things on a non-conservative bent. This county has a history of government and police intimidation of minorities and dissenters–that is, anyone who is not in line with central Florida’s very conservative political leanings and ways of life. This county was also the center of the Florida storm of voting fraud back in the ’04 election.
I used to live in this part of Florida–nearly a decade and a half ago–and I witnessed several of these incidents during protests of the Persian Gulf war under Bush Senior. Even then, when America was less insane, there were incidents of overzealousness, shall we say, on the part of authorities when dealing with dissent–peaceful, quiet, or otherwise…
If you are a student at UF, or if you are black/Hispanic/Asian/not a redneck/not a white conservative, or if you don’t toe the Republican line, you are in line for difficulties. Whether this kid knew it or not, he chose the wrong place if he thought he could get away with dissenting too much. Right or wrong (and it IS wrong), that’s the way it is in central Florida.
Of course, in today’s America, dissent is a bad word and thought to be unpatriotic, though I believe it was none other than Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers, who once was quoted as saying, ‘Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.’
Right on, Tom, but 18th century dissent gets you tasered by the authorities in 21st century America, my friend, and apparently by some of the commenters on this blog, as well…
wjk said:
“Don’t you dare call me a Neo-Con.
“I was a Con before the phrase Neo-Con came out.
“And unfortunately, I don’t even know what it means to be a Neo-Con.”
The term neoconservative has been around since at least the ’80s. Read up on the Neoconservative - Paleoconservative Conflict.
If you go with George Bush rather than George Washington on the issue of foreign entanglements, you’re likely a neocon. If you would have joined the Old Right against Wilsonian messianism, you’re likely a paleocon.
He’s a narcisstic buffoon and those are University of Florida campus police, fully empowered to enforce orderly conduct in their jurisdiction (just as are the regular police forces in the city/county adjacent jurisdictions).
From one of the stories at the link provided by ut videam #40:
“….one of the many videos circulating of the incident was shot with Meyer’s own camera.
Clarissa Jessup, who was standing near Meyer just before UF Police Tasered him and took him into custody, said Meyer asked her to film him asking Kerry a question just before he approached the microphone.
That has given rise to rumors that Meyer, who aspires to work in the national media, was hoping to get arrested or videotaped as part of some sort of elaborate stunt. But Jessup, who says she never met Meyer prior to the forum, says she thinks he simply wanted a video of himself talking to Kerry.
“I don’t even know this kid,” said Jessup, rebuffing any notion that she’d collaborated with Meyer to film an incident he knew would escalate.
Additionally, some content on Meyer’s Web site, TheAndrewMeyer.com, suggests that Meyer is a bit of a prankster.
For example, one post written by Meyer recounts a time that he wore a funny hat and a blue tank top to a nice restaurant. He said his friends should have been, “accustomed and expecting of my uncanny ways.” The post also says: “There is no wiggle room in the world these days for the dancing jester. There are specific social mores that must be upheld no matter how silly the place, the rules must be followed.”
A video titled “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” features a man dressed in drag who becomes an attractive blonde after a few drinks.
Friends said Meyer didn’t create all of the movies on the site and weren’t sure which ones he had.
One of the posts on his Web site is a described as a “disorganized diatribe.”
It criticizes media content, especially about the Iraq War.
A major theme in the post is lack of media coverage of important issues like the War in Iraq and the media’s focus on entertainment issues.
One excerpt from that article reads: “The news is designed to keep viewers watching and sedated and not thinking bad thoughts about America, because that would be bad for the economy. Stories about a severely unbalanced budget are out, train wrecks like Paris and Anna are in. A train wreck may be senseless and pointless, but Americans sure do love to watch.”
Levy said that he feels most news media are missing the issue that Meyer’s incident should have brought up.
“The issue he was trying to get at was getting people to be more informed and willing to ask questions,” Levy said, adding that he had talked to Meyer earlier Tuesday.
He mentioned what he called the irony that Meyer was asking a question when the scuffle with University Police began.
Meyer was a student writer at one time for the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. A description on the Sun-Sentinel Web site written by Meyer says: “Andrew tries to write mostly whimsical nonsense columns about nothing in particular, yet occasionally finds himself angry enough to rain down fire and brimstone on an unsuspecting politician or celebrity.”
He also expresses his disdain for referring to himself in the third person, yet in most of his posts and on his Facebook.com profile he refers to himself as The Andrew Meyer.
– Megan Rolland/The Gainesville Sun”
RE: #74: “1. You can vote them out.”
Um, wjk, Bush WAS voted out in ‘04, only for him to steal it. Shouldn’t say such a thing when the “voting out” did happen, only to be illegally stolen.
