In October 2006, Paul Kennedy, chairman of the RCMP Public Complaints Commission expressed concern about how officers are using the taser, including how early on in a confrontation they are deploying the weapon. A month earlier, Victoria Police Chief Paul Battershill stated that he held "philosophical concerns about whether the police 'by themselves' should be defining where the Taser belongs on the force continuum... as various studies rapidly evolve, it may be necessary to change placement in the continuum and I am not convinced this can be done by police 'by themselves'."posted by anthill at 9:13 PM on September 17, 2007
Tabatabainejad did show poor judgment in dropping to the ground, staying there, and continuing to be as vocal as he was. Tabatabainejad called on students to respond to his plight. Although these efforts were unavailing, they contributed to the tense atmosphere.... Yet Tabatabainejad’s conduct, however dramatic or even operatic, never amounted to much more than relatively mild resistance and did not constitute cause for three deployments of the Taser.I think the sentiment behind this paragraph applies to this case as well. Just because you think the student was being a douchebag doesn't mean you're automatically the supporter of a police state, and just because you think the police overreacted doesn't mean the student wasn't at all combative. It IS possible to hold opinions that don't skew to the extremes of the argument, you know.
Andrew Meyer, a senior in journalism and communications, was questioning Sen. John Kerry about why he did contest the results of the 2004 election. When his diatribe on secret societies, Iran and a mysterious "yellow book" ran over the one-minute mark, his microphone was cut off. Unconcerned with this violation of civilized Q&A decorum, the 21-year-old Meyer continued to speak, sarcastically thanking the organizers for cutting of his microphone.So this self-entitled borderline conspiracy theorist goes over his time, is repeatedly told to stop and refuses. The police remove him and overreact, as so often the case with poorly trained quasi-security guards. What about this is a free speech issue? It's an issue of one man learning how to act in public the hard way. The reason I don't support him is because I don't think what he was doing is particularly defendable. I don't support the guards either, but I understand how they tend to react, so I'm not surprised. As I said, I wouldn't have put my self in that situation.
Officers approached him several times to wrap it up, but he declined. University Police then proceeded to remove him from the auditorium.
"Before his Miranda rights had even been read, the outspoken student asked loudly, ‘What are you doing? I want to stand and listen to him answer my question. Why are you arresting me for asking a question? I didn't do anything.’ The six officers then grabbed ahold of his shirt, pulled him to the ground and cuffed him.posted by ericb at 9:00 AM on September 18, 2007 [3 favorites]
Throughout this disturbing display, Kerry remained stoically focused on answering the young man's questions (the ones to him, not the ones he asked the police). Even as Meyer's shrieks grew in urgency, the Massachusetts senator reflected calmly on the importance of not contesting the results of the 2004 election.
Kerry's voice, however, was no match for Meyer's, who despite not having a mic continued to hog the audience's attention with such glib catch phrases as: ‘Help me! Help!’ and ‘What are you doing! Get off of me! Don't Taser me, bro! Oh my God! OH MY GOD!’
Rather than cheer the police officer's successful apprehension however, a number of students appeared displeased by the efficiency. One even went so far as to say he was ‘appalled.’ Shouts of ‘police brutality’ could be heard from the crowd while Kerry urged the audience to ‘cool down’ and acknowledged that Meyer had raised a genuinely important question, (referring to the 2004 election query). Last evening Meyer was charged with a third-degree felony for resisting arrest with violence, according to reports.
And to think it all started because his question ran over the one-minute time limit. Journalists beware: The next time you find yourself on the University of Florida campus with some questions, be concise."*
"The University of Florida student who was Tasered during a question & answer session with Senator John Kerry is getting out of jail today.posted by ericb at 9:03 AM on September 18, 2007 [1 favorite]
Andrew Meyer was ordered this morning to be released on his own recognizance.
...Police are recommending a felony charge. Prosecutors will make the call."
"As horrible as it is to watch a campus police officers taser a student during an event at the University of Florida--a Q&A with Senator John Kerry, no less--the incident raises two very painful, but vital questions for college campuses across America: (1) What is the best way to speak out on political issues in a post-VA Tech massacre world? (2) What is the best way for campus police to react to students speaking out on political issues?posted by ericb at 9:05 AM on September 18, 2007
Neither of these questions are partisan, but they do raise the specter of a potential crisis looming just over the horizon: an incident that could arise where a student expressing anger on a political issue is perceived as a danger to the community and brought down by campus police with overwhelming force or worse: with deadly force. This time, it happened with a taser gun. But what about next time?
