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

[StuCop]

you're backing the wrong horse...the actions of that kid in no way represent a pivotal moment in our society...he's a jackass...and he got what he wanted attention...

he gives a black eye to all true patriots who are against the war and the bush administration.

[bethinCary]

A vote for the Iraq War was NOT a vote against civil liberties.

[Violababy]

Seemed very strange to see in the footage most of the audience sitting still but looking toward the back of the room where obviously a huge, noisy rumpus was going on. What gives with young people today? Were they afraid to move back to help the guy or even to get in closer to witness what was going on? It's scary to see that audience of zombies just sitting still.

[MaryMacElveen]

Below is my subsequent editorial to the taser incident:

Rehashing the 2004 campaign as it relates to the taser incident

By Mary MacElveen

September 18, 2007





In my previous piece addressing the tasing of 21 year-old, Andrew Meyer as he tried to ask Senator Kerry questions concerning his concession after the 2004 presidential campaign, I have been inundated with emails and they are to numerous to address individually. I have even read the numerous comments under my published piece on OpEdNews.com. I do appreciate all of your comments and will try my best to somehow address them within this one. If I don’t, please forgive.

To read the rest of my editorial and to view all the hyperlinks within it, one must go to the link below.


http://www.marymacelveen.com/blog/_archives/2007/9/19/3239310.html

[robertlockwoodmills]

Andrew Meyers is hardly a poster child for responsible exercise of one's First Amendment rights. But one has to ask, what were all those cops doing there to begin with?

It almost seems as if someone were looking for an opportunity to exercise authority. This was an open-discussion format; it wasn't a protest or demonstration. Open discussion means exactly that...open to everyone, regardless of viewpoint. Inevitably, after 6-1/2 years of the Bush administration's lies, endless war, and assaults on civil liberties, many people are going to voice their opinions in a hostile manner, especially when a U.S. senator, who pretends to oppose the president but whose actual conduct hasn't matched his words, is present.

The poster who said, "If you don't want to get tasered, leave when you're asked to leave" misses the point. Meyers shouldn't have been asked to leave, when all he was doing was asking questions beyond his allotted time. That happens frequently in open-discussion formats. The proper remedy is to cut off his mike, and if necessary, tell him, "Your questions won't be answered, because your time has elapsed."

Kerry, of course, said he wanted to answer all the questions, but the forces of repression intervened. The school should be embarrassed.

[Nommo]

Kerry should have been embarrassed. He has sat back on his haunches many times too many. Of course, being a member of Skull and Bones, he never really lost anything anyway, did he?

[JimR]

The entire question and answer period was OVER. There were other students ahead of Meyer, but he pushed his way to the front of the microphone.

What about THEIR rights?

Give me a break with the "forces of repression" language. That's Bush-speak.

This is a case of a jackass trying to hijack a public event as part of a video stunt.

[thetone1]

my two previous posts critical of ms. wolf were removed. i'll try again. i think that she is being disingenuous.

[KarenFromMaui]

The military and state are suppressing peaceful protesters on Kaua'i using Homeland security laws.

Surfers, kayakers and paddlers blocked the Superferry which started operation without first doing the legally mandated Environmental Impact Study.

Major stockholder, Lehman is one of the Project for a New American Century Cheney-Rumsfeld cronies who is looting the US taxpayers of $140,000,000 and the Hawai'i taxpayers of $40,000,000.

During this peaceful protest, the Coast Guard untarped and manned machine guns (not firing them, thank heaven) against the unarmed surfers and swimmers who were blocking the Superferry.

The have now issued a list of penalties if the surfers violate their newly-created "security zone" which include 10 years in jail and $25,000 fine.

On September 26, with escort by the Coast Guard, with police in swat attire (with their faces masked) we will again see the brave people of Kaua'i attacked by their own government so that the illegal Superferry can make a buck.

Since when is it the job of the police and military to attack its own protesting citizens because a business is more important?

See www.SaveKahuluiHarbor.com for more.

[ZenJu]

Interesting to listen to people's reactions to such abominations as this. Some are almost salivating in readiness to lick the firm hand of authority that stands ready to slap them for speaking out or pat them on the head for smiling in grateful and ready obedience. American was founded by rebels who faced execution for treason against the Crown and pushed a radical agenda that included such ungodly ideas as freedom of speech. I'm very curious to see which way this incident goes as a precedent.

