4:09 pm - Sat 9/22/07
\"Don't 'Taze' Me, Bro...!\"

Thinking about that kid who was tasered at a Florida University, when he acted up a bit during an appearance by John Kerry (During a Q&A, He basically commandeered a mike, was making more of a political statement than asking an actual question--at least was asking a very long-winded question, and didn't want to leave when security was called; I guess he didn't feel he'd done anything to get thrown out over).

I'm troubled it happened at all--speaking your mind in America, even if you're being obnoxious about it, shouldn't be an offense punishable by taser (And seeing what these cops--campus cops, I believe--were willing to do in front of a crowd...well, it makes me wonder what they're doing to people when the cameras aren't on. And if there's six cops and one regular guy, and the cops can't get Regular Guy out the door without zapping him with a taser, they need to go back to "cop school", in my opinion)--but I'm almost as troubled by a lot of online response to the event.

Basically, it seems at least half the people out there in cyberspace, if not more, think it was completely appropriate to shoot the kid with 50,000 volts for basically being an asshole (Cause he clearly was not a physical threat to Kerry or the cops or anyone else at the event).

I find that pretty discouraging.

Not long after I saw video of this incident, another video came out, of a woman getting tasered over a half-dozen times, by a cop who's screaming at her, obviously not using the taser to get control of the situation--which, aqain, he ought to be able to get control of without resorting to that level of force--but simply because he's pissed-off.

I know some people are going to say, in either case, "Well, if they had just complied with the officer (s), they wouldn't have gotten tasered...".

But to me, that's not the issue; like I said, if you're going to hit someone with a taser--and hit the wrong person with a taser and you could kill them--that person needs to be a physical threat to other civilians, or the officer (s) in question.

As a cop, you don't get to zap someone just because they're pissing you off or making your life difficult. And if that's the way you're wired, you need to find another line of work.

Well, speaking of "another line of work", it's about time for me to head off to the theater...

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