This film clip of a student in Florida , a Mr Andrew Meyer, getting tasered by US police officers at a campus political event where John Kerry was speaking is both shocking and depressing . OK he was a rather irritating sort of heckler cum questioner and his questions to Kerry did seem rambling and may have been embarrassing to the former Democratic candidate for the Presidency. He may also have had , shock horror a 'reputation for being a prankster'. However..... The reaction of the cops to this guy is simply mindblowingly over the top.
Perhaps the most disturbing and depressing aspect of this footage is the utter inertia of his fellow students upon his arrest. The thought that armed police would detain a student for simply telling John Kerry that he had in fact WON the last Presidential election seems hard to believe, but that his fellow students would simply sit and smirk as the drama escalates is amazing. Even when he is being electrocuted, a reaction that can be heard distinctly is one of amusement from some of the assembled students.One can only surmise as to the shock and outrage that would fill the world of comment had this happened in China, Cuba, or the USSR, I can just imagine Charles Wheeler going apoplectic. In Other filmed accounts of the events one or two concerned voices are raised, these appear to be concerned older adults, perhaps academics, who may be old ennough to remember the massacre at Kent State University? The Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 massacre or Kent State massacre, occurred at Kent State in the city of Kent , Ohio , involved the shooting of students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4th 1970 . Four students were killed and nine others wounded, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis, they were protesting against the US involvement in Vietnam. For those who do not know about violence against free speech in US universities, then this clip below will enlighten readers as to what happened in Kent State....
Maybe some of these concerned people, perhaps old enough to remember the violence employed by the US state against students at Kent State University in 1970 , could after all this hoo-hah, take a little time and explain to these smirking youngsters, who seem to know so little about so much despite having access to more information than ever before. Take time to tell them what happened then,and remind them that freedom of speech on US campuses is a right that was sanctified by the blood of students from a previous generation. Kids just like them, in some ways, except I can not envisage that a student so assaulted in 1970 would be so utterly abandoned by his fellow scholars.
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Alas, media treatment here has been soft. Meyer has been refered to as an "obnoxious heckler", the story dealt with as an "and finally..." funny item.
We could go further than the socialist countries and say, what if this had been filmed in Russia, Zimbabwe, Belarus, etc. What then for the light handling, the failure to comment upon what Meyer told Kerry.
The whole affair was made all the more disturbing because of the other students' reaction. Some even cheer on the police in their brutality! Very troubling.
the students should have tackled the cops
Support the First Amendment here...
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The point is that Kerry didn't contest it. And he had no answer to the guy's main question. Why? Because Kerry is a fucking douche bag. The Democrats need to get someone with some fucking balls who can answer a simple question!
You're right that the apathy of the audience is disturbing. But it gets worse. First of all, they weren't only apathetic, but at first they were quite thrilled to see Meyer be carted off.
But more concerning to me than the audience in attendance is the response from many in the public since the event. Even if Meyer was a prankster, even if he was stirring up trouble, in fact even if he was a downright threat, how can anyone see this as anything but a sad and unfortunate incident. Instead, I hear people actually spewing anger at Meyer and saying he "got what he deserved". To me, this story has really revealed the lack of empathy and compassion that many people in our society have. I talk about why I think this is the case at Emotional Responses to the Andrew Meyer & John Kerry Incident: A Psychological Study in Issues of Power, Anger and Authority, linked to my name. Thanks.
Howard thanks for the link to your fascinating article, most interesting,but how does one prove that the 'third group' you identify are being motivated by the issues around their inner child..still food for thought and I would recommend other readers to give Howard's article a look. Whatever the reasons,I am glad that it is not only I who felt that what was most disturbing about this incident was the reaction of others present, and reading the posts on the net about it theres an awful lot of proto-fascists out there it would seem. Still perhaps this should not surprise me, I recollect the research done on brown eyes and blue eyes where one set is harrassed by authority and it doesnt take too long for the ones not in receipt of the harassment to readily join in..
Gabriel, I was writing about the responses of people who I know personally and therefore know their history. So I could reasonably make that connection. But it certainly is all speculation. This is just a hypothesis of mine and people can look at how others around them respond and see if they see a similar pattern. It's certainly not a scientifically controlled study or anything. Just food for thought.
Everyone has learned about the connection between the Bush family and Hitler.
It should be noted that another ardent voice for fascism was the Heinz family, into which Kerry has entered.
Then there was the question of where Hitler got all that fuel for his ships and submarines... which was from Standard oil co, owned by the Rockefeller family.
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