Campus police have a difficult task--a thankless task--but tasers are clearly not the answer. How can campus police be prepared to distinguish between an angry protester and an angry threat to a room? What is the best way to quiet a protest on campus? How should police respond to civil disobedience on campus without causing physical harm or worse to students?" more...
“Sure, he ranted and raved just a bit. But, he barely got his 'impolite' question out before the University of Florida Rent-a-Cops started harassing him. If you ask me, more people should rant and rave like this. He's clearly upset that Bush's administration is clearly ripping the Constitution to threads, edging towards ANOTHER ill-conceived war, and that Kerry could have stopped it if he had forced the issue on the 2004 voter suppression reports.posted by ericb at 9:10 AM on September 18, 2007 [1 favorite]
If more people were this passionate, then we might have a chance at bringing this country back from a state of absolute apathy in the face of corrupt government. This guy made the people in the room feel uncomfortable because of his passion and tough questions.
Because of the uber-sensitive environment that George Bush's ‘free speech zone’ society has created, everybody is on edge and thinks that free speech has gone away. I'm not sorry to say that most of America needs a reality check. Serious issues are before us and sober conversation with polite head nodding isn't gonna make anything better.”
(1) A decision by a law enforcement officer, correctional officer, or correctional probation officer to use a dart-firing stun gun must involve an arrest or a custodial situation during which the person who is the subject of the arrest or custody escalates resistance to the officer from passive physical resistance to active physical resistance and the personThe fact is police can do just about anything they want if you resist arrest. They can also arrest you, and refuse to tell you why (shocking, I know) until you're formally charged. All completely legal. Under that statute, they'd have a case. The correct course of action is not resist arrest, and listen to the police officers.
A college party in a backyard filled with 100 strangers and three kegs should be the most ridiculous and free environment imaginable. People should be pushing boundaries, exploring themselves and their surroundings, talking and laughing and enjoying life. The last college party I went to looked like this: The backyard was covered with guys wearing the same collared shirt with similar colors in the same pattern. The girls were seated in little groups, waiting for the guys to approach and attempt to gain entry to the vagina. There are two tables of the ubiquitous college drinking game, beer pong, a game that neither involves anyone other than the 4 players nor stimulates conversation around it other than, “Yeah! Great shot!” or “Aw shit, I missed!”He may be awkward, he may have some pretty ridiculous ideas, but he has a sense of humor, at least. That's a tazing.
"In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way. I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but again I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention. I asked the police to allow me to answer the question and was in the process of answering him when he was taken into custody. I was not aware that a Taser was used until after I left the building. I hope that neither the student nor any of the police were injured. I regret enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted."posted by ericb at 10:18 AM on September 18, 2007
I didn't see him sarcastically thank organizers for cutting off his microphone.
"I was at the Kerry speech today, sitting 2 rows away from all the action. I'll let you know how it really went down.What a fucking tosser.
The forum was going to be over at 2 pm, and Kerry spoke for so long that the Q and A portion had to be shortened. He only got through about 7 of the 50 people who were waiting to ask questions. While the final question was being read, some douchebag ran down the aisle, grabbed the mic from the other side of the room, interrupted the kid who was talking, and started yelling at Kerry, demanding that his questions be heard. He started ranting about how Kerry talks in circles or something, and everyone was getting annoyed. The cops are all over him in no time and try to escort him out, but he starts yelling and resisting. Kerry insists that they let him stay and even agrees to answer his question.
After the interrupted guy's question was answered, Kerry keeps his promise and lets the angry guy talk. This is the point where people started taking their cameras and phones out. All the videos floating around youtube start around here. You can see in the videos that his questioning gets kind of inappropriate, so somebody cut his mic. Instead of shutting up, he starts yelling and making an even bigger scene. He struggled all the way up the aisle, and started violently trying to free himself. They threatened to taze him and he wouldnt stop fighting, so he got tazed. They only had to arrest him because he was causing a disruption and wouldn't leave peacefully. He wasn't being silenced for asking tough questions, trust me."
Meyer: First of all, I want to thank you for your time. You've spent a lot of time talking to us today and I want to thank you for being open and honest. Uh, you recommended a book to us earlier, I wanted to recommend a book to you, it called Armed Madhouse, by Greg Palast--They let him talk for a while, and there isn't any sign he's going to stop and actually let Kerry answer one of his questions. Then the cops start escorting him out and he immediately tries to break away and starts swearing and yelling "Help, help, I'm being oppressed!" Now we all see the violence inherent in the system.
