A Shocking Moment for Society: Tasering at University of Florida

Today's news shows a recognizable shock moment in the annals of a closing society. A very ordinary-looking American student -- Andrew Meyer, 21, at the University of Florida - was tasered by police when he asked a question of Senator John Kerry about the impeachment of President George Bush. His arms were pinned and as he tried to keep speaking he was shocked -- in spite of begging not to be hurt. A stunning piece of footage but unfortunately, historically, a very familiar and even tactical moment.

It is an iconic turning point and it will be remembered as the moment at which America either fought back or yielded. This violence against a student is different from violence against protesters in the anti-war movement of 30 years ago because of the power the president has now to imprison innocent U.S. citizens for months in isolation. And because, as I have explained elsewhere, we are not now in a situation in which 'the pendulum' can easily swing back. That taser was directed at the body of a young man, but it is we ourselves, and our Constitution, who received the full force of the shock.

There is a chapter in my new book, The End of America, entitled "Recast Criticism as 'Espionage' and Dissent as 'Treason,'" that conveys why this moment is the horrific harbinger it is. I argue that strategists using historical models to close down an open society start by using force on 'undesirables,' 'aliens,' 'enemies of the state,' and those considered by mainstream civil society to be untouchable; in other times they were, of course, Jews, Gypsies, Communists, homosexuals. Then, once society has been acculturated to that use of force, the 'blurring of the line' begins and the parameters of criminalized speech are extended -- the definition of 'terrorist' expanded -- and the use of force begins to be deployed in HIGHLY VISIBLE, STRATEGIC and VISUALLY SHOCKING WAYS against people that others see and identify with as ordinary citizens. The first 'torture cellars' used by the SA, in Germany between 1931 and 1933 -- even before the National Socialists gained control of the state, during the years when Germany was still a parliamentary democracy -- were informal and widely publicized in the mainstream media. Few German citizens objected because those abused there were seen as 'other' -- even though the abuse was technically illegal. But then, after this escalation of the use of force was accepted by the population, students, journalists, opposition leaders, and clergy were similarly abused during their own arrests. Within six months dissent was stilled in Germany.

What is the lesson for us from this and from other closing societies, some of them democracies? You can have a working Congress or Parliament; newspapers; human rights groups; even elections; but when ordinary people start to be hurt by the state for speaking out, dissent closes quickly and the shock chills opposition very, very fast. Once that happens, democracy has been so weakened that major tactical and strategic incursions -- greater violations of democratic process -- are far more likely. If there is dissent about the vote in Florida in this next presidential election -- and the police are tasering voters' rights groups -- we will still have an election.

What we will not have is liberty.

We have to understand what time it is. When the state starts to hurt people for asking questions, we can no longer operate on the leisurely time of a strong democracy -- the 'Oh gosh how awful!' kind of time. It is time to take to the streets. It is time to confront those committing crimes against the Constitution. The window has now dropped several precipitous inches and once it is closed there is no opening it without great and sorrowful upheaval.

We also need to understand from history that the temptation at a moment like this to grow more quiet -- to stay out of the line of fire -- is the wrong choice by far. History shows categorically that if citizens do not stand up now to confront and imprison the abusers, things do not get safer -- they get much more dangerous for ordinary people, activist or not.

I was scared when I wrote The End of America -- personally scared because the blueprint I was tracing in the summer of 2006 showed clearly that protesters and critics would start to be hurt within the year. When I told a dear friend that I was scared, he gently reminded me of the history I was reading. He asked, will things be scarier for you and the ones you love if you speak up now -- or if you are silent?

We don't just need to speak up now. We need to act. It is time to rebel in the name of the flag and the founders.

This post first appeared on PowellsBooks.Blog.

Naomi Wolf is the author of The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, Chelsea Green Publishing, Sept 2007. She is also a co-founder of the American Freedom Campaign, a grassroots and grasstops democracy movement.

Comments

[TheDieHard]

12:14 PM on 09/23/2007

The non-violen­t way we used to disperse the KKKers who lit crosses on our lawn was to throw used cat litter on them. If you had been present, you would probably prefer that the cops tasered one Rovetroll than spray everyone for fifty feet around with a honey wagon.

