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

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

By now you're probably familiar with the story of the University of Florida student who was tasered during a forum with Sen. John Kerry. In the course of asking Kerry about his membership in Skull and Bones, he was forcibly removed from the microphone and "escorted" to the back of the auditorium, loudly protesting all the while.



As has been noted, neither Kerry nor the majority of the other students participating in the forum did anything to stop this from happening. However, about 2,000 miles away at Colorado State University, students sympathetic to the recently tasered Andrew Meyer published a response, which has left the paper approximately $30,000 poorer in advertising dollars so far.

I can understand being up at arms about the Bush administrations "approach" to civil liberties, and I can totally jive with wanting to "make a statement people couldn't ignore," as the paper's Editor-in-Chief says he wanted to do, but "Fuck Bush"? That's not original, intelligent, or creative. How about "Fuck Kerry." That would be more to the point, after all, and your advertisers probably wouldn't have as big a problem with it.

The fact that Kerry continued to numbly "answer" Meyer's question even as the kid was being tasered and screaming "Help" and "Owwww" in agony is absurd and pathetic. Publishing an editorial response in a college paper that reads "Taser this ... Fuck Bush," is a close second.

Perhaps worst of all are the other students and (presumably) faculty who didn't respond. What would you do in that situation? Stand idly by, or speak up and act out?

Better be careful responding to this or you'll wake up with your whole family dead.

Andrew, if you get a good lawyer, you could end up being a very rich man. Good for you.

I hate my family anyway.

At first, I kept thinking that if that kid didn't act like a pompous ass, he never would have gotten tazed and probably would have had his questions answered (or at least make Kerry look bad.)

But now a real dialog is popping off and digg had what seemed like a police brutality marathon in their video section.

Way to take one for the team.

The kid fucking deserved it. He should have simply complied with the security guards instructions and it wouldn't have happened. I'm tired of listening to all these whiney ass people who believe it's "not their fault" because they suspended basic reasoning skills in situations where those very skills would have kept them from getting tasered/beaten/shot. It was obvious he wasn't going to answer that question, and badgering him, and then resisting being removed only prompted the eventual response of getting tasered.

This wasn't about free speech. It was about some kid resisting the security guards. I hesitate to believe we'd have even heard about it if Kerry hadn't been involved.

While I can kind of see your point, the guards never should have removed him. He'd done nothing wrong - he was peacefully asking a question, which Kerry was answering before they started to escort him out. He only started getting crazy when they tried to remove him.

Granted, he should not have fought them physically, he had every right to scream and yell... yet I see the people sitting in the seats next to where he was being tasered, and I can't help but wonder why they didn't... react. They don't appear to react at all... wouldn't you say... something? And Kerry should have said something - if he was willing to answer the guys question, he should have stopped the guards and answered it.

It's a mess that spiraled out of control, and everyone did something stupid. It started with security, though.

Man, if a Republican had been involved it would have been rammed down your throat like a cock in prison!

As it is I saw the chick on CNN trying to convince me and the girl who taped this shit, that he wanted to be tasered.

What? That's fucking crazy! Getting tasered hurts!

Further more the kind was a pompous liberal douschebag, which further proves a point mentioned earlier this week by FTR!

Democrats are demonizing their base.

Which is fine by me, because I am GOP and proud!

um...the video appears to have at least three different voices in it protesting so I would hardly say nobody noticed.

It has never been the duty of the police, or even the secret service for that matter, to defend any president, presidential candidate or otherwise, against an attack on his credibility. Certainly he is to be protected from an attack upon his person, but the police have no reason to arrest an unarmed citizen for asking a question (even if he is making a fool of himself)

As far as the Collegian goes I think they realized that they would lose a lot by saying what they did...I live in Fort Collins and went to CSU and I can tell you...the Collegian is about as trustworthy as a yellow-jacket on pcp...their interest in upholding free speach is purely cosmetic at best and at worst is was a pathetic attempt to get people to take interest in their increasingly irrelevant opinion columns...now the sudoku, that's a section to pay attention to!

a republican, ask a question of an authority figure? surely sir, you live in a dream world.