Kerry: I have it, actually.
Meyer: --yeah, he's the top investigative journalist in America--
Kerry: I've already read it.
Meyer: --and he says you won the 2004 election! Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? You won in 2004. In fact, there were multiple reports on the day of the election of disenfranchisement of black voters in Florida and Ohio--
Cop: [something like "ask your question"]
Meyer to the cop: I'll ask my question, thank you very much. I'm gonna ask my question, I'm gonna preface it. He's been talking for two hours, I think I can have two minutes. Thank you, thank you, thank you very much.
Kerry: [something like "Do you have a question?"]
Meyer: I'm gonna ask you my question. I'm gonna inform people, and then I'm gonna ask my question. So there are multiple reports of disenfranchisement of black voters on the day of the election in 2004.
Kerry: Right.
Meyer: There is also voting machines, electronic voting machines, in Volusia County, Florida, that counted backwards. So amidst all these reports of phony, bogus stuff going on, how could you concede the election on the day? How could you concede the 2004 election on the day? And this book--it says there were over five million votes that were suppressed and you won the election. Didn't you want to be president? And I'm not even done yet, I have two more questions. If you are so against Iran, how come you aren't saying "Let's impeach Bush now. Impeach Bush now before he can invade Iran. Why don't we impeach him? Impeach Bush. Clinton was impeached--for what, a blowjob?--why don't we impeach Bush?" Alright? Also, are you a member--were you a member of Skull and Bones in college with Bush? Were you in the same secret society as Bush? Were you in Skull and Bones? [Microphone gets cuts off.] Thank you for cutting my mic, thank you.
Under the common law rule, the crime of resisting arrest requires that the arrest be lawful. A person being arrested has the right to resist an unlawful arrest.And although in modern pushover times you're not really supposed to use force to resist, there's an exception to that if the arrestor uses excessive force. It seems that argument is being made here.
“The deployment of an immobilizing, less-lethal weapon in an auditorium crowded with students to bring an unruly student (who was being arrested for a misdemeanor charge) under control, by no fewer than six police officers, is a shocking and dangerous breach of police protocol. Aside from the obvious fact that a university campus is no place for such weapons, and that campus police officers should not have such weapons at their disposal (and no, it would have done little good at Virginia Tech), this incident constitutes an outrageous display of overreaction brought about by inexperience and a complete lack of oversight and control. The cops were more out of control than the unruly student here and six cops should easily have been able to take this student into custody. Looks like another scandal for the U of F campus PD (remember the botched frat boy rape case of 1999)”*posted by ericb at 12:47 PM on September 18, 2007 [3 favorites]
I think the kid crossed over into the "yelling fire! in a crowded theater" area. Not that he would incite a riotThen no, it was a different area entirely.
"Indirect interference or hindrance of an officer does not constitute resisiting arrest, no do mere flight, concealment, other avoidance or evasion of arrest, verbal objectivions, protests, or threats unaccompanied by force."It then goes on to explain how this common law has been edited in some jurisdictions.
"A person threatened with an illegal arrest may not only resist the arrest but may use any force reasonably necessary for self-defence and prevention of impending injury. State vs. McGowan, 90 S.E.2d 703 (N.C. 1956). Because the impending injury resulting from an arrest is ordinarily only a brief unlawful detention, the degree of force a person may use is strictly imited. A person who uses more force than is reasonably necessary for the purpose may be guilty of an assault and battery on the arresting officer. Deadly force is rarely justified to resist an unlawful arrest, unless a person has reasonable grounds to fear death or serious bodily injury from an officer."
"A university spokesman said campus police cut the microphone and removed Meyer because he had overstayed his allotted time to question the senator. Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, can be heard telling the audience that he would answer Meyer's 'very important question.'"posted by ericb at 1:35 PM on September 18, 2007
"Was the student who tried to interrupt ex-US presidential candidate John Kerry pursuing an unnerving line of questioning?posted by ericb at 1:47 PM on September 18, 2007
...So did Meyer really ask too many questions? Or were they the wrong sort?
Meyer resurrected an old conspircay theory, that Kerry's and Bush's shared membership of a secret society, an occult order called Skull and Bones, led him to concede the 2004 election too early.
Rumour has it bonesmen meet amongst the dead, twice a week in the 'bones tomb'. It's America's oldest secret society and its members go on to form the elite of the business, political and intelligence establishmnent.
