NEWS: Question Kerry, Get Tasered, Fuck Bush, Lose Advertising Dollars

Psst ... Canucks can own firearms (excluding fully automatic weapons) ... just sayin.

They can? Damn.

NRA is lying to me again.

Holy god! I think I just felt the ground drop a degree or two.

I understand and agree with that... but typically, not following the rules doesn't get somebody tasered, it gets them expelled. Speaking of which, did he? I haven't read anything that has answered that.

Am I the only one that heard, at 1m 21s into the video (1:02 if it's counting down) the kid say, "Just let me up and I'll walk out,"? Yet over 30 seconds later, they taser him anyway. Was the kid being a dick? Yes. Could it have been handled differently? Yes.

I don't think it was police brutality, but I do think it could have been handled far better than it was, and I definitely think it could have been handled without tasering the kid. Also, I didn't glance at the surface - after hearing about the video, I did my own research.

Maybe he did... but due to the actions of the officers, they brought the inquiries and publicity on themselves, too.

For me it's not so much patriotism, as it's just being glad that I live in a country with a much smaller population, so such things don't happen as often as they do in the States.

Cops fuck up white people too! Hooray.

Wow, this whole thing makes me sick. It doesn't matter what the kid was saying, there was no reason for him to be "escorted" out of the building. People trying to argue that this isn't about free speech are forgeting the simple fact that the kid asked a few questions and was physically pulled towards the exit.
You want to call the guy stupid? Go ahead! I'm with you. Dumbass shouldn't have been screwing around. A guard tells you to move, you give him the finger and start moving.
But hey, he got tasered, and now he's got one hell of a lawsuit he can work with. Instant celebrity, and instant cash. The all-american dream.

That kid was an idiot. The cops overreacted, yeah. Police brutality? For sure. How many cops were there? They had the kid pinned to the ground...I'm sure they could've gotten cuffs on him without the taser. Here's some more police brutality. Also, these cops drove cars into the bikers. Oh, and by bikers, I don't mean Hell's Angels. I'm mean hippy environmentalists. Awesome, huh?

Of what? I didn't think those words could be truthfully placed in the same sentence anymore.

Well, I take that back. It's a bit mean-spirited. I guess it depends on what you're proud of...of what you're proud...depends upon the issues you regard with pride?

the kid was tasered because he resisted arrest. plain and simple. should he have been arrested? probably not. what was kerry doing about it? nothing. what would the police have done had anybody in the auditorium moved towards kerry to appeal him to exercise some authority over the situation? shot them with a real gun. why didnt kerry exercise any better authority? because he has none. why are the police like this? because 9/11 got deep inside everyones little first-world brains. why didnt the kid just be quiet and leave the auditorium? because he was trying to make a point. did he make his point? thats up to you to decide. i dont think he did, other than the diversion probably allowed a real threat an unobstructed path to kerry. so, were the police doing their job? probably not the way they should have. are the people who removed their advertisements from the school newspaper spineless scumbags? you betcha', and undoubtedly in someones pocket. but hey, advertising dollars run the world, and we should alter our thoughts accordingly. i mean, without advertising dollars, would the www ever have enjoyed enough popularity to present this to you via youtube? the mass media, in the pockets of corporations? NO. say it aint so. an irreverent kid getting tasered by a gaggle of dipshit cops? sadly, the lesser of two evils.

Erm, what? From the story and the video:

'As two officers take Meyer by the arms, Kerry, D-Massachusetts, is heard to say, "That's alright, let me answer his question."

As Kerry tells the audience he will answer the student's "very important question,"'

And Kerry, as the head speaker, is supposed to have done what exactly, beyond telling the guards not taze the student since he'll answer his question? Specifically and pragmatically, what should Kerry's precise course of action have been, and why would 'fuck Kerry' been a cogent response to this course of events?

easy question. he should have appealed to the officers to let the young man up and let him leave unobstructed. 'the young man poses no threat to me officers. if he is disrupting the forum to an extent that you must remove him, please do so in a quick and orderly fashion. no tasering will be necessary.'

makes sense, right? of course the kid didnt help his case at all. but if i had been one of the officers, i could have then easily responded ; 'sir, were escorting you out of the building, because you are posing a disturbance to a civil and peaceful gathering. if you resist, you will be neutralized, arrested and removed in cuffs.'

is it unreasonable? that almost happened, but not quite.

Kerry is a piece of shit like the other politicians who pretend to be "for the people" . This is an example of what is to come , when you openly question any policies involving government on any level . How long the public will eat the shit spewed forth out of their mouths is the only question to answer , ie: How long until we are a police state ?

That video made me laugh so hard, I shot beer out my nose

What an idiot, hell... I would have tasered him, just to hear his "don't tase me" monologue.......