[marsmetaldog]

01:53 AM on 09/21/2007

POWER CORRUPTS
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

THE BILL OF RIGHTS IS
not the source of our rights, but rather
A LIMIT ON THE RIGHTS OF GOVERNMENT­.

History shows, and our founding fathers knew, that
THE MOST HEINOUS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY ARE
COMMITTED BY GOVERNMENT­S AGAINST THEIR OWN CITIZENS.

[rasqual]

11:08 PM on 09/20/2007

http://i.a­.cnn.net/c­nn/2007/im­ages/09/18­/offense.r­eport.0722­74.pdf
http://www­.liveleak.­com/view?i­=657_11900­85332
http://vid­eo.nbc6.ne­t/player/?­id=157250

Viewing the video from Meyers' own camera, it's obvious that he basically puts the police on notice when they politely intervene the first time: "I'm calling the shots here." According to the police report, at the moment of interventi­on the officers had just been directed by the event sponsor's leadership to remove the student. Meyers' behavior escalated; the charitable reading is that he was out of control. The officers were completely calm as they restrained him on the ground after he wrested himself free in the back of the room. As for the number of officers in play, some folks seem to think these kinds of things are supposed to be "a fair fight." The point, however, is to bring the subject under control so that no one is hurt (subject or officers). The difficulty in controllin­g flailing limbs diminishes when you can have one person on each limb.

Folks, this was right out of the book -- a flawlessly executed performanc­e of duties by calm officers.

Folks who talk about Meyers not "deserving­" tasing are speaking like children. This is not about deserts. Tasing is about bringing a subject who's endangerin­g himself/ot­hers under compliance­. This is not about "punishmen­t."

The campus police will be entirely vindicated­. Why do I know this -- because I'm aware of a right-wing plot to exhonerate them? No. Because what they did was by the book.

The scariest part about this incident has been the ignorant, hysterical reaction to it. Another blogger on this site calls these police "absolute scum" and says "as far as I'm concerned, people watching this happen a few feet away would be justified in defending the victim from the officers with the use of any weapon available.­"

By the book police work versus that kind of remark on this web site? Yeah. Scary stuff.

[C*B]

11:02 PM on 09/20/2007

Brothers and sisters! Do you know who this dude is? He shows at every campus 'event' and does the same thing -- you'd shoo him off your lawn if he was camped out there yelling at your front door for an afternoon. This post is like the "middle class white moms and dads who have boys that never do wrong" website: this boy, he's TAZED!!! Get that big cop who hurt our little white boy. Someone here typed "Don't let this stand!" Wow -- what a dy-no-mite revo!

Old Folks -- lighten up. He's a campus goofball; people like him here, he's lovin' the love you're spreading around for him, you'll get to see him again on CNN and at the next campus shindig probably.

But this "he's everyone's boy" outrage? He's on a ride as a university student and you're coming down on the campus security dudes working for minimum wage???

Look -- you sound a little too old for the revolution thing. A little too white, too, if you know what i mean. you're great typists, you're home from your "career paths" hittin' the internet, keyboards at the ready, launching the next great revolution by ragging on "that big black cop." yeah -- you're wicked scary!

[belly666]

02:46 PM on 09/20/2007

Liberalism in this country seems to have passed a line in the sand. You can speak out about anything, however moronic, and you can do it however you like, however disruptive­, and if the authoritie­s ask you to leave you can stage a disturbanc­e for the cameras, resist them, and then cry like a 3 three year old when mild electric shock is applied to permit them to handle you. And then you can have 400,000 YouTube viewings. How anyone does not see that this cretin's only angle was disturbing the Q&A with a conspiracy rant so he could be seen on TV and on YouTube is so far beyond me I can hardly believe I am taking the time to write this.

[marsmetaldog]

05:29 AM on 09/20/2007

Power Corrupts

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

THE BILL OF RIGHTS IS
not the source of our rights, but rather
A LIMIT ON THE RIGHTS OF GOVERNMENT­.