“The fact that you couldn’t and won’t shows that America is still sane.”
No, the fact that Bush was allowed to steal the election while people such as you supported such an action, and while others didn’t rise up and revolt against such an action, shows that America is as far from being sane as you are from being open-minded.
An easier test, if you know who Captain Kirk is but not Russell Kirk, you’re definitely a neocon.
#89,
Or simply not American.
PS. Being that I’m Canadian, I certainly know who Captain Kirk is (a character on a TV show that was played by an actor from Quebec).
the tazer was an overboard cop/thug tactic. when cops congregate in groups of three or more, bullish, mafioso attitudes froth to the surface. police are nothing more than a conservative and protective arm of the state (and those in positions of power). they will always use excessive force, that is how they are trained and that is what is expected of them.
cops will always be assholes.
right or not. that fact will never change.
however bad or jolting this clip may be, it’s far better than looking at the bodies of dead black kids on the street who were shot by the police for no particular reason.
Sigh, when will kids learn that demanding answers to questions gets you no where… he should have just tossed a pail full of cow feces at Kerry. Makes more sense in my world…
The crocodile-tear outcries here about “fascism” are ironic. No Republican Senator would ever bother to schedule a similar appearance at such a forum on a US public university campus — because there would be dozens, indeed hundreds of similar lefty characters who would plan to deliberately swarm the stage and the microphone and shut it down.
I gather a total of eight campus cops present at this forum. If there indeed had been dozens of protestors shouting and blocking access to the microphone (instead of just one) — there wouldn’t have been enough cops to do anything except protect the person of the visiting Senator and escort him to safety.
So I guess from the point of view of the “anti-fascists” here, you could say there’s a certain point to criticism of the cops (ie they’re “picking” on one guy when they wouldn’t have dared to take on a group of dozens with their tasers).
Clearly none of the students who planned this event (from the campus student Democratic party organization, presumably) expected that their 2004 election martyr Kerry would be exposed to such an attack. (According to the TV news reports here in CONUS, it was the organizers of the event who asked the campus cops to remove the guy).
The video (abbreviated) has been played over and over on cable news TV here in CONUS and you can hear the guy shouting loudly and disrupting whatever activity was due to come next (evidently the open question period was over before this guy had gotten a turn).
He was clearly resisting the cops’ attempt to escort him out and after they got him down on the ground trying to handcuff him he continued squirming around on the ground. He’s a big guy, clearly bigger than the smaller cops (to include the female one). Maybe the campus cops should only hire big burly males who can handle disruptors without having to taser them, oh wait no that won’t work either because then the whole campus police department will be on administrative leave while being investigated for equal opportunity hiring discrimination.
I guess the organizers of the forum could have just terminated the event when the guy started shouting and thus avoided the incident, but I reckon they wanted to complete their program without being disrupted. I can’t say I’m fond of their choice of speaker, but I’m glad somebody decided to stand up against the attempt to take over the forum by the obnoxious jerk — though I’m utterly sure they would never dream of insisting on similar treatment for a prospective Republican (or generic conservative) speaker at such an open forum on the UF campus.
RE: #82,
Please look up “red herring.”
No, you can’t eat it.
“Um, wjk, Bush WAS voted out in ‘04, only for him to steal it. Shouldn’t say such a thing when the “voting out” did happen, only to be illegally stolen.”
“No, the fact that Bush was allowed to steal the election while people such as you supported such an action, and while others didn’t rise up and revolt against such an action,”
“they will always use excessive force, that is how they are trained and that is what is expected of them.”
“however bad or jolting this clip may be, it’s far better than looking at the bodies of dead black kids on the street who were shot by the police for no particular reason.”
Where do you guys get this stuff? And everybody says neo-cons are nuts.
wjk wrote:
“You Libs think it’s okay to throw pies at Ann Coulter?
Why?
That’s assault.
Legally, it’s assault, and if I’m not mistaken, that’s a freaking felony.”
You’re mistaken. This was a misdemeanor.
http://wc.arizona.edu/papers/98/236/01_4.html
wjk:
“And why should the police suffer a bruise or a torn muscle or a broken bone from a law breaking person?”
The guy was a jerk and a grandstander, but can you clear up for me what law he was breaking?
Maybe that guy should call the White House.
My 60 year old father, who goes to Korea every once in a while, got
apprended by Korean police for DWI. My father said he was subjected
to rough treatment by the cop.
So what does my old man do? He called the Blue House and demanded to speak
to President Roh. Roh was apparently unavailable but my pop did get to
chew the ear off of some poor staff member.
The next day, the cop came to my father to apologize and offered to pay for
any injuries, etc.
I am not making this up.