You must not listen to morning talk radio. "Don't Tase Me, Bro!" is already the quote of the year. Everybody was playing the shit out of this last week whether they thought he was victim or an instigator because it's just plain fascinating. And like every weekly republican scandal, I'm sure this will eventually be forgotten about by the next presidential term.

I'm not so sure it did start with security. If you watch the video, the kid's clearly out to cause trouble; it's pretty obvious that he's not actually there to ask serious questions but just to make a pest of himself.

The security guards acted pretty reasonably in my opinion in escorting him away. I'm not sure he actually deserved to be tasered, but I can understand that where a high-profile person like Kerry is involved guards would tend to get a little anxious at an apparent loony raving his head off, fighting all attempts to subdue him and generally behaving like a wacko.

Have a read of some of the news stories on the web - apparenlty the kid is a serial prankster out to get publicity. He probably can't believe his luck that he was actually tasered, considering the publicity it'll generate for him.

Looks like a classic case of "You're under arrest for resisting arrest" I know that one from my own college days.

Saying 'Bro' is almost worthy of tasering in my book anyway....
But while I feel he acted kind of ridiculously, I feel that the student group had no right to ask him to leave for simply asking controversial questions. Had I been Kerry, I would have answered and put him in his place.

The guy getting tasered was hands down excessive force.

That being said everything the cops did up until that point was legally fine. According to accounts the guy pushed to the front of the line went off on a long rant then wouldn't leave when asked so that other students could get a turn. When the cops tried to make him leave he decided to struggle with them and as they got closer to the door the more he struggled.

I go to UF and know some people who know the kid. Needless to say he is a douche and has done many things worthy of tasering, this is just the first time he finally got what was needed.

As I've heard it told, and I'm going to leave it to you all to confirm this because I'm lazy right now, the kid was out of turn in asking questions anyway, and was out of time regardless. Kerry was answering questions from this guy even though the q&a portion was over, or at least this dudes time was up.
Before you all go too hardcore on the whole 1st amendment line, what about all the other students 1st amendment rights? Where do they go when windbag conspiracy theorist man decides that microphone is his? What about Kerry's 1st amendment rights, you know Kerry? The guy everyone was there to see, not the shitheel up at the mic.

Also, when an officer tells you to do something in a situation like this, you do it. If an officer lays hands on you, its time to fucking comply or its going to get bad. If he had a legitimate reason for resisting or a good point to make by doing it then fine, he had neither. The officers told him to bugger off, he didn't. The officers tried to escort him down. He resisted. When you resist an officer you escalate the situation and the amount of force required by the officers to deal with the threat(you). They tried light physical contact, he resists so they go to hard physical contact and 6 officers on his ass telling him to start cooperating or he is going to get tased. He continues to resist knowing full well that his ass is about to be lit up with a taser. This whole fucking situation is his fault, he was the one escalating the amount of force required to detain him.
If it is right to detain him or not is irrelevant when the officers make the choice to detain him. He can be as right as he wants but if an officer wants to detain you they're going to do it. If you have a problem with the arrest you bring it up with a judge or the cops boss or whatever. You don't have the right to resist arrest.

This shit is staged anyway. Once the kid was in the squad car he was completely okay with what went down. He said something about not being mad at the officers and knowing that they were just doing his job. The most annoying thing about this story is that everyone is up in a tizzy about it. People are so fucking willing to blame cops for this shit. Cops in a lot of places have earned their bad reputations, but if their conduct gets thrown to the public we can at least try to look at it in an objective way. It actually reminds me of a woman accusing someone of rape and immediately the dude she accused is guilty in many peoples eyes, regardless of how many facts speak otherwise(lets not derail the thread with this, I know statistically this happens very rarely, it is merely an example).

