Can't believe it, but I just saw another student being tased by campus cops, while the bulk of the audience just SAT AND WATCHED? What the hell is wrong with you people? They got the guns but we got the numbers!! That's right folks, you outnumber the police in these situations...so save your fellow students when you see these abuses taking place! "Oh," you ask, "how can I do that?" Simple...YOU OVERPOWER THEM! -These are cowards with guns who think they are gods. You rush them, disarm them, perform a citizen's arrest, and march them back to their barracks! You have to stand up for your fellow students...and stop these fascist actions when you see them. How else are the cops ever gonna learn?
Best regards
Chuck
Did the kid deserve to get tased?
I don't think we should give humans weapons. Bad things happen to people.
They could've just removed him from the building. The entrance to the audtiorium has double doors so it's not as if he had the ability to kick up his legs against the door frame to prevent the cops from taking him outside. I think 4+ campus rent-a-cops should be able to restain one man.
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Gabriel
I think it was ridiculous for the police to have been called in in the first place. The student was (peacefully, from what I've seen and heard) trying to ask his question. He may have demanded that it was his right, and come off as aggressive or forceful, but he didn't
do anything to justify calling police on him.
I have to disagree with you about this, though. Starting a riot against police officers who are just doing their job is not the best way to handle things. Not only is it stupid, it is also dangerous. In some situations it might be necessary, but I do not believe this is the case here. Most people probably did not know why he was being arrested when it happened, anyway.
I certainly do not advocate starting a riot against police officers, but what recourse do we have when the police abuse their authority in this way? If they were "just doing their job" I would have no beef...but holding a man down and tasing him does not fall under that category. Look...if the guy had a weapon, yes..please subdue him...but his "weapon" was his tongue. This man posed no physical threat to the campus police. Their lives were not in any danger. Maybe all he really did was embarrass them a bit.
I still maintain that the real tragedy here is the inaction of the other attendees at this function. I remind you of a quote form MLK Jr. (paraphrased as I do not recall it verbatim:)
'...history will record that the greatest injustice was not the terrible actions of the bad people, but the complacency and inaction of the good people.'
I will also remind you that during the decades prior to the year of your birth, many, many people were savagely beaten and sometimes killed by the police or other authorities for commiting horrible offenses such as organizing labor unions, marching for civil rights (or against war), or just simply for being nearby and not white.
Historical examples:
1) Comedian and social satirist Lenny Bruce was arrested and beaten by police for (gasp) insulting the Pope. His trial was held on Ash Wednesday. The judge, all the jurors, and the court reporter came to the courtroom that day with ash spots on their heads. (Lenny, by the way, was Jewish...and he was convicted)
2) 4 students on their way to class were gunned down by the Ohio National Guard who opened fire on a crowd of unarmed anti-war protesters at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. (You should visit the memorial)
3) Alabama police chief "Bull" Connor turned fire hoses and police dogs loose on Afro-American civil rights marchers in (I think) Selma, Alabama.
4) Police officers on patrol, some of whom had communicated racially derogatory statements via radio-car computer( I believe the quote was "Looks like gorillas in the mist out here tonight"), detained and savagely beat a slightly intoxicated Rodney King in Sylmar California. When Rodney was examined at the hospital, he was found to have suffered over 40 fractures of his facial bones. When asked about the injuries, teh police officers claimed that Mr. King had "fallen down"
When the police were tried for the beating, the defense had the trial moved to Simi Valley (even though the crimes were committed in Los Angeles) Simi Valley's population consists mainly of active duty and retired police officers, as well as the widows of dead cops. (After the trial, one female juror said she had "no problem" with African Americans being referred to as "Gorillas" by the defendants.
Throughout their history, the police have attempted to foster an image of being the protectors of our society, when in reality they tend more to be jackbooted thugs. With the passing (and re-ratification) of the Patriot Act, they now have more power than ever. And they are abusing that power in new and wondrous ways.
If you were to see your neighbor breaking his child with a nightstick, would you call 911? Or would you leap that fence and stop him before that child was killed, no matter what potential injury you might suffer?
Please reply as you wish.
Best regards
Chuck Sutton
According to accounts, he refused to give up the microphone to the next speaker even though Kerry politely answered a few of his questions. I think that's what people don't get -- freedom of speech means that everyone gets a chance to speak. It certainly does not mean that only one person gets to monopolize the podium.
He refused to give up the microphone to the next questioner when asked by police, and he refused to leave peacefully. Once this happened, the police are well within their rights to subdue him. Even before he was tasered, he was completely uncooperative because he feels it was "free speech" to be loud and arrogant. It isn't.
What exactly is the full story? I'd like to know! =D
Tcho
http://www.progressiveu.org/user/tcho