The Masonic-inspired order is based at Yale University. New members have been forced to kiss skulls at initiation and a favourite passtime amongst this elite fraternity is grave robbing.
Its alumni have included leaders of institutions ranging from Wall Street to the White House. But it's not just Kerry who's reluctant to talk about it. George Bush also reveals very little when questioned.
But was the whole episode on campus a stunt? Meyer's website shows he is certainly not adverse to a bit of publicity. He even attempted to ruin the ending of Harry Potter.
Meyer's grandmother simply says he was always passionate while those more cynical about Skull and Bones think he may be on to something.
And if you are thinking of shaking up the British political establishment possibly at next week's Labour Party conference, don't worry - the stewards there don't carry tasers."
Meyer: There is also voting machines, electronic voting machines, in Volusia County, Florida, that counted backwards. So amidst all these reports of phony, bogus stuff going on, how could you concede the election on the day? How could you concede the 2004 election on the day? And this book--it says there were over five million votes that were suppressed and you won the election. Didn't you want to be president? And I'm not even done yet, I have two more questions. If you are so against Iran, how come you aren't saying "Let's impeach Bush now. Impeach Bush now before he can invade Iran. Why don't we impeach him? Impeach Bush. Clinton was impeached--for what, a blowjob?--why don't we impeach Bush?" Alright? Also, are you a member--were you a member of Skull and Bones in college with Bush? Were you in the same secret society as Bush? Were you in Skull and Bones? [Microphone gets cuts off.] Thank you for cutting my mic, thank you.1) He asks for two minutes. I hear he took 1:30. Does that include the time taken by those interrupting to ask what his question is?
The UFPD is a State and Nationally Accredited law enforcement agency established to provide the highest degree of safety and security possible for the University of Florida community. We currently employ 89 certified law enforcement officers that provide twenty-four hour per day patrol and protection of campus and local assets, enforcing all laws and ordinances.So you mean to say they didn't send some of UF's finest to guard the Senator?
"In the interview, Kerry, who said he was unable to see police use the Taser on the man from his position and did not know about it until he had left the university, declined to comment on the police's actions. 'I was trying not to have a riot started,' he said. 'I thought it was important to keep the place contained, I guess would be the best way to put it.'"posted by ericb at 8:36 AM on September 19, 2007
The question we should all ask is why did a United States Senator just stand there while Gestapo goons violated the constitutional rights of a student participating in a public event, brutalized him in full view of everyone, and then took him off to jail on phony charges?posted by jayder at 9:31 AM on September 19, 2007 [2 favorites]
Kerry’s meekness not only in the face of electoral fraud, not only in the face of Bush’s wars that are crimes under the Nuremberg standard, but also in the face of police goons trampling the constitutional rights of American citizens makes it completely clear that he was not fit to be president, and he is not fit to be a US senator.
Chapter 843 OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE: Resisting officer without violence to his or her person.-- Whoever shall resist, obstruct, or oppose any officer as defined in s. 943.10(1), (2), (3), (6), (7), (8), or (9); member of the Parole Commission or any administrative aide or supervisor employed by the commission; county probation officer; parole and probation supervisor; personnel or representative of the Department of Law Enforcement; or other person legally authorized to execute process in the execution of legal process or in the lawful execution of any legal duty, without offering or doing violence to the person of the officer, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.Resisting, obstructing or opposing a police officer while they're doing their job is obstruction of justice. Refusing to comply with their demands could fit any the three elements. Quite simply, you're either uninformed or misinformed...
but this guy basically comes running in with 4 or 5 cops in tow and says he has been running around trying to get in to ask a question and the cops are going to arrest him for it. they almost do it then but Sen. Kerry says he will answer it.Maybe the cops realized they'd fucked up by not nabbing him for disorderly conduct earlier and overreacted because they thought they'd let the situation get out of control.
the kid was articulate and seemed genuinely to want an answer to his question
How could you concede the 2004 election on Election Day when there were multiple reports of disenfranchisement of black voters in Florida and Ohio and problems with electronic voting machines on the day of the election?Boom. Done. (And 36 words vs. his 268, not counting his metatalk--heh--about asking the question.) Then shut up and let Kerry answer the question or look like a tool trying not to.
“On video, Meyer can be heard telling Kerry he'd like to recommend the book to him.posted by ericb at 3:51 PM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]
‘It's called 'Armed Madhouse' by Greg Palast,’ the student said, ‘He's the top investigative journalist in America.’