Oh grow the fuck up. It's not like Kerry had time to sit and type out the above bullshit monologue like you did just in case something like this might happen. It happened out of the blue, he asked the cops to let him answer the question, but once it became clear that the police were going to remove him he had absolutely zero authority over the situation. Again, he's just a politician. He's not Emperor Palpatine. He can't snap his fingers and have the police just stop what they're doing.

hahah "dont taser me bro"

what a fucking attention whore.

I could not roll my eyes harder at this comment than I am right now without causing irreversible damage to my retinas..

They should've just shot him.

Facist pigs 1 - Free speech 0

Srsly.

Knee-jerk anarchism is as ridiculous as knee-jerk fascism.

I had no idea that Skull & Bones was a "policy involving government." I thought it was a support group for overprivileged white kids. Is it a secret branch of Americorps?

"what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

That kid is a pompous dipshit who thought he could say and do whatever he wanted and wanted to use his 20 seconds on the microphone to get some recognition by thinking he could put Kerry on the spot. Not to mention, the video doesn't show what the kid said or asked prior to the Secret Society question. For all we know he could have badgered Kerry about another question and was warned.

And I can honestly say that if I were in that crowd I would be laughing at that kid for a few reasons, one of which being did anyone else notice how quickly he went from being Mr. Cool Guy on Campus to "heelllppp meeeeeee, they're arresting me!!! somebody heeelllpppp meee pllllleeeaaaasseeee!!!!! why won't anyone help meeeee????" If you can't do the time don't do the crime...asshole.

No, not following the rules doesn't typically get you tasered. RESISTING ARREST DOES. Nothing yet on expulsion, I think it's too early in this whole debacle to tell. I think he raised enough of a stink that it'll be awhile before the University decides.

By the time he said he'd leave, it was too late. They had already committed to arresting him. They committed to arresting him when he struggled free and refused to leave. It was just another move on his part to grab more attention, and make it look like an unjust and wrongful arrest. Moreover, the fact remains that had he not continued to struggle, he would never have gotten zapped. You can say anything you like while you're struggling with an officer, but you'd still be resisting arrest.

And yes, it could have been handled differently, like, oh, say, PEPPER MACE in the eyes, a PR-24 PROSECUTOR BATON to the kidneys and skull... Or six officers stomping his ass into the ground. They chose the one least likely to do any lasting damage. The taser hurts like hell. It can even disorient you or knock you out. But in the end, you take less lasting damage from one than you will from even pepper mace. See with a taser (OK, LET'S CALL IT WHAT IT IS. IT'S A FUCKING STUN GUN. A TASER FIRES DARTS, THIS ONE DID NOT. IT'S A SHORT-HANDLED CATTLE PROD. ), the pain stops once it's done being used. Pepper mace, batons, and knuckles, not so much. Oh, and if they used any of the other three methods, THEN the protesters would have a reason to bitch.

Oh, Andrew Meyer certainly saw to that. He caused enough drama to ensure that the officers will be investigated and probed with a fine-toothed comb, and most likely fired as scapegoats regardless of whether or not they are found to have committed any wrongdoing.

That's simply your assumption. There are plenty of videos out there that show the entire incident. Gut feelings are not facts.

And what crime was that, that he supposed committed?

He was asked to leave a privately held event by security officers (who were instructed to do so by the people holding the event). He refused, and then while being escorted from the building (he was not under arrest), he resisted and broke free of the officers repeatedly. Once the officers determined that he was out of control, they subdued him... while he continued to resist.

The kid's a god damned attention whore by all accounts, and when he was off camera he even calmed down, telling the police they had done nothing wrong. Once he was back on camera he started resisting and crying out again.

Here. Watch this video, and pay special attention towards the end. Once he's on the ground and he realizes people aren't paying much attention anymore (as Kerry begins to speak to the audience), he starts crying out again and resisting some more.

And here's what another eye-witness says.

Kid was an idiot and was doing this specifically to get attention and cause trouble. Fortunately for him there are people who blindly distrust everything connected to the government enough to think something wrong happened, and that he was a victim.

PS - The guy has a god-damn website, and just look at it.
www.theandrewmeyer.com/

He's just making a name for himself to launch a career in the media.

A privately held event isn't a accurate description at all. A US Senator made a public appearance at a major state University where this kid was a student. You're making it sound like a wedding. I not saying this kid didn't overreact to the situation, but the police did their fair share in escalating it. So I ask again... what crime did he supposed commit, that justified how the campus police reacted? I don't buy what you've written above as a justification for using a tazer.

I haven't argued that the kid wasn't an obnoxious jackass. From the looks of his website, he'd seem like the type of person we'd mock here for spouting off crazy conspiracy theories. I could really give a fuck about the kid.

My point is: shouldn't the police be the more responsible when reacting to situations like this? How is the use of a tazer in this situation justifiable?

You have clearly not been paying attention. Resisting arrest. 'Nuff said. Yo do that, things get all sparkly, and not in a way you'll enjoy. Or would you prefer a club? Or mace? Or a boot in the face? All of these things were also justifiable possibilities. Thank the powers that be for the little punk's sake that they chose the least injurious method.