More Pinter than Python

RE: The tasering of 21 year old University of Florida student Andrew Meyer.

At a 'town hall meeting' with John Kerry, an over-excited young man can be seen peppering the senator with questions. To the best of my knowledge at this time, he did not make threats or appear to be deranged or even all that disrespectful. Watching the video, I found myself wondering about the psychodrama playing out. Apparently some students actually called the police to have the young man removed because he 'went on for too long'. (In fairness, he does seem obnoxious, though if that were Taser-worthy, I can think of a few people I'd like to line up before this kid -- me included.) And a number of the students cheered as Mr. Meyer was being dragged out. You can hear it, a sort of relieved but half-hearted roar...I'm not kidding. Like a pep-rally.

You gotta love it.

You gotta love the glorious retro good-manners of the undergrad University of Florida crowd -- desperate for order over rancor, photo-ops over discourse . At any cost. And chillingly -- the entire video turns subtly on the mute stillness of the onlookers as he is dragged away. It stops being funny very very quickly. The cheers die and time seems to slow.

And as you watch the video -- you sort of wonder just what kinda president Kerry would have made; the man is droning on and on and on and on (off-screen) as this boy is being tasered. (It is as though Kerry was possessed by Biden's ghost or something, with all due respect to the senator from Delaware. ) But really -- It has the quality of a semi-inspired Monty Python skit, or it would have if it weren't so sickening. In the end, it's more Pinter than Python. Kerry goes on like the odd bit of Duchampian machinery he is. (Think of the useless invention in Duchamp's "The Large Glass" -- and you have Kerry.) It's a very powerful non-image; this disembodied blathering of the perfectly hapless politico as the protester screams in agony and rage and gets tortured by people in uniform. Eventually, you do hear some horrified students screaming for the authorities to leave Mr. Meyer alone. You hear it faintly. Worth noting at least. If i were a semiotics kind of guy, I'd be able to write a thesis on it. The symbols are as thick on that tape as stars in the milky way. As it is, semiotics are above my head; I just happen to be sort of interested in/curious about how system's work.

So. Lesson is -- be very careful that your kid not grow up to be too curious, exuberant, fervent, or passionate about politics. This country doesn't like protest anymore. (To wit Moveon.org.) He or she might easily be mistaken for some sort of maladroit psychotic nut. In America today. So don't have any more big talks - no big arguments at the dinner table with the kids - over the war, or the economy. Or health care. Nope. Or...You might end up with a tasered, McMurphy-esque post-teen rebel, being busted by Nurse Ratcheds who run (often too fat to actually run) rampant in our police departments; forever oblivious to the fact that usually they're caught on video these days. I also can't help feeling that if my kid was the one who dropped a dime on poor/dumb Mr. Meyer and called the cops -- it could be that it may be time to bring him/her home for an ideological debriefing and some home cooking.

On the serious, non-flip side, this kind of one-act play is probably going to be more common now, in the post Virginia-Tech-post-Columbine world. Someone who does not suffer fools at all, just pointed out to me that we don't see the prelude to the rant. The chilling effects of fear on a (gun-ridden) populace that has too much to be afraid of on any given day can be measured in dramas like this one. As we all know, the "National Threat Level" is "Elevated, or yellow". Which means 'we're scared, our free-floating anxiety is warranted, don't screw with us." Perhaps this young man didn't take the proper measure of the crowd, and the times we live in. The entire nation is suffering from Fight or Flight syndrome. However you view the event, the sight of a college kid being pulled out of a town meeting and tasered is nothing if not further evidence of a soul sick citizenry...and a country whose mood is Not Amused.

Comments

[mick3]

Kerry is so over.

[SamThornton]

I have to agree with those here who have pointed out that Andrew Meyer was being disruptive. However, that's part of the point. The exercise of one's right to Free Speech is inherently disruptive. It was intended to be disruptive. Why else have the right if it's only used to be a cheerleader for establishment authority?

