Taser? I barely know 'er!
So, this week's Taser victim has opened up an interesting discussion.
So Andrew Meyer breaks into a Kerry Speech and grabs the microphone to blurt out his conspiracy theory.
So there is some footage of the "Taser Experience". Here's one version. Here's another version from another angle.
So, there's a lot of talk about this. Is this a freedom of speech issue? Joe Conason at Salon says it is a sign of how much we've lost in the way of personal freedom's under Bush's Regime.
While I certainly don't like Bush, and agree that his policies have adversely impacted America, I don't think it applies in this situation.
So from what I can tell based on the video and news reports, he runs past the police to get into Kerry's presentation. From the get-go, this is a security issue, and not one of free speech. And it's not even to sit down and see him speak. It's to interrupt the presentation and ask his question. His manners in asking the question were odd, too. He said that Kerry spoke for two hours, he should get to ask his question. Forget about the fact that the whole point was that Kerry was speaking. Yet another odd, somewhat hostile act on the part of this man.
So the police made a decision to escort him out. Not really a bad call, since his behavior was erratic from the beginning. On top of it, when he's being escorted out, he resists law enforcement.
Now, the issue was whether or not excessive force was used. That I cannot tell. He was resisting arrest and not being cooperative. And I don't think that was necessarily easy for the police to deal with. But of course, he managed to get past them
What happened to Civil Disobedience? If you actively resist police, I think it's a given you're going to get into arrested. And if you struggle, you're going to get subdued.
This man was disruptive and in a way that warranted a security concern from the outset. And since he was a greedy bastard, he was also disrupting the event in general by asking more that one question, which is not quite considerate for the rest of the audience. And Skull and Bones? Oh please!
In this day and age where terrorists have flourished by using unpredictable tactics, it doesn't seem unreasonable that other crazy people might use similar tactics. I think the police were correct in attempting to extricate this man from the room. I'm not sure about whether the Taser was necessary. However, I could picture a cop getting flustered, or just frustrated that this guy was being a total ass. Given that much of the audience clapped when he was being escorted out, I suspect a number of them secretly wanted to give this bro a Tase.
So Andrew Meyer breaks into a Kerry Speech and grabs the microphone to blurt out his conspiracy theory.
So there is some footage of the "Taser Experience". Here's one version. Here's another version from another angle.
So, there's a lot of talk about this. Is this a freedom of speech issue? Joe Conason at Salon says it is a sign of how much we've lost in the way of personal freedom's under Bush's Regime.
While I certainly don't like Bush, and agree that his policies have adversely impacted America, I don't think it applies in this situation.
So from what I can tell based on the video and news reports, he runs past the police to get into Kerry's presentation. From the get-go, this is a security issue, and not one of free speech. And it's not even to sit down and see him speak. It's to interrupt the presentation and ask his question. His manners in asking the question were odd, too. He said that Kerry spoke for two hours, he should get to ask his question. Forget about the fact that the whole point was that Kerry was speaking. Yet another odd, somewhat hostile act on the part of this man.
So the police made a decision to escort him out. Not really a bad call, since his behavior was erratic from the beginning. On top of it, when he's being escorted out, he resists law enforcement.
Now, the issue was whether or not excessive force was used. That I cannot tell. He was resisting arrest and not being cooperative. And I don't think that was necessarily easy for the police to deal with. But of course, he managed to get past them
What happened to Civil Disobedience? If you actively resist police, I think it's a given you're going to get into arrested. And if you struggle, you're going to get subdued.
This man was disruptive and in a way that warranted a security concern from the outset. And since he was a greedy bastard, he was also disrupting the event in general by asking more that one question, which is not quite considerate for the rest of the audience. And Skull and Bones? Oh please!
In this day and age where terrorists have flourished by using unpredictable tactics, it doesn't seem unreasonable that other crazy people might use similar tactics. I think the police were correct in attempting to extricate this man from the room. I'm not sure about whether the Taser was necessary. However, I could picture a cop getting flustered, or just frustrated that this guy was being a total ass. Given that much of the audience clapped when he was being escorted out, I suspect a number of them secretly wanted to give this bro a Tase.