‘I've already read it,’ Kerry replied, as Meyer went on to repeat conclusions from Palast's book, which contends Kerry actually won the 2004 presidential election.
What Meyer was referring to, according to Palast, was a chapter in the book called ‘Kerry Won. Now Get Over It,’ in which he says millions of votes cast in the 2004 election were discarded, not counted or prevented from being cast in the first place--a fact the author says has special relevance to the locale of Meyer's arrest.
‘There's an entire dimension here that's not being covered here,’ Palast said of the controversy. ‘The interesting thing to me as a journalist, is that the [Meyers incident] occurred in Alachua County, Florida, one of the worst places in the country for black voters.’
Addressing Kerry before he was taken away by officers, Meyer cites reports, presumably from Palast's book, about disenfranchisement of voters in Florida and Ohio.
‘They were deliberately disenfranchising voters,’ Palast said of Alachua, the county home to Gainesville's University of Florida. ‘Gainesville is horrendous.’
Calling the area the ‘center of the attack on the black voter,’ Palast pointed to a 2001 article he wrote in The Nation which details what he says were efforts under Republican-led state government to purge voting rolls of felons who were convicted in other states--eligible voters under Florida law--almost half of which may be black, according to statistics in the piece.
‘It's one ugly place,’ said Palast, who also added that the police's actions in the Meyer case pale in comparison to intimidation techniques used by authorities against minority voters during elections.
As for the tasered Meyer, the author says he sympathizes.
‘I must admit I feel some appreciation for [Meyer],’Palast writes at his website, ‘especially because, even while he was being shot with untold amps of electricity, until he was handcuffed, he would not let go of his mysterious yellow book...’
Palast says he would like to speak to the student and has contacted Meyer's lawyer to arrange a conversation.
‘Maybe I'll go down and cover the trial,’ the journalist added, dead seriously.”
"Share everything.And an update, passed-on by Robert Fulghum himself -- Kindergarten vs. College: "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten provides some rules that are supposed to apply to everyday life, and that includes the time you’ll spend at a degree-granting institution.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life--learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup--they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned--the biggest word of all--LOOK."
""Security officers who Tasered a University of Florida student at Sen. John Kerry’s town hall meeting on Sept. 17 were completely out of line.posted by ericb at 2:16 PM on September 20, 2007 [1 favorite]
…Meyer may have chosen to be on the explosive side rather than calm and contained, as many effective political activists are. He may have chosen to bring up topics that, especially in a post-9/11 world, bring negative knee-jerk reactions to a great number of people.
He may have chosen to ask his question after the allotted time for questions was over. So cutting Meyer off and leading him away from the microphone would fall under the category of ‘understandable.’ Cutting him off, leading him away in a pack of four, pinning him to the ground, yelling at him, refusing to mention why he’s being arrested and shooting him with a taser would not.
Meyer was not armed, unless you count words as weapons. He did not interrupt Kerry to insult him or to ramble incoherently; he waited his turn and even cited the sources of his claims. He resisted police, but did not use violence.
In a setting where questions were welcomed, encouraged, and expected, Meyer posed a few. Kerry himself later expressed regret that he could not answer Meyer’s question and that the event did not end peacefully.
So why did the police get so out of hand?
It’s true that Meyer was resisting the police, and that when you do so, the climate of arrest and the rules of the procedure change drastically. It’s not as if he finished his question and the police instantly whipped out their stun guns and charged.
But many people are blaming how quickly the incident got out of hand solely on Meyer, and this is what bothers me.
As Meyer struggled against the law enforcement officers, he kept repeating ‘What did I do?’ If I were asking a politician a question, I would be bewildered and frightened if I suddenly found two cops at my side, yanking me away from the microphone. I would want to know what I had done.
It takes slightly less effort to say, ‘You’re getting out of hand’ or ‘The question period is over’ than it does to drag a grown man several yards, pin him to the ground, and shoot him with a stun gun.”
When I approached the area where the microphone was placed for questions for the Senator, a young man was causing a disturbance by shouting loudly at the Senator.
I proceeded to Meyer’s location and advised him that he needed to stop yelling and causing a disturbance or he would be escorted off the property. Meyer was stating that he had sat in the auditorium for two hours and demanded that he ask his question to the Senator and everyone else in the auditorium that still had questions be allowed to speak. The sponsors of the event had advised the individuals in the question line that the Senator would not be able to answer anymore questions from the audience. Because of this, the question and answer session would be over before Meyer could ask a question. Meyer would not comply with my directions or the staff from ACCENT to leave because the session was over. I grabbed Meyer’s arm in a transporter position and began to escort him up the aisle. Meyer was still shouting at the Senator to answer his questions as he was being escorted. Senator Kerry asked me to let Meyer ask his question.