This incident should surprise no one who is familiar with our history. Those who have exercised free speech in opposition to established authority have been repeatedly clubbed, arrested, shot, and imprisoned since at least the first quarter of the 19th century. The only progress we've made is adding tasering and torture to the government's toolkit.

Face it; being cold-cocked for raising one's voice in protest is as American as apple pie.

[loucheish]

It is interesting to me how people will see what they want in a few minutes of video taken out of the context of an entire event.

What I saw was poorly trained campus rent-a-cops overreacting to an obnoxious and uncooperative (and possibly dangerous?) student.

Did they need to tase him? Almost certainly not, as they already had him restrained. But I am not comfortable with equating campus cop incompetence with a totalitarian police state. (Suspension of habeas corpus, on the other hand...)

And I am really not comfortable with portraying a loudmouth prankster as a poster child for First Amendment rights. Assuming that some of the reports about the incident are correct (regarding his disruptive behavior), why would his First Amendment rights trump those of others waiting to ask questions?

One lesson you might take away from this: if you are trying to convince cops that you are calm, rational, and not a threat; running away from them and shouting loudly is not an effective tactic.

And I cannot fault Kerry for not intervening in a volatile situation. I find him disappointing on many levels, but it seems petty to second guess his response to the episode. I suspect he trusted the campus police were trained professionals who knew how best to handle the situation. And let's say he did intervene; I wonder how the media would have chided him for interfering with police in those tense few minutes?

In a similar vein, I'm not sure we can take the audience reaction to be evidence of apathy. Not defending one lunatic in one particular instance does not necessarily mean it was a room of bushco zombies. There is a wide territory between a fascist police state and freewheeling anarchy. I'm pretty darned lefty, but I respect order and civility in the public realm. The First Amendment protects your right to be an asshole - but not at any time in any forum you so choose.

Did these cops overreact? Sure. And I hope they are reprimanded. Attaching any more significance to the incident seems absurd.

[Levittown]

It seems that the Republicans can outshout the Democrats and act more patriotic so they must knee them in the groin and while they are crawling and bawling make their points. They don't seem able to go head to head with them so knee to groin will level the palying field.

[Artisbey]

I hate police. There's something about a doofus with a badge and a whistle that chaps my jaws. But,speaking as a person with a lifelong disdain for authority, of every kind, let me tell you what I've learned: If you are alone and try to fight the police, you are going to get your butt kicked (or Tasered), every time.

Meyer's fate was sealed when he struggled with the cops in view of a large crowd. I'm not saying it was right, but there was no way he was gonna get away with this.

The fact that not one person took his back in this scuffle, shows that his position wasn't too popular with the students.

If his cause was worthy, he would have had enough buddies with him to make the cops work for the bust.

I would bet a cold beer that Mr. Meyer is the sort of silly jerk few people would want to spent two minutes with.

[SamThornton]

"I would bet a cold beer that Mr. Meyer is the sort of silly jerk few people would want to spent two minutes with."

Reportedly, several of the founding fathers shared the same characteristic. Thomas Payne and Samuel Adams, among others, could drive people nuts just by showing up.

[randl1999]

In all the uproar about denial of the student's rights, and the insensitivity of Kerry, two things occur, to me at least. I could hardly follow the action on the filmed portion, and I was right there, so to speak. It would have been impossible for Mr. Kerry to follow it from his distant vantage point on the stage. That said, I have questions about the mental state, or at least the judgement of the student. He was hysterical, or, at least acted hysterically, and the campus police, not the Gestapo, were attempting to control his apparent out-of-control behaviour. Even the most ardent civil liberties champions would advocate "going limp", not fighting and shouting for the "Taze" You just gotta know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. His continued hysteria seemed the product of an emotionally challenged young man, not a defender of the right to free speech.

[gulopartisan]

The traditional media has found its way to interpret the incident. "Asshole deserved it" didn't fly this time. So now "It was just a stunt." Maybe the questions were "a stunt," but not the assault by the campus police (who are a private security team, folks, sort a domestic Blackwater wannabe that you are not obliged to respect in quite the same way you respect real police who might be protecting you from real criminals). The point of the incident -- that dissent should not be tasered -- will be obscured in the traditional press.

