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  • SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 22 2007 4:00 PM

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.

Colorado State University's student newspaper has lost $30,000 in advertising and had to cut pay and other budgets by 10 percent because of fallout from the use of a four-letter word in an editorial about President Bush, the Coloradoan reported Saturday.

In large type, the editorial included the words "Taser this ... Fuck Bush." The editorial said it had the support of the Collegian's editorial board.

"As local and national media will inevitably jump on this controversy, I strongly urge the university community to try and understand that the intentions of the students on staff, including me, were not to cause harm, but rather to reinforce the importance of free speech at our great institution," Editor-in-Chief J. David McSwane said in a posting on the paper's Web site Friday.

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 Collegian, a free publication funded entirely by advertising and published Monday through Friday printed comments, including negative ones on its Web site.

"Like many other comments here, I'm quite ashamed to see the official voice of my alma mater's paper choosing to express itself like this," wrote one commenter under the name Phil Mills. "Regardless of the Editors' opinion of our President, I would have hoped that they could have come up with something more eloquent and reasoned to express that opinion than this... this... bumper sticker."

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?

 

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Comments
private_grave

private_grave

Belgium
April 2005

SEP 22, 2007 04:43 PM

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

good4sound

good4sound

Studio City, CA
November 2006

SEP 22, 2007 05:02 PM

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

Punxboy

punxboy

United Kingdom
August 2004

SEP 22, 2007 05:04 PM

I hate my family anyway.

OctEgon

OctEgon

Tustin, CA
July 2005

SEP 22, 2007 05:07 PM

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.

Zebulingod

Zebulingod

Beaverton, OR
August 2007

SEP 22, 2007 05:11 PM

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. whatever

TheFox

TheFox

Durham, NC
February 2006

SEP 22, 2007 05:20 PM

Zebulingod said:
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. whatever



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.

Reaver

Reaver

I'm lost
August 2003

SEP 22, 2007 05:26 PM

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!

xazapdmytinu

xazapdmytinu

Fort Collins, CO
July 2007

SEP 22, 2007 05:46 PM

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! whatever

attn_ho

attn_ho

Brooklyn, NY
February 2004

SEP 22, 2007 05:47 PM

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



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

OctEgon

OctEgon

Tustin, CA
July 2005

SEP 22, 2007 05:58 PM

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



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.

snefiblert

snefiblert

Australia
June 2004

SEP 22, 2007 06:03 PM

TheFox said:

Zebulingod said:
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. whatever



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.

...

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



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.

10k

10k

San Antonio, TX
July 2002

SEP 22, 2007 06:05 PM

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

xfinitex

xfinitex

East Lansing, MI
August 2005

SEP 22, 2007 06:15 PM

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.

hadees

hadees

Austin, TX
December 2003

SEP 22, 2007 06:28 PM

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.

Peyote

Peyote

SUICIDEGIRL

Arizona, USA

SEP 22, 2007 06:35 PM

"In large type, the editorial included the words "Taser this ... Fuck Bush." The editorial said it had the support of the Collegian's editorial board."

hahah this is fuckin' awesome.

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