Just saw these on the ALL Your Base group and had to post them

DTMBKombat

DTMBBusters

good to see the internet is sitll doing its job

*compliments to BloodMoney for posting these*

Unfortunately, some people enter law enforcement hoping that it will give them a chance to act on their sadistic leanings. Those types used to crack a lot of skulls with billy clubs. In the last few decades since we got all PC and shit about civil rights (and since nearly every move one makes is being videotaped by someone), it's not as easy to bust heads in the line of duty. Most people don't like the sight of blood, so now we just electrocute people at the slightest provocation.

Nonetheless...

This clown should have been aware that when surrounded by four or five big armed guys in uniform, at least one of them didn't join the force to fulfill his humanistic desires and his dream to serve and protect. Provoking such people is a really bonehead move.

The second I started watching this I smelled 'Conspiracy Theorist Publicity' coming a mile away. Oh and if you watch carefully, you'll note that he told them NOT to tazer him BEFORE they had their hand even near it! Yeah, it was staged(noting that he had his own camera man planted in the audience btw). I'm not saying what the correct answer to his questions were, but his mind was not open for a negative answer either way.

I don't know how you could say this is hands down excessive force without being a police officer and being there. No one can clearly see exactly what this asshat is doing so I tend to give the officers the benefit of the doubt until I find compelling evidence to the contrary.

The officers also have a right to their personal safety and resisting arrest and flailing around like a jackass definitely endangers that, so fuck him.

Oh come on, some guy flailing his arms is not endangering an officers safety. The worst that could have possibly happened is a little smack in the face, how terrible. That's just stupid. Now, yeah, a lot of this seems fishy, but obviously the reaction to this incident was excessive. The only excuse for tasering anyone is to get them under control if they are a physical threat. Yes, this guy was slightly resisting but not nearly enough to justify tasering. He was not attacking the officers he was just trying to push away. A lot of law enforcement officers these days seem to think that wearing a badge makes their actions above scrutiny. I know this isn't all of them, I have known many very kind police officers, but the problems start when you get these authoritarian douchebags exerting more force than is necessary, as is obviously the case here. Whether the guy was intending to provoke this reaction or not, it's still an overreaction seeing as all they had to do to get him out of there was one officer to each arm and pull him along, end of story.

The only thing I have to say about all of this (I have a friend who was there and says the whole thing (YouTube vid) is out of context, the kid was a jackass and TRIED to cause trouble. . .) - anyway, the only thing I DO have to say is that I find it incredibly annoying hearing Kerry's voice droning on in the background. . .blah blah blah.

And wtf does any of this have to do with Bush?

Anyway.

Uh, actually, Andrew Meyer violated several UF rules regarding public speaking, demonstrations and protests. This is why the campus security tried to remove him. He had done several things before this, including rushing the mic at least once before the video started. He has a history of being an attention whore, according to more than a few sources. Also in the police report as well as several witness statements, he only acted that way when he knew he was being recorded.

It all comes down to Disruptive and disorderly conduct, attempting to incite a riot ("Is anyone watching this? Why are you arresting me? Is anyone watching this?") Refusing to disperse, and resisting arrest. Had he not continued to physically resist, he never would have been tasered.

This is NOT about free speach, you give that up when you enroll in an educational institution. They have these things called rules, and if you violate them, you can be disciplined. You can't tell your professor to fuck off and expect to be allowed back in class, first ammendment or not.

This isn't even about asking Kerry about Skull and Bones. He has answered that question many times on the news. He admits he was involved in the secret society. He has admitted it on national television. So why, pray tell, do you think it could possibly be about that. It was merely the coincidental timing of his question and the mic being turned off. It was turned off because he was ranting and raving, not because he asked the wrong question.

The only person who did something stupid was the professional attention whore, Andrew Meyer. Try googling his name, and see what else turns up.