If the guy had been shot to prevent him from holding up a derisive sign at a Cheney rally, would we be talking about "a stunt"?

[roxanne90]

Many are bashing Kerry and accusing Kerry of witnessing Meyers being tasered-- but they are jumping to inaccurate conclusions. A careful reading from the numerous articles and
seeing the video was that the police did that outside of the larger auditorium. Kerry and student audience may not have spoken up when the police took the student out, but it appears they had no knowledge of what the police did after that. So yes, Kerry continued talking, but not with a student being tasered right in front of him. Lets clarify the facts before we crucify the guy.

[wired]

Are Kerry's answers to the student's questions somewhere on the internet. Even Kerry said the questions were important. Maybe not?

[wired]

From the Boston Globe:
"Kerry, known in the Vietnam era for his gutsy confrontations with senators, noted a difference between Meyer's style and his own at a similar age.

"He barged to the head of the line," Kerry said. "This wasn't someone who waited patiently for his turn and asked a question."

[AbstractImp]

Silence is Commplicity
Part Two

Go ahead, tell me there were no republicans there, and then I will have the proof that I need that our democracy is dead, because even the opposition party is devoid of opposition.

Free speech is just that, free speech. I am exercising it right here, thanks to Huffington Post. Am I right, am I wrong, in what I say? Perhaps - I am quite an expert at putting my foot in my mouth. That seems to be how I learn when I am wrong! But you know what? I would jump at the chance to shout uncomfortable questions at some of our leaders. Am I alone in this? Hardly!

Schools, just like religions, are arms of the state. They will tell you what to think. But it is up to you to think it, to comply in your own being misled, or to disagree and seek for yourself.

And when everyone sits quietly by, while thousands of innocents are dying for no good reason, you either speak out - or you are complicitous.

The choice is yours.

"Winston Smith"

[AbstractImp]

Silence is Complicity
Part One

There is so much going on here that it boggles the mind. What was perhaps a non-event is now blazing across the national attention - and well that it should.

There are several deeply disturbing elements to this incident, and you have helped to bring some of them to the fore.

Silence
The silence of so many of the students should give one pause. What it reveals is the inertia that lies behind much of our malaise. Speaking out takes effort. But we have become stupified as a society by watching too much TV. So we have a passive electorate, just what our one-party state wants.

Cheering
This sure seems like "rally-squad" behavior. Were these "democrats", or were they college republicans? And don't tell me no republicans were present. They are in every class, filling out dossiers on their teachers, watching unless they start spouting all that "liberal crap". Such "students" are one arm of the police state.

That these questions have to be asked in desperation, at the end of the session, tells us something else. No one covered any of these topics? Did anyone ask about the three or four fixed elections in Florida, and the tens of thousands of disenfranchised voters? Are they silent on this too?

That no one is answering these questions is also alarming. Where are we going, if the only one struggling to face these issues gets mauled into silence? When does the Reichstag go up in flames? When does everyone start wearing GOP-youth uniforms?
(cont.)

[bbuc]

Oddly no one is mentioning the recent, similar case of the tasered temporarily uncooperative student at a university library in California by campus capos.

Aside from giving bullies and dolts who gravitate to jobs like "guards" and "security staff" one more way to affirm themselves while punishing rudeness of rich kids, or potentially anyone else who attracts attention, we should be mindful of the dangers of giving anyone who make $7 an hour a weapon in the first place.

I hope the UF gets its financial ass reamed for this one.

[darker]

Students today are politically ignorant, disengaged, distracted and extremely PASSIVE, merely looking at life around them INSTEAD OF PARTICIPATION.

That is part of the formula needed to create a FASCIST U.S.A.

[EllisGill]

Kerry never has answered the qwuestion, neither has GW Bushco. Are they still part of Skull & Bones? Surprised no netowrk anchor has asked this, or researched this. Then again, 500 Billion No-bid Scam called Iraq never is asked . The Kid had some good questions.