UF student Tasered after questioning John Kerry

No, it's not the equivalent, and speaking of strawmen, Mr. Meyer did not have a gun. And you don't get to make the argument "well, he could have." He didn't have one, so don't introduce facts not in evidence to try and make your point. He was on the ground, pinned down by six cops. Who was he threatening?

This "warned of the consequences" reasoning, in a lecture hall of a university no less, is ridiculous. If Meyer was your brother, or your son, I very much doubt you'd be cool with the reasoning that "he was told to stop, and when he didn't, we were authorized to use any means necessary to stop him from grandstanding."

Being a cop is fucking hard. I'm not going to dispute that for a second. I grew up around cops. If you want to argue we should train them and pay them better, give me a mic and I'll speak on their behalf. Give me some legislation and I'll vote for it. But if you want to say you're cool with cops using brute force on a college kid simply for acting like an idiot, then that's where we depart.

I'm a little uncomfortable with giving every cop the power to say "you've been warned once, and now you're getting tasered" for the same reasons I don't feel comfortable with torturing military captives. It's too much power to give one individual, it's too easy to abuse it, and there are more humane, and more effective, ways of dealing with the problem.

You want to give taser guns to prison guards dealing with violent criminals? I can support that. You want to give taser guns to beat cops in West Baltimore, West D.C., East St. Louis or East Harlem? As long as you train them and monitor them, I'll defer to the experts who believe it works.

You want to zap a stupid, attention-seeking college kid while he's already pinned down and hasn't threatened anyone in the first place, then express glee because he was "warned of the consequences" and "got what he deserved" then I'd say we'll have to disagree.

 

These students were acting like real A-Holes at Tianamen Square. I am glad the Chinese Govt saw fit to run them over with tanks and restore order.

 

You left out Rachel Corrie, the Rape of Nanking and the Mongol invasion of Europe.

This slope just ain't that slippery. Witness the attention, and how the authorities are dealing with it. But carry on; I agree that it shouldn't happen again under similar circumstances, and every little bit of attention helps, I suppose.

 

Nice.

 

I said this on page 9 and I'll repost it again. Both were in the wrong. How fucking hard is that to analyze. Stop overanalyzing and using instant replay to break this shit down. All of us are starting to sound like Tim Motherfucking McCarver repeating something we saw 30 seconds ago.

END THIS GOD DAMN THREAD.

 

Umm, why? Because you decree it to be so?

He was warned three times. He understands the risk, but rather than let them cuff his other arm and escort him out, he continues to struggle and scream "Don't tase me, bro!" Those are the facts.

 

Kid needed a muzzle, not a taser.

 

Wait, he was struggling (while pinned to the ground by six people) and screaming? You must have been so concerned for your own safety at that point, Ruf! I changed my mind, they should have tasered his balls and passed out popcorn.

Are you not entertained!??

 

Is this not why you are here? Spaniard! Spaniard!

 

And now, (I apologize if this is d_b; ain't reading 15 pages of this ...) there are t-shirts, etc., for sale with a picture of a tazer and 'don't taze me bro' on them. Is this a great country, or what?

 

Didn't say anything of the sort. Just thought it was curious that

1. you seem to feel you not only have the right to your own opinions but also to inform others what arguments they are allowed to make
2. you either don't know what happened (three warnings, not one) or just chose to ignore those facts because you didn't care for them.

Either way, it's cool. Last from me on this unless something new happens.