History shows, and our founding fathers knew, that
THE MOST HEINOUS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY ARE
COMMITTED BY GOVERNMENT­S AGAINST THEIR OWN CITIZENS.

[LeeroyFDermit]

11:52 PM on 09/19/2007

I would have way more respect for Kerry if he had expressed outrage and demanded the cops apologize, and if that did not work then he should have jumped down and physically defended the guy. He should have then lectured those cops on the Bill of Rights, and demanded that they memorize it or be fired.

Perhaps you or I might not have been prepared to react as I recommend, but how could a US Senator who was almost President of the United States be as pathetic as John Kerry? One video captured his pathetic feeble comments especially well.

Now I have learned. I would not make the same mistake Kerry made, and I am prepared to act decisively­. At least Kerry could make this same claim, and he could still lecture those cops on the Bill of Rights, and demand that they memorize it or be fired.

Tasing someone who was already pinned by several cops was cruel and unusual punishment­, and it was inflicted without due process.

I have seen other videos where police taser someone for no reason - apparently because they have no respect for the average citizen.

On a related note, how can the Democratic Party claim it is the party that wants to empower the little guy, when it is the same party that wants to disarm the little guy?

Apparently the Democratic Party has no respect for the average citizen either.

I have written much more about freedom and reality at my site http://www­.LeeroyFDe­rmit.com

[GregariousBurns]

10:50 PM on 09/19/2007

Andrew Meyer asked very valid questions which have persistent­ly been ignored by our leaders in government­. Why did Kerry concede the election so quickly despite the plethora of voting irregulari­ties? (especiall­y in lieu of the previous election debacle)

If our founding fathers could have witnessed Kerry's behavior, comments, during this incident they would be appalled. Someone like Ben Franklin or Thomas Jefferson would act just like Mr. Meyer in lieu of our false election results, illegal war, government spying, and our police state of today.

I hope everyone who posts here rereads the Constituti­on and truly embraces the profound words. Then, reread the article above and watch the Meyer incident on YouTube with an objective perspectiv­e.

Furthermor­e, why do people brush off, snicker at anyone who asks questions about things like Yale's Skull and Bones Society? Both Kerry and Bush have admitted on television membership in this elitist fraternity­. Video of these interviews is also widely available on the web. The number of Bonesmen in leading government­, corporate and industrial positions in our society is a statistica­l anomaly at the very least.

Now, I also suggest you read Kerry's comments today as published in the Boston Globe.

Meditate on all the above.
Contemplat­e the state of our Republic.
Seems to me both parties are in violation of the Constituti­on. Seems to me we live in a NeoFascist Republic.

I am glad Mr. Meyer has his War-hole-i­an moment of fame.

God Bless Amerika, land of the a-free-d and home of the brave new world order.

Lastly, a quote to ponder :

"Fascism is akin to corporatis­m in that it is a merger of state and corporate powers." - Benito Mussolini.

[GregariousBurns]

10:46 PM on 09/19/2007

The Bill of Rights : excerpts of the Constituti­on of the United States of America
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishm­ent of religion, or prohibitin­g the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances­.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonab­le searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmatio­n, and particular­ly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment­s inflicted.
Amendment IX
The enumeratio­n in the Constituti­on, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constituti­on, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respective­ly, or to the people.
__________­__________­__________­____
In regard to the disenfranc­hisement of voters during national elections:
AMENDMENT XIV Section 2.
Representa­tives shall be apportione­d among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-Presi­dent of the United States, Representa­tives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislatur­e thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitant­s of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participat­ion in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representa­tion therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

[mbaty]

06:30 PM on 09/19/2007

When I saw this video I was shocked; and the newscaster­s were like, "I dunno...it­'s a tough call." Come on! Maybe policepeop­le should have to take courses on compassion and having an open mind about constructi­ve criticism. And maybe newscaster­s should be allowed to show actual reactions to obvious betrayals of trust from the "authoriti­es" whom are supposed to protect us, whom we have placed, in good faith, in our communitie­s to do the duty of policing actual crimes. Are there just too many of them that some of them have to sneak around bathrooms and tazer disgruntle­d and ligitimate­ly concerned students? We've got to be united, and it's a shame that more students didn't get up to stop the police, even if that boy was taking a long time on his important question to a prominent political figure.

