Don’t Tase Me, Bro!
Let me start by saying that I am by no means an active political or social advocate but this is just unreasonable. I am breaking the TechTalk tradition for this week and I am going to share with you one of the most disturbing events of the past few days. It is actually the most horrific commentary about our society that has been recorded since the Rodney King riot videos and the truck driver who was dragged from his vehicle.
For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about it is the arrest and tasering of Andrew Meyer, a University of Florida student. Meyer was verbally harranging Massachusetts senator John Kerry during a campus talk; he was at the microphone and would not listen to the forum moderators. He refused to back down from his critical questioning of Kerry and after a few moments the police hauled him off. They forced him to the ground, and tasered him.
Based on the numerous video accounts, he was complying with the request and even offered to leave and walk out on his own. The officers forced him to the ground and into handcuffs. Since when we became a society that responds to long winded questions at town hall meeting even if they are long winded or inappropriate with a taser? Where would our country be without the ability to protest? The most disturbing thing for me honestly was not the tasing itself but the fact that crowd just sat there. These are college aged kids, they are our canaries in the coal mine; If college aged people just sit back and allow this to happen, where do we go from here?
The technology slant on this email is, whether the user of this technology is actually justified? A few years ago, he would have simply been subdued, restrained, cuffed and removed from the property by a well trained police officer. The warring aspect here is just how trigger happy we have actually become. Has technology become a substitute for good judgment? I can appreciate that a calculator or a computer takes some of the burden off of us when working on complex issues, but to rely on technology as our sole remediation seems a little ridiculous. We can all do simple math in our head and the authorities should be able to handle a simple disturbance without resorting to an immobilizing technology.
What is it that we as a society find to be acceptable? What are out limits? Are we at the beginings of a cultural revolution? There are even T-Shirts that have been printed about this, with the slogan Dont Tase Me Bro
Amnesty International has been documenting the misuse of tasers for some time; you can find more information.
Amnesty International - Suspend Use of TASERs
For more information about wide spread taser abuse:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/9/19/14057/0584
http://valtinsblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/outrageous-taser-attack-on-florida.html
Great article Brad..Did you see this one about the cops who used a taser on a 15 year old autistic boy?
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-taser19sep19,0,2376553.story?coll=la-home-center
I applaud your speaking out about it, Brad. Our democratic process requires critical thinking in every form.
Tasers are god’s greatest gift to policing. Let me tell you why.
1. The shit works…even on people who are as high as a kite. Pepper spray, batons and sometimes bullets don’t have that kind of guarantee.
2. It only kills you if you are really fucked up on drugs and have a pre-existing heart condition (do we really want these people living to begin with?).
3. Since it’s inception, the taser has accounted for countless arrests that normally would have resulted in lethal force being used. This is a very important point the media misses (because they are dumb), ignore, or simply gloss over because ,”when it bleeds it leads”. Situations that previously called for lethal force have been averted and the criminal has lived because of the taser.
4. The taser has accounted for a massive drop in workers comp. claims for police officers sustaining injuries on the job due to fighting. The taser allows cops to use force without fighting the criminal. Less fighting means less injuries for the cops and the crooks (it costs taxpayer money when they get medical services too). That mean tax dollars saved for John Q. Citizen.
5. Finally, if you watch the video closer to the end, Mr. Talks Too Much was NOT complying with police commands. He was actively resisting and preventing three or four very large cops (we won’t count the female cop because she was just standing there looking pretty…they always do that during fights…another reason why women should not be cops, but that’s a whole different discussion) from taking him into custody. Use of force policy in the majority of police departments allows for taser usage in such a situation.
And look at that…as soon as they tazed his ass he complied. The cops didn’t get hurt and more importantly the criminal didn’t get hurt either.
Sounds like a good day for everyone involved. Should we kick people out of town hall meetings when they talk too much? We didn’t get a chance to see how much of an ass he was prior to the cops kicking him out. Kind of like how we didn’t get to see how much of a combative prick Rodney King was prior to him being on all fours getting the shit kicked out of him by the cops….had they had tasers Rodney King would be a nobody. Remember the media shows you what they WANT you to see. It is up to us thinking, rational, intelligent men and women to parse out their bullshit.
They could have shot him, so I think the taser was very humane.
This kid wanted to be a jackass on national TV. He succeeded. The taser is a small price to pay for his 15 seconds of fame.
I agree 100%! Protest is as American as the Boston Tea party and the Revolutionary war. Today, if we question our elected officials, we’re accused of siding the enemy and not supporting the troops.