After asking the question, the man would not let Senator Kerry finish his statement and kept badgering the senator about his beliefs, talking about “blow jobs”, and yelling as loud as he could as to sensationalize his presence.
At that moment the Accent Director, Max Tyroler, asked us to take him out of the auditorium and had his microphone turned off stating, “He had said enough.”posted by anthill at 7:20 PM on September 20, 2007
“Lately, images and happenings have been flashing before my eyes that appear to come straight out of an Orwellian novel. Reports of banning and censorship, and terms like ‘free speech zones’ and ‘protest pins’ are bouncing around with little questioning.posted by ericb at 8:20 PM on September 20, 2007 [1 favorite]
I read in the New York Times Monday about a musicology graduate from England arriving at an airport in America and being told she was banned from our country and that she had to leave. She wasn't told why. At the Emmy's this past weekend, Kathy Griffen and Sally Fields were censored when making remarks about the war. Are you kidding me?
On the subject of Andrew Meyer, the Florida University student who was tasered by police, it seems the outcry of free speech violations might be heard a little clearer. Meyer was a victim. There are no laws that the police are required to enforce considering how passionate a student's question or concern is at open question and answer forum.
In Meyer's case he went over his time when asking Sen. John Kerry some important questions. Kerry allowed Meyers to continue, but university police had had enough. He was dragged out of the auditorium and tasered while students videotaped.
The police seemed to be the only people objecting Meyer's comments. Neither the students, nor Kerry were concerned. In the videos Sen. Kerry can be heard in the background saying, ‘That's all right, let me answer his question, it's an important question’.
What I have learned from this is free speech equals a tase to the gut. Don't tase me for this.
Andrew Meyer deserved to be tasered, it's just unfortunate they didn't do it sooner. The audience looked as though it was awaken from their docile state and that is not good for America. This country's citizens need to not question the legitimacy of the war or the president's use of power. If we start questioning the people in power there won't be enough rich people in power taking us to glorious battlefields on the other side of the world to secure oil interests for the likes of Halliburton. Our wonderful corporations and Neo-Fascist leaders plagued with sex scandals are pleading with us to not disrupt their flow of profit and power they so justly deserve. Tonight I will take my prescription sleep aid and hopefully wake up only to forget that there is a war in Iraq and a war raging in my American psyche if to speak against the powers that be.”
“So I figured, as someone who continually has to get a 9- and 13-year-old to cooperate and do things they'd prefer not to do, I'm uniquely positioned to make some observations.posted by ericb at 8:28 PM on September 20, 2007 [1 favorite]
To offer, as the heads of the UF household try to figure out who needs a timeout and what privileges should be taken away, a few parental pointers.
To the young man who threw the tantrum: When you're approached by police, back off and sit down.
It's one of those unspoken rules anybody who's ever dealt with cops knows. You say, ‘Yes, sir,’ when they speak to you. If you're pulled over for a traffic stop, keep your hands in sight. And if you're ever approached by police — particularly in a potentially volatile, public setting — it's best to quietly and immediately comply.
If you don't, you're going to be getting some ‘quiet time’ in a cell.
And don't fling your arms around. Makes them nervous.
To the University Police: When a person running an event asks you not to intervene, as Kerry did, allow him to try to calm things down.
People in authority often feel that once they intervene, they have to assert their power. Unfortunately, exerting their authority often becomes more important than what's right or fair. What's best for everyone involved.
Trust me, I know. I'm a dad. My kids have had to do time in their rooms for such silly stuff as not getting out of my easy chair. Or the always-popular, ‘having a bad attitude.’
But at least I've never had to Taser them.
To Sen. Kerry: Take charge.
Confrontations intensify when there's a leadership vacuum.
If you're a leader, you're not a background noise softly saying, ‘That's all right. Let me answer his question.’
Loudly demand, ‘LET GO OF THAT YOUNG MAN.’ Or, if you're otherwise inclined, ‘TAKE HIM AWAY IN CHAINS.’
Better yet, step down from the stage and intervene. Be human. Break up the scrum and put your arm around the kid and talk eye-to-eye with him.
People would've gone wild at the sight of something so rare these days: leadership.”
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posted by Poolio at 5:43 PM on September 17, 2007 [3 favorites]