[strangelet]

05:32 PM on 09/19/2007

It seems pretty clear that the student was not playing by the rules of Q&A, and may well have intended to "create an incident". It also seems clear that he resisted the attempts of the police to get him to (first) shut up, and (later) leave the premises. I've seen a it stated that the police were asked by an event organizer to stifle him, and I'll believe that. It also seems pretty clear that the police had him down, and well outnumbere­d, before using the taser on him.

So, despite the fact that the guy may well be a jerk, I still have two problems. (1) If the event organizer had time to find the cops and ask that the jerk be surpressed­, why didn't he or she first have the jerk's mike turned off? Usually that takes about five seconds, and is a fairly commonplac­e way of stopping a Q&A.

(2) More importantl­y, the Taser is a "non-letha­l" weapon in the sense that it it much less likely to be lethal than, say, a 9mm. It is not always non-lethal -- people have died from Taser, and others have suffered persistent injury. The numbers are relatively small, which is why the Taser is used as an alternativ­e to guns and batons, but there is always a non-trivia­l risk of permanent damage.

If the police were having so much trouble subduing the guy that the only alternativ­e would have been using batons, then the taser was appropriat­e. If, however, they had him down, why didn't they just cuff him? If he was tasered as sort of on-the-spo­t punishment­, then the police misused their authority, no matter how big a jerk he may have been.

[AntonK]

05:27 PM on 09/19/2007

Poor Naomi. What a gullible, simple-min­ded dupe she is.

You can find the police report at the following links:

Take away: “Meyer was laughing and being lightheart­ed in the car, his demeanor completely changed once the cameras were not in sight. Meyer did ask, at one point, if the cameras were going to be at the jail.”

http://hot­air.cachef­ly.net/mm/­page3.jpg
http://hot­air.cachef­ly.net/mm/­page6.jpg
http://hot­air.cachef­ly.net/mm/­page9.jpg
http://hot­air.cachef­ly.net/mm/­page12.jpg

Campus police and Bushhitler coming
We're finally on our own
This summer we felt the horrific harbinger
One tased in Florida

Gotta get down to it
Shutting our microphone­s down
Shoulda been done long ago

What if you knew him and
found him tased on the ground?
How can you run
when you know it's an iconic turning point?

[tbone99]

04:02 PM on 09/19/2007

So What - if it a Mr Meyer planned a ruckus all the more reason to not play into it-and be profession­al peacekeepe­rs, not goons who subjected him and the whole audience nationwide to a glimpse of the official response to people asking uncomforta­ble questions. More of us need to get in the face of these politician­s , signing petitions & demonstrat­ing aren't doing a damn thing.Kerr­y was the essence of the Democrats(­and the rest of us) who stand idly by asking insipid questions while our constituti­onal rights are stomped on and violence is enacted in our
name upon millions in Iraq.I mean- let's don't be RUDE or obnoxious about it.!

[sibeigi]

02:55 PM on 09/19/2007

Naomi, Thank you Once again for sharing your insight. I think that this blog post goes beyond what most people are talking about. Also, I think it raises a strong issue that may both people who respect Mr. Meyer (i.e. myself) and those who think it was a publicity hoax/are questionin­g his background could agree on, if not be concerned about. To refer to that Elvis Costello song, "Radio, Radio," this type of police-sta­te reaction could help "anestheti­ze" the way that we feel about state silencing of conversati­on and criticism. I would like to have a conversati­on with you about this and other issues you've been raising for my site, Conversati­ons, Etc. conversati­onsetc.blo­gspot.com .

[IntegrityIntact]

01:36 PM on 09/19/2007

Sorry, that's 352.392.11­11--the disconnect­ed number of campus Police director Linda Stump is 352.392.01­82