I’ve held off talking about this because, unlike most media pundits on both the left and the right, I like to actually know what is going on before I speak and reason things out.

I’ve seen the video a few times now, including this wonderful remix:

I’ve also read a number of articles about the incident and have come to this conclusion:

This kid is not a martyr, the police were not acting brutally, this has nothing to do with George W. Bush, and my fellow liberals are jumping on this like it’s their ticket to stardom. Everyone on the left has been up in arms that a student has been tasered “For asking a question”, even on my favorite radio station Airamerica.com.

Of course, the student wasn’t tasered for asking a question, the student was told to yield when he ran over the allotted question amount and time, he was then asked to leave the microphone, the microphone was cut and the police attempted to escort him away from it, the guy wouldn’t budge, the police tried to force him from the mic, the kid resisted and started screaming, the police pushed further, the kid continued to scream, flail, jump, run, and struggle, they took him to the ground, four of them had to restrain him (he’s a rather muscular, atheltic looking guy) and then tasered him because he would not stop resisting, flailing, screaming, and kicking about.

I’d like to remind you all that I am an ultra-liberal, certainly not in love with the idea of a police state. I do, however, expect that when my fellow liberals are speaking out (including when saying things I believe in, some of what this kid said I think is valid) that they are respectful to others. This kid decided what he had to say was more important than what anyone else in that room had to say, he decided that he wanted fame and praise and to have his voice heard over everyone else’s. I do not respect that, I do not respect the disruption of forums where people are being allowed to speak their mind, I do not respect people trying to shout down others when there is no direct need to (what was he trying to accomplish exactly, shame Kerry into becoming president?).

There are instances where I wouldn’t mind his behavior, like when he tries to speak freely in a public protest on public property and police try to subdue him. He was granted the right to speak though, however, he was not the ONLY person granted that right. The reason why they tried to remove him from that forum was because he would not conform to the regulations of a democratic debate, he was fighting democracy, he was fighting the right of others to practice their free speech, and he was endangering people around him with his flailing, jumping, and kicking for no good reason.

Should he have been tasered? I am not sure. He was a rather strong-looking individual acting like a complete lunatic and would not stop resisting. He had to be held down by no less than four officers and would still not stop, personally, if I was a police officer I would have either tased the guy or pepper sprayed him.
Anyways, here is my personal litmus test of when civil disobediance is actually civil disobedience and not some jerk trying to get attention (they don’t necessarily need to meet every qualification, this is just a basic guideline for the most part):

1. It is part of an organized protest or a concerted effort to forward a cause or block an injustice from occurring.

2. It occurs when faced with undemocratic opposition.

3. No. 2 can be ignored if the individual is in dire need, if his people are being violently or harshly oppressed, if he is being blocked from saying what he needs to say to defend himself, his rights, and the rights of the people he or she represents.

4. He only puts others in danger when there is no other option, when in a state of open conflict with a tyrannical regime, and only in the context of organized battle and not terrorism.

5. The individual cannot block other people’s rights unless he or she has a good enough reason to (whether or not Kerry was in the Skull and Bones club, why he conceding the election, and whether or not the voting machines were rigged is not a dire circumstance).

I have absolutely no respect for this guy, at the same time I am not going to be pressing my lips against the police any time soon.

I just wish other liberals could get over their ideological leanings and end these constant knee-jerk reactions. It just makes us look bad in the long run (like when certain groups protest the arrest of a cop-killer, selling T-Shirts saying that he’s innocent, and then come to find him, a month later, admitting to killing said cop. This actually happened recently).

I am tired of political groups leaping onto events they don’t understand and using them to advance their causes: The tasering, the Virginia Tech massacre, 9/11, Columbine, the recent mine collapse…etc…etc… Everyone just jumps onto some sort of bandwagon condemning one party and hating on another. These issues are complicated people, could you at least wait it out before you start declaring heroes and villains?

You can find the other videos, the real ones, here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaiWCS10C5s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g7zlJx9u2E

This entry was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Crazed Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.