[bethinCary]

It jsut goes to show how people DO NOT really think for themselves. In a crowd mentality-they concede thier own viewpoint and remain complacent, afraid of being judged by thier peers.
The book "Blink" by M. Gladwell had alot on this.

[SkippyJones]

Oh brother - how everyone loves to appropriate for there own agendas. Tasering makes me ill, I called (and posted the contact info here for) the UC President's Office when the UCLA student was tasered, but I think outrage over this one is a bit overkill. Not that it wasn't a wrongful thing -- but these cops were not acting as apparatuses of a fascist state -- they were just nervous about the big job of protecting a former Presidential candidate -- which is well above their pay grade. This is not exactly clubbing jews and throwing them into torture cells folks. It was a regrettable incident, and reflects patterns which we should all be concerned about. But the overweight campus cops at Florida U weren't stormtroopers Naomi -- just people trying to do their job who were clearly antagonized by a self-serving, spoiled little pr*ck (who stood at an intersection with a sign giving away the ending to Harry Potter as a practical joke earlier this year btw). Well, I didn't know the damn ending to Harry Potter because I literally avoided every possible exposure, until I read that story today, where the journalist said what the kid had written on his sign. So that kid (and journalist) just ruined Harry Potter for me, which I think speaks to what this "young Patriot" is all about. Sure, we need to protect his liberties, free speech, etc. -- but maybe our youth which Naomi so romanticizes should be more concerned about the future of our country than spoiled, narcissistic and vindictive attention- seeking. We're all losers on this one, and your a sucker Naomi for trying to turn that big loser into some kind of martyr. Yes, no tasering. And yes, if he is going to disrupt and flail his arms and generally freak people out then his ass can get hauled out. Should he have asked his question with a modicum of respect then no matter its content, it would have been answered. He freaked everybody out because he was acting nuts. I'm a little embarrassed at the significance you attach to it.

[crackpot]

Keep reading Harry Potter while our freedoms our dismantled. Waaah! He spoiled the ending for me!
The fact that he is or isn't a jerk has zero to do with the discussion. Our humanity is at stake, and we are all diminished by State sanctioned brutality.

[SkippyJones]

Oh brother. And we here at HuffingtonPost are all diminished by your childishness.

[SkippyJones]

Humanity at stake? I'm just amazed. There are far bigger issues than this farce that speak to our humanity being at stake. Choose your battles. And this is hardly "state-sanctioned" brutality - the security guards were placed on leave, there has been outcry, there will be further apologies. Don't conflate 'regrettable five second tasering' with 'humanity at stake'. If you feel your humanity is at stake, crackpot, why don't you drive down to florida and storm the president's office? This is clearly an issue of life or death for you.... c'mon put your money where your mouth is, since your are so quick to ridicule us who are simply calling for a little levity and maturity in weighing the full facts of the case to understand WHY this happened, what the motivations of the actors were, who made mistakes and why and how we can work to correct our system so that brutality is minimized while yours and mine and john kerry's protection remains. You don't have freedom of speech to yell fire in a crowded theater friend - that is why discussion of this young man and his actions are relevant. As to how to remove him is a second issue, to which I agreed he shouldn't have been tasered, but i am hardly attributing the end of our humanity to it.

[ThomasDoubting]

When I hear it said that he deserved it, for not following orders, it seems to me that maybe the wrong people are being tasered. Lets taser the ones who are following orders, maybe it will wake them up. There are those who believe that if they avert their eyes, they can avoid responsibility. If we allow our rulers to taser anyone, eventually they will taser anyone. They have already declared that they have the right to torture us, how can we object to a little taser. I am sure that they are not going to taser everyone, most people will not be affected, but your neighbors might, or your friends, or your kids. They will probably start with minorities. Eventually it will be more random.

[Thirdrailradio]

This is the vantage point of the taser incident at the Kerry speech that no one wants you to see. Check it out at www.thirdrailradio.com

[WMK]

Thanks for this vid link - it provides clear context for the events at the Kerry speech.

IMO - he started out with long winded preface references to Greg Palast's book (all about voter disenfranchisement and other dirty election tricks) and then asked an excellent question 'how could you concede the 2004 election so quickly?' - BUT - then he didn't wait for Kerry to answer and he launched in to a rapid stream of questions, mostly rhetorical, including 'how come Bush hasn't been impeached when Clinton was impeached for a blowjob? and he continued on and on getting more agitated (the suit behind him is making a 'cut the mike' gesture to someone off camera). Then he refused to give back the mike and continued to rant and at this point he was simply disrupting the event.

What should anyone 'in charge' do in a situation like that?

Does anyone who posts here at HuffPo seriously ask themselves 'what if it was my job to manage this event?' rather than get their screech on about incipient fascism, shovel abuse and obscenity at college police, absolve this student from any share of the responsibility for what happened as a result of his actions, blame John Kerry for what happened, and call anyone who doesn't join them in their hyperbole festival nasty names?

I think I make no exaggeration when I say that over 3/4 of the posts on this and other threads here at HuffPo regarding Andrew Myer are little more than angry name calling and unreasoning, largely incoherent outrage. It is downright depressing to think of so many people wallowing ineffectually in their own bile-filled tub-O-crazy when they could be trying to use their heads and look at the problems we are all concerned with rationally.

[Give Peace A Chance]

The college jerk butted in line and became disruptive to the college forum. He interfered with other student's 1st amendment rights to ask questions.

[bethinCary]

Maybe if you saw another elction being stolen-or a Guiliani Presidency in a policed state with a draft-then more college students would become more vocal and passionate about the state of our country too.

[THP]

I just watched the long version. Even if you viewed this kid as long-winded or taking up too much time none of his behavior warranted the manhandling that led to tasering. And, isn't it refreshing to see some honest outrage from a student when for five years we have all been so complacent at the shocking events, the horror, the carnage, the lies, the dismantling of the constitution? Why are we all so f@@@ing silent and polite? I often wonder why we are all not standing in front of the whitehouse. Bush needed to be impeached so that his hands would be tied but the political calculation was made and I fear the end result will be war with Iran.

[THP]

What struck me most was not the tasering but how the student was simply asking a question (and yes he was taking more time than alloted) and two cops grabbed him and forceably pulled him away, then two more cops took hold of him for a total of four. The student seemed shocked and angry that nothing justifiable had precipitated this physical force. He could have chosen to shut up and calm down and when everyone was calm, to have spoken. But, why should he have put up with it? It was the cops first actions that were the most shocking.

[JimR]

WRONG.

The question and answer period was over, after about 30 minutes. There were other students ahead of Meyer, they had been waiting patiently for their turn.

Meyer pushed his way in front of them and commandeered the microphone. He began by ranting at Kerry, telling him "I've been listening to your crap for two hours."

The police approached him. Kerry said he'd answer a question. So an officer asked Meyer to actually ask one. (In other words, stop ranting and get to it.)

After a long preface, Meyer asked Kerry why he conceded in 2004. Kerry began to answer, but Meyer cut him off! He continued ranting.

At that point, he was doing nothing but disrupting the event. His mike was cut off. He was asked to leave. He refused. The police tried to escort him out, but he became extremely agitated and physical. He pushed officers and flailed his arms around. The police acted correctly.

Was the tasering necessary? Debatable. But it was not entirely unwarranted. This jerk was not cooperating.

I believe strongly in freedom of speech. But that does not mean you have the right to try to hijack a public event so you can spew your opinions.

[jackbauer0396]

I'm not sure if someone's already gotten at this point, but I think it's the absolute most salient point to make about this situation.

To some, this video was a shocking tragedy of a person speaking out, engaging in their civic duty.

But to me, it's symbolic of our nation right now. There are some who speak out (see: people with brains). They BEG the people who they think are the few with actual ideals, who can fight against the tide of the GOP. As the campus police (symbolized here as the GOP authorities) try to shut him up, Kerry, who symbolizes the liberals who aren't doing ANYTHING to support any sort of righteous insurrection, stand by and let it happen.

It's happening with Petraeus. It's happening with the Patriot Act. How can the liberals stand by while American's rights are being abused? Because they're complicit in the malicious acts against the fabric of our country. They're part of the political party system. Democrats don't want change. They just want to be the ones holding the puppet strings. Unfortunately, the GOP is better at taking the reins.

It was all too real to hear Kerry drone on in the background, not even trying to stop this kid from being tased. One word from Kerry and this was over. But he didn't speak up. So we have to.

[The Falcon of the Adirondacks]

Hey, at least they didn't bayonet him to death and spirit his body away to be incinerated.

Freedom. That's what America is all about. Freedom to shut up and not be